National Swimmer Emre Sakcı Sets World Record

National swimmer H. Emre Sakcı broke the World Short Course record in the 50-metre breaststroke with a time of 24.95 seconds. Sakcı achieved the record at the "Turkey Şehitkamil Arena Inter-Club Short Course Youth and Open Age Swimming Championship and Stars Individual Swimming Competitions" and became the first swimmer in history to complete the 50-metre breaststroke in under 25 seconds. National swimmer Hüseyin Emre Sakcı, sponsored by Abdi İbrahim, broke the World Short Course record in the 50-metre breaststroke with a time of 24.95 seconds.   Emre Sakcı surpassed the 25.25-second record held by South African swimmer Cameron Van den Burgh for 12 years at the Turkey Şehitkamil Arena Inter-Club Short Course Youth and Open Age Swimming Championship and Stars Individual Swimming Competitions held in Gaziantep, completing the 50-metre breaststroke in 24.95 seconds. With this time, Hüseyin Emre Sakcı became the new world record holder in short course breaststroke. Sakcı also earned the distinction of being the first athlete in world history to complete 50 metres in the breaststroke in under 25 seconds.

Individual national record as well

Meanwhile, our national athlete Sakcı, entering the water as the first swimmer in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay, improved his own Turkish record in the 19 and over age category with a time of 46.63 seconds. Nezih Barut, Chairman of the Board of Abdi İbrahim, the company sponsoring record-breaking swimmer Emre Sakcı, commented on the athlete's achievement: "We congratulate Emre on his success. The achievements our athletes reach in their fields make us proud. As Abdi İbrahim, we endeavour to support our young people and provide opportunities within our community investment programmes. We are delighted to support our future generation of young people like Emre, who carry the determination to raise our nation's flag to the highest level in every pool, and who possess the same passion, courage and responsibility as we do. We take pride in him and wish him continued success in a future enhanced by sport."

Who is Emre Sakcı?

Emre Sakcı began swimming at the age of 3 and was selected for the A National Team at age 15, representing Turkey in swimming. Since 2010, he has competed for Fenerbahçe Sports Club under coaches Türker Oktay and Bahar Oktay. Emre Sakcı represented Turkish sport at the 2013 Utrecht European Youth Olympic Summer Festival, the 2015 Baku 1st European Games, the 2017 Baku Islamic Solidarity Games and the 2018 Tarragona Mediterranean Games. In 2015, at the Turkey Inter-Club Short Course Swimming Championship, he became the first Turkish athlete to break a world youth record in the men's 50-metre breaststroke with a time of 26.67 seconds. Our national swimmer finished fifth in the world in the 50-metre breaststroke at the 2018 World Short Course Swimming Championship held in China with a time of 25.89 seconds. In 2019, at the European Short Course Swimming Championship held in Scotland, he won the silver medal in the men's 50-metre breaststroke, bringing Turkey its first medal in this discipline. In 2020, at the International Swimming League held in Budapest, Sakcı won first place in the 50-metre breaststroke with a time of 25.50 seconds, breaking the European record. Later in the league, he broke his own European record again in the 50-metre breaststroke with a time of 25.29 seconds and finished first. This time entered history as the second fastest in the world. He then won first place in the 100-metre breaststroke, breaking the European record with a time of 55.74 seconds, and set 3 European records at the international swimming league. The young athlete experienced the Olympics for the first time at the Tokyo Olympics. Most recently, at the European Short Course Swimming Championship held in Kazan, Russia last month, he won the silver medal and made history by finishing second for the second consecutive time since his 2019 medal.