THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANGERS, France — Two-time Olympic gold medallist Yannick Agnel has set a short course world record in the 400-meter freestyle at the French swimming championships.
The Frenchman finished in 3 minutes, 32.25 seconds at the nationals in Angers on Thursday, beating German swimmer Paul Biedermann’s previous mark of 3:32.77, which was set in 2009 with a high-tech bodysuit.
"This morning, I didn’t think I’d set a world record. But I wanted to have fun and give everything I had," Agnel said. "It’s super. I’ve beaten a record set in a bodysuit. It shows there are still many good things to be done in terms of times."
The 20-year-old Agnel won the Olympic gold medal in the 200 freestyle and the 4×100 freestyle relay in London, as well as silver in the 4×200 freestyle relay.
Agnel shaved a massive 7.66 seconds off his previous best mark of 3:39.91 from 2010.
