Fact of the Day
1999-02-25

MARK SPITZ SETS SECOND WORLD MARK IN TWO DAYS
Swimming in a United States vs West Germany meet in Berlin on October 8th, 1967, Mark Spitz, the 17-year-old Santa Clara schoolboy sensation clocked 2 minutes 5.7-seconds in the 200m butterfly to set his second world record in two days, when he clipped the previous mark of 2:06.0 set by John Ferris of Carmichael, California on August 30th of that year. The only other competitor in this race was Werner Krammel, of West Germany, far back in 2:17.2.

After settting a new 100 meter butterfly world record of 0.55.68 seconds on the previous day, Spitz had planned to take it easy, but his team mates urged him to try for the 200 record as well. The touring American team won nine of the ten events.