KAZAN, Aug 4 — South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh broke the 50m breaststroke world record in this morning's heats at the world swimming championships in Kazan.

Van der Burgh, defending his title, clocked 26.62sec to shave 0.05sec off his own record he set at the 2009 championships in the era when the performance-enhancing neoprene suits were still permitted.

Britain's Adam Peaty had swum exactly the same time of 26.62sec at the European championships in Berlin last August, but the time has not yet been ratified by swimming's governing body FINA. — AFP