KUALA LUMPUR: National swimmer Bryan Leong Xin Ren bettered his own national record in the men’s 100-metre (m) butterfly event at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.

According to the World Aquatics’ official website, the 20-year-old clocked 52.78 seconds (s) to finish ninth in Heat 7 at the Hamad Aquatic Centre today, improving on his previous best of 52.96s set at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, last July.

However, the record-breaking feat wasn’t enough for Bryan to advance to the top 16 semi-finals as he could only finish 21st out of 66 participants.

Bryan, who is pursuing his bachelor’s studies in neuroscience and psychology at King’s College London, also failed to earn a ticket to the July 26-Aug 11 Paris 2024 Olympics after missing the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) of 51.67s and Olympic Consideration Time (OCT) of 51.93s.

“I’m glad to have improved on my national record. However, I am still working hard and chasing Olympic qualification, hope I can achieve it,” he said when contacted.

Bryan is expected to participate in several more championships before the Olympic qualifying period ends on June 23. – Bernama