In a sport where most athletes retire by 30, only a few gather the courage to keep going. 42-year-old swimmer, Nicholas Santos, shocked the swimming community on Wednesday by winning gold in the 50m butterfly at the FINA Short Course World Championships in Melbourne. The swimmer has yet again broken his own record of the oldest world champion in history after 2021.

Santos specializes in freestyle and butterfly sprint events. Moreover, he is the World Record holder in Short Course at 50 m butterfly. After having a glorious swimming career, Santos declared his retirement, winning the gold medal on December 14th at the World Short Course Championships.

Nicholas Santos intends to leave behind his swimming legacy

Nicholas Santos first participated in a world championship in 2001. In the recent World Short Course Championships, Santos made the community proud of him by winning his 10th world title.

The 42-year-old swimmer competed and won against swimmers half his age. It was an unbelievable win that Santos claimed by defeating young swimmers Noe Ponti (21) and Szebasztian Szabo (26). As the swimmers ran against the time, Santos touched the winning wall at 21.78 winning his fourth short course world title. Whereas, Ponti and Szabo complete at 21.96 and 21.98 respectively.

Moreover, the swimmer overjoyed with winning the title expressed his happiness by saying,“It’s the last race of my career.” He also added about leaving behind his legacy,“I am getting old and leaving this to the young guys. I leave swimming at 42 years of age. I am really happy and proud.”

Nevertheless, his contemporary swimmer, Ian Thorpe who is just two years younger than Santos was blown away watching his performance. He told Channel Nine, “It’s an incredible performance, especially considering his age and how long he’s been swimming around in this race. This was a field of huge names.”

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For Thorpe, it was his favorite moment of the night. Moreover, for Santos, it was the biggest moment in his career.

Nicholas Santos wanted to beat his own world record

In the 2018 FINA Swimming World Cup in Budapest, Santos created history by breaking the world record in the short-course 50-meter butterfly within 21.75. On Wednesday, when he won the World Short Course Swimming Championship within 21.78, he expressed that he could have broken his world record by 0.03 seconds.

However, the regret mattered little to the 42-year-old as he happily announced his retirement. The moment was of great joy to Santos and Melbourne.

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