Sao Paulo, April 26 (IANS) Olympic champion Cesar Cielo overcame a slow start to set the world’s fastest 50m butterfly time.

Competing in the Maria Lenk trophy Friday, the 27-year-old Brazilian clocked 23.01 seconds in the final to eclipse the previous best 2014 time of 23.07 seconds set by South African Roland Schoeman, reported Xinhua.

“I swam well considering the start I had,” Cielo said. “I began almost on my side. It’s a good example to the kids of how we too can get it wrong. That start really made it tough for me.”

The time guaranteed the Beijing 2008 gold medalist a place at the Pan Pacific championships in Australia in August.

Nicholas Santos won silver, 0.22 seconds behind Cielo, while Marcelo Chierighini took the bronze.