Australian Olympic champion Zach Staplety-Cook broke the world record in the 200m breaststroke on Thursday as he geared up for his best preparation for the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

Right from the start, the 23-year-old was on track to match the record set by Russia’s Anthony Chubkov in 2019 at 2:06.12 and kept that pace until the end, recording 2:05.95.

After his achievement in Adelaide, he said: “All I tried to do was swim fast. I didn’t think I’d be that fast. To be honest, I can’t believe this happened, but I’m very happy with it. “

He continued: “Last year I did my best and got the result I wanted (he won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics), but this year the pressure is much less, which is nice. I’m happy”.

Staplety-Cook garnered attention last summer at the Tokyo Aquariums when he set a new Olympic record of 2:06.38 on his way to gold ahead of Dutchman Arno Kamenga.

The Australian will be a candidate to repeat the feat next month at the World Championships in Budapest and at the Commonwealth Games in July in Birmingham, but the main target is Paris (2024 Olympics) and I will enjoy everything in between that and then.”