Top Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Huu Viet topped his personal best in the men’s 100m breaststroke at the World Swimming Championships in Rome, to rank eighth in Asia.

On July 27, Viet swam one minute and 2.17 second record to better the national record he set at the Southeast Asian Student Games. He came in 53 rd among, 142 competitors including the top 30 athletes in the world.

The Hai Phong-born swimmer hopes to win his third gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games in Laos this December, which he has dominated in the breaststroke since the 23 rd SEA Games in the Philippines four years ago.

At the Philippines’ SEA Games, Viet took home a gold medal in the 100m breaststroke, an event the country hadn’t seen a gold in for 32 years.

At the National Short Course Swimming Championships in Hanoi in March, Viet also set three national records during the course of four days.

He failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in the 100m breaststroke when he finished 58 out of 63.

Also at the world championships on July 27, Viet’s teammate Do Huy Long from Hanoi swam the 100m backstroke in 58.79 sec, improving his previous best of 59.60.

Vo Thai Nguyen and Vo Thi Thanh Vy will compete in the women’s freestyle events later in the competion./.