Dec. 20, 2009

Courtesy of Stanford

MANCHESTER, England-- Stanford All-American Chad La Tourette broke the longest standing American shortcourse record on Saturday, posting a time of 7:33.94 in the 800-meter freestyle, knocking down a 26 year old record in the process at the Duel in the Pool.

Italy's Federico Colbertaldo broke the European record with a time of 7:31.18, two seconds ahead of American, La Tourette. Paul Biedermann had the previous top European mark at 7:35.23, set last year.

La Tourette's time broke Jeff Kostoff's time of 7:43.06, set back in 1983, five years before the 21-year old La Tourette was born.

After opening up with the lead over the first 50 meters, La Tourette swam third until the 550-meter mark, when he overtook David Davies into second place. He would nearly catch Colbertado, whose time after 700 meters was just .13 ahead of La Tourette.  

But Colbertado increased his lead by two seconds over the next 100 meters to hold off La Tourette. Davies, who was jockeying with Michael Klueh, finished third, followed by Kleuh.

La Tourette also competed in the 400 freestyle on Friday, finishing fourth with a time of 3:40.66.

The No. 2-ranked Cardinal began the spring season on January 9. They will host Pacific in a joint meet with the women's team at 2 p.m.

Full Results from England