Johannesburg - Chad le Clos set a new world record in the men's 200m butterfly short course to open his Swimming World Cup challenge in style in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, on Wednesday.
Le Clos was in a league of his own as he raced out front, chasing the world mark of 1 minute and 49:11 seconds, and setting a new world record of 1:49:04.
He rose to fame by beating the famous Michael Phelps in the long course 200m butterfly at the Olympics in London last year.
It was a night which belonged to the small group of South Africans in Eindhoven, with teammate Myles Brown showing improvement as he tackled the men's 400m freestyle.
Brown closed the gap on favourite Yannick Agnel (France) and eventually ended in second place only 0.16 behind in 3:37:91 - breaking the African and South African records set in 2004 by Ryk Neethling by a clear two seconds.
The evergreen Roland Schoeman stood up and delivered, starting off with a victory in the men's 50m breaststroke, clocking a fast 25:85.
The 33-year-old followed this with a silver in the 50m butterfly, clocking 22:22, ahead of Le Clos, who took third place in 22:62. - Sapa