South African lifesavers win gold at African Championships iol.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iol.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
It is not uncommon to see Omar Sayed Shaaban in water - in fact, it s where he can be found most of the time!
The 21-year-old Egyptian national is one of the world’s fastest sprinters underwater, and has just set the world record for the
highest jump out of water wearing a monofin, recording an impressive 2.30 m (7 ft 11.8 in) jump.
This is the first time this record has been broken in nine years.
It was previously held by Cesare Fumarola, Stefano Figini (both Italy) and Soliman Sayed (Egypt), who all achieved a jump height of 2 m (6 ft 6.74 in).
Omar studies Civil Engineering, and it first crossed his mind to break a world record in 2015.