A 10-year-old swimmer named Clark Kent has broken a record that was held by Olympian Michael Phelps for 23 years. And just like Clark Kent of the movies, he has been nicknamed ‘Superman’ for his otherworldly feat.
The Filipino-American boy overcame the 1:10.48 record set by Phelps in the 100-metre butterfly category. He clocked in at 1:09.38 at the Far Western Long Course Championship in his home state of California this Sunday, CNN reported.
That’s more than a second faster than the record Phelps set at the Far Western swimming championship in 1995 in the same category of boys 10 and under.
Apart from the record-breaking time, Clark won first place for all the swimming events he competed in, winning seven gold medals in all.
A fifth-grader, Clark said he started swimming at the age of just three and has been dreaming about breaking Phelps’ record ever since he started swimming competitively at age seven.
“I was so motivated. I was so happy and relieved that I was able to beat that record,” he told Huffpost after the win.
Now that he’s done it, the young athlete has his eyes set on competing at the Olympics just like his idol. Phelps had competed in his first Olympics at age 15 and he went on to become the most decorated Olympian in history, with 28 medals overall.
Clark’s mother Cynthia Apuada said that her child is “living by his name at this point.” She said that despite them telling people his name is Clark, they just call the boy Superman once they realise his full name.
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