The 20-year-old Bath-based athlete took more than two seconds off his own short course record with a new benchmark of 1min 50.05sec.

The previous record for a 25-metre pool was 1:52.39 set by Cooke at last year's European Junior Championships in Portugal.

"I felt really good so I just went for it," he said.

Cooke produced his outstanding swim in the semi-finals of the European Championships, taking place at Medway Park in Kent.

It was more than eight seconds faster than the next best time in semi-final B, 1.58.08 by Hungary's Robert Kasza.

It comes just over two weeks after Cooke set a long course world record at the World Cup Final in London, taking more than a second off his old world best.

Cooke is originally from Gloucestershire but trains full-time at the Pentathlon GB High Performance Centre at the University of Bath.

He is competing alongside teammates Sam Weale, Nick Woodbridge and Rob Flack in today's semis for a place in the men's final on Saturday.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
July 2011: Bronze for Woodbridge and world record for Cooke in Olympic test event