Texas-Ex Michael McBroom sets American record, wins silver medal at FINA World Championships

BARCELONA, Spain – Former University of Texas swimmer Michael McBroom broke an eight-year-old American record and won a silver medal in the 800m freestyle Wednesday at the FINA World Championships.

McBroom (The Woodlands, Texas) clocked 7 minutes, 43.60 seconds in the 800m freestyle finals to win silver for the United States.  Notably, the performance rewrote a longstanding American record that survived the tech-suit era which resulted in a windfall of world and American records in 2008 and 2009.

McBroom’s mark of 7:43.60 eclipsed the previous American record of  7:45.63 set by Olympic medalist Larsen Jensen at the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal.

McBroom joins Dave Walters and Aaron Peirsol as former Longhorns who currently hold individual American records in long-course meter (LCM) pools, the standard course for U.S. national, World Championship and Olympic swimming competitions.

Additionally, at least one former Longhorn holds the current American LCM records in the three relay events (4x100m free, 4x200m free, 4x100m medley).

McBroom took second in Wednesday’s 800m freestyle final behind Olympic gold medalist Sun Yang (7:41.36) of China.  Ryan Cochrane finished a fraction behind McBroom to win bronze for Canada in 7:43.70.

McBroom became UT’s first NCAA champion in the 1,650 freestyle in 2011 as a sophomore.  Shortly after representing the United States at the 2012 FINA Short Course World Championships, McBroom returned stateside and broke the NCAA record in the 1,000-yard freestyle.  He closed out his collegiate career last spring as the runner-up in the 500-yard and 1,650-yard freestyle events at the 2013 NCAA Championships.

Another former Longhorn, Jimmy Feigen, produced a standout performance Wednesday in Barcelona. Representing the United States, the San Antonio native clocked a personal best of 48.07 seconds in the 100m freestyle semifinals to earn a spot in lane five for Thursday’s 100m freestyle final.  Feigen will swim alongside countryman Nathan Adrian, the gold medalist in the event at the London Olympics.

Individual American records (LCM) held by former Longhorns

800m freestyle – Michael McBroom – 7:43.60 (July 31, 2013)

100m backstroke – Aaron Peirsol – 51.94 (July 8, 2009) *current world record

200m backstroke – Aaron Peirsol – 1:51.92 (July 31, 2009) *current world record

100m freestyle – Dave Walters – 47.33 (July 30, 2009)