Swimming's oldest world record has been broken. American Kate Ziegler shattered the 1,500 meter freestyle record by 9.5 seconds late Sunday at a meet in Mission Viejo, California.
Ziegler won the 30-lap race at the TYR Meet of Champions in 15 minutes, 42.54 seconds, easily erasing Janet Evans' mark (15:52.10) set in 1988.
U.S. national team coach Mark Schubert told the Associated Press Ziegler was so excited when she looked at the scoreboard after the race that she nearly "jumped out of the pool."
The victory was Ziegler's fourth of the four-day swimming meet, which ended Sunday. She also won the 200, 400 and 800-meter freestyles. Evans still holds the world record in the 800-meter freestyle.
At the world championships in March, Ziegler won the 1,500-meter event with the second-fastest time in history.
The 18-year-old Ziegler is from Great Falls, Virginia, near Washington.
Some information for this report provided by AP.