19-year-old German swimmer breaks 1,500-meter world record

Johannes Liebmann, a 19-year-old swimmer from Germany, has set a new world record in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle at the European Aquatics Championships. He finished the race in 14 minutes, 26.79 seconds, beating the previous record by almost four seconds (3.88 seconds to be exact).

"I'm just in shock, it's unbelievable. I didn't think I could do this... I'm speechless," Liebmann told Olympics.com.

The athlete also noted the difficulty of the race and how he used his tactics: "The race was tough. I started fast, the main goal was to stand out from the others and swim at my own pace. By the halfway point, I saw that I was well ahead of my competitors and I felt good. The fact that the spectators were standing and supporting me in the last 200-300 meters gave me additional strength. Seeing them, I realized that I was setting a European or world record, but I thought that the difference was not so big. The last 100 meters were very difficult, but to see the result of 14:26 on the scoreboard is just an amazing feeling."

For information, the previous best result was recorded by American Bobby Fink two years ago at the Paris Olympics. Libmann also became the first swimmer in history to cover this distance in less than 14 minutes and 30 seconds.