10-year-old "Superman" Clark Kent shatters swimming legend Michael Phelps' record
A 10-year-old boy, aptly named Clark Kent, has shattered a swimming record that was held by Olympian Michael Phelps, according to reports. Clark Kent Apuada, fondly called "Superman" by his friends, reportedly swam the 100-meter butterfly in 1:09:38 on Sunday at the Far Western Long Course Championship in his home state of California. Clark's record is more than a second faster than that of Phelps, who set his record during the Far Western swimming championship in 1995 with a time of 1:10.48 in the same category of boys 10 and under.
Reports state that no one in 23 years had nearly touched Phelps' record in that meet before the Filipino-American fifth-grader.
Clark told HuffPost said that it was his dream to break Phelps' record and he had started practicing for it ever since he started competitive swimming at the age of seven.
While talking about his win, the budding star said: "I was so motivated. I was so happy and relieved that I was able to beat that record."
The swimming legend, Phelps, began is Olympics career at the age of 15 and won 28 medals overall, becoming the most decorated Olympian in history.
Pacific Swimming's administrative director, Cindy Rowland, in an email wrote: "Everyone in the crowd was thrilled when they realized what a special swim they had just witnessed when we announced the long-standing record had been broken." PAcSwim is a regional association, which is a part of USA Swimming and organizes the Far Western Long Course Championship.
Rowland added that Clark had won first place for all the swimming events he had competed in at the Far Western Championships this year.
Clark's mother, Cynthia Apuada, was elated after his son's extraordinary achievement and said that her child appears to be "living by his name at this point," HuffPost reported.
When she was asked about Clark's intriguing name, she said that her husband's favorite superhero is Superman and she had always loved the name Clark. Apuada added that when their first child was born, the couple then agreed on naming his "Clark Kent."
"We’re always just telling people his name is Clark. But when they realize his full name, people just call him Superman,” Apuada said, adding that she thinks the name fits her son as he is deemed as "a superman in the water."