SYDNEY: Cameron McEvoy said on Wednesday he can “get faster” after breaking one of swimming’s oldest world records, but the Australian added it was “crazy” that he had received no financial prize for his exploits.

McEvoy, the Olympic and world 50m freestyle champion, clocked 20.88sec at the China Open meet in Shenzhen last Friday to shave 0.03sec off the men’s 50m freestyle world record set by Cesar Cielo 17 years ago in the era of polyurethane bodysuits.

The starting block from which McEvoy launched his jaw-dropping performance has been signed by the Australian and will be preserved in a sports museum in Shenzhen.

McEvoy said the world record fulfilled a childhood dream and he credited his training regime, which focuses on strength rather than hours in the pool hours, for the breakthrough.

Speaking in his home city of Brisbane, McEvoy said that his “harder pathway” was a “stark contrast” to the $1 million bonus promised to swimmers if they break a world record at the inaugural Enhanced Games in Las Vegas in May.

Athletes at the Enhanced Games will controversially be allowed to dope by using banned drugs and doping agents, including steroids.

“It’s crazy to think that to get a world record without a suit and without any performance-enhancing drugs, as a clean athlete, the bonus is zero dollars,” McEvoy told reporters.

By contrast, the Enhanced Games said last year it had paid Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev $1 million for bettering Cielo’s time — then the 50m official world record.

Gkolomeev reportedly swam 20.89 seconds while wearing an inline full-body open water suit that falls outside World Aquatics standards.

At 31, McEvoy said he had been denied a commercial sponsorship because of his age, but added that his world record had proved swimmers in their 30s could sprint.

McEvoy said his best was yet to come.

“I definitely think I can get faster,” he said.

A big motivation for his record was the presence of his infant son Hartley and wife Maddi watching in Shenzhen last Friday, said the Australian.

“I kind of had to step up to show off to him a little bit, make him proud,” he said.

McEvoy said he was now setting his sights on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and even further ahead to his home Games at Brisbane in 2032, when he will be 38.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2026