FINA World Junior: Srihari betters his 50m backstroke record

The 18-year-old clocked 25.63s as he finished third in his heats and qualified for the semifinals.

Earlier, Nataraj finished seventh in the men's 100m backstroke at the FINA World junior swimming championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Srihari Nataraj broke the 50m backstroke National record at the FINA World junior swimming championships here on Thursday.

The 18-year-old clocked 25.63s as he finished third in his heats and qualified for the semifinals. His previous record, 25.83s, came in the World senior championships at Gwangju, South Korea, last month.

Earlier, Nataraj finished seventh in the men's 100m backstroke at the FINA World junior swimming championships in Budapest, Hungary.

The 18-year-old had broken his own 100m backstroke record clocking 55.18s (previous record 55.49s) in the heats and then bettered it with a timing of 54.69s while finishing third in the semifinal and sixth overall. That saw him make the 'B' standard qualifying time (55.47s) for next year's Tokyo Olympics. The 'A' standard stands at 53.85s.

Srihari was a bit slower in today's final, clocking 54.85s. Italy's Thomas Ceccon won gold in 53.46s.