It’s fun to break records, but some records are harder to break than others.
On Friday, Gabi Brito, a 13-year-old swimmer, broke two age-group marks in the 50-meter freestyle. One of the records was held by an Olympic medalist who had won 12 medals.
Brito broke the 26-second mark in the race, making her the first swimmer in Southern California Swimming LSC history to do so at her age. Dara Torres set the record for the fastest 50-meter freestyle swim more than 40 years ago. It took Brito.07 seconds less than the great to beat his time of 25.97 seconds.
In the evening, Brito won third place in the Speedo Grand Challenge and became the fastest 13-year-old girl. She broke the 13U record with a time of 25.71 seconds, coming in third place behind USC graduate Caroline Famous (25.58) and seven-time Olympic winner Simone Manuel (24.69).
Kate Douglass sets the record for 13-year-olds with a time of 25.80 in 2015. Her time beats that number. The news source says Brito’s time is just.02 seconds off the U.S. Olympic Trials cut.
Swimming World says Brito also competed in the 100 fly, 200 back, and 100 freestyle over the weekend. She is going to USC with her bigger sister Bella Brito, who is in the high school class of 2025.
Gabi Brito has more time before she has to choose a college—let her finish high school first!—but her amazing run has already made history.