- South African swimmer Pieter Coetzé, 22, made history at the World Aquatics World Cup held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on October 9, 2026.
- He set a new world record by completing the men's 50m short-course backstroke event in just 22.09 seconds.
- Coetzé bettered the previous world record of 22.11 seconds—set by Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov in 2022—by 0.02 seconds.
- This marks the first world record of his career. With this outstanding performance, he also surpassed his own previous South African and African records.
- Just six days earlier, he had established those records in Baku with a time of 22.51 seconds.
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