Turkish swimmer sets Euro record in 50m breaststroke

ANKARA

Turkish swimmer Emre Sakci on Thursday made history, breaking his own and the European record in the men's 50-meter breaststroke category.

"Turkish swimmer @sakciemree [Emre Sakci] won in the 50M Breaststroke, setting a new European record of 25.29 seconds that was only 0.04 seconds away from breaking the world record (25.25)!," the International Swimming League (ISL) said on Instagram, covering the competition in Budapest, Hungary.

Sakci, 22, last month broke the record in the same competition – the ISL – with a time of 25.50.

Retired South African athlete Cameron van der Burgh still has the short course world record in men's 50-meter breaststroke with 25.25 seconds, set in the Berlin leg of the 2009 International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Cup.

Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoglu, Turkey’s youth and sports minister, congratulated Sakci on setting a new record and wished him success in the future.

Sakci honors quake victims in Turkey

In his victory, Sakci also commemorated the victims of last week’s earthquake in Izmir, on the Turkish Aegean.

Before Thursday's contest in Hungary, Sakci wrote "Izmir" on his chest in honor of quake victims.

After winning the breaststroke, Sakci made a heart-shape hand gesture over the word Izmir on his chest to show his solidarity and support.

Last week's deadly quake in Izmir saw buildings reduced to rubble. There were emotional scenes as rescue workers pulled out survivors.

The death toll from the magnitude-6.6 quake rose to 114 as of Wednesday, and over 1,000 were injured.