Perkins Lowers His Record in 800

Australian Keiren Perkins broke his world record in the 800-meter freestyle Sunday at the New South Wales swimming championships at Sydney.

Perkins, 18, clipped 1.25 seconds off his previous mark with a time of 7 minutes 46.60 seconds. He set the mark of 7:47.85 at the Pan Pacific Games at Edmonton last August.

He became the first Australian to set a world record in Australia since Tracey Wickham broke the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle record in 1979 at Perth.

Perkins’ coach, John Carew, said: “He’s going to be one of our greats. There’s no doubt about it.”