Rūta Meilutytė Dominates Singapore Meet, Securing Fourth consecutive Crown in 50m Breaststroke
Lithuanian swimming sensation Rūta Meilutytė has once again proven her supremacy in the 50m breaststroke, clinching her fourth consecutive title at the Singapore meet. Her latest victory adds to an extraordinary streak that began in 2022,with previous wins in Budapest,Fukuoka,and Doha solidifying her status as an unbeatable force in this discipline.
Meilutytė’s winning time in Singapore was 29.55 seconds,narrowly edging out ChinaS Qianing Tang,who finished second with 30.03 seconds. Italy’s Benedetta Pilato secured the bronze medal, clocking in at 30.14 seconds.
This remarkable achievement places Meilutytė in elite company, with only american Katie Ledecky and Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström having achieved similar multi-year winning streaks in the same event, each securing six consecutive titles.
The current world record holder in the 50m breaststroke, an Olympic event, is none other than Meilutytė herself, with a blistering time of 29.16 seconds. The second and third fastest times belong to Benedetta Pilato (29.30 seconds) and Lilly King (29.40 seconds), respectively.
Another Lithuanian competitor,Kotryna Teterevkova,participated in the same event,finishing in 23rd place with a time of 31.02 seconds.While the 50m breaststroke proved challenging for Teterevkova, the 23-year-old from Vilnius showcased her versatility and talent in other distances, reaching the finals of both the 200m and 100m breaststroke events, where she secured 6th and 8th place finishes, respectively.
The top eight finishers in the 50m breaststroke at the Singapore meet were:
- Rūta Meilutytė (Lithuania) – 29.55 sec.
- Qianing Tang (China) – 30.03 sec.
- Benedetta Pilato (Italy) – 30.14 sec.
- Anita Bottazzo (Italy) – 30.21 sec.
- Lilly King (USA) – 30.25 sec.
- Eneli Jefimova (Estonia) – 30.29 sec.
- Anastasia Gorbenko (Israel) – 30.45 sec.
- Veera Kivirinta (Finland) – 30.68 sec.