DeScenza Breaks World Record in 200m Butterfly

The fourth day of the 2009 World Championships Wednesday, July 29th started off on a high note as TYR’s Mary DeScenza rewrote the world record by .04 seconds in the preliminary rounds of the women’s 200m butterfly, placing her first heading into the evening’s semi-final round with an astonishing 2:04.14. With a competitive field that includes Olympic medalists and the former world record holder, Mary DeScenza entered the morning’s race with her work ahead of her. Seated with her previous best time of 2:07.13, DeScenza dove in and immediately showed promises of a strong morning swim. Hitting the 100m mark over a second above world record pace (1:00.57), it was her signature back-end speed that allowed her to dominate her competitors. The last 50m split of 31.65 was over two seconds ahead of nearly every other swimmer in the field, allowing her to claim her first world record. With the three-second drop from her previous best, DeScenza sits a comfortable 1.36 seconds below the second place finisher. Continue to follow DeScenza’s road to victory and the rest of TYR-sponsored athletes as they compete against the world’s best in Rome at TYR.com