Cameron Van der Burgh became the first South African to ever win the men’s 100m breaststroke with a world record time of 58.46 seconds Sunday at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Van der Burgh led throughout the race, edging out Australia’s Christian Sprenger (58.93 seconds) for the gold medal. Brendan Hansen of the United States snuck in for the bronze medal at 59.49 seconds. Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta was just 0.04 seconds behind.
Men’s 100m Breaststroke Final: South Africa’s Cameron Van Der Burgh Sets World Record
Three previous world record holders were in the race in Hansen (set in 2004 and 2006), Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima (set set in 2008) and Australia’s Brenton Rickard (previous holder, set in 2009 at 58.58 seconds). Kitajima came in fifth place at 59.79 seconds and Rickard came in sixth at 59.87 seconds.
Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli took seventh and Lithuania’s Giedrius Titenis took eighth to round out the field.
For complete coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, vist SB Nation’s Summer Olympics hub.
See More:
