--- title: Clark Kent Apuada Beats Michael Phelps 100m Butterfly Record description: Clark Kent Apuada just bested a longstanding Michael Phelps swimming record set back in 1995 — and Phelps himself has taken note. canonical: https://time.com/5356745/michael-phelps-clark-kent/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-02T20:29:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:16.116Z og:title: A Kid Named Clark Kent Has Flown Past Michael Phelps' Record og:description: The young swimmer beat a longstanding Michael Phelps record og:url: https://time.com/5356745/michael-phelps-clark-kent/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Kid Named Clark Kent Has Flown Past Michael Phelps' Record twitter:description: The young swimmer beat a longstanding Michael Phelps record twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # A 10-Year-Old Named Clark Kent Has Flown Past a Michael Phelps Record > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7e5b1e57-583b-4aa0-a8ae-2399e3ce0ded&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Relive all of Michael Phelps’ Gold Medal Moments in pictures [Watch (HLS stream): Relive all of Michael Phelps’ Gold Medal Moments in pictures](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qTMehIoT.m3u8) (0:23)  _Published 2016-08-13. As Michael Phelps is heads into what is likely his final Olympic swim on Saturday, TIME surveys all of his gold-medal moments in this snappy video._  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 2, 2018 8:29 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 2, 2018 8:29 PM UTC Ten-year-old swimmer Clark Kent Apuada of California has [grabbed attention](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/10-year-old-named-clark-kent-breaks-record-held-by-michael-phelps-for-23-years/) in his sport after finishing first in seven events at the Far West International Swimming Championship, and breaking [Michael Phelps](http://time.com/5116696/michael-phelps-boomer-warmup/)‘s own record in the 100-meter butterfly, a record set by the [all-time-winningest](http://time.com/4870480/michael-phelps-race-shark-week/) Olympian back in 1995\. And Phelps himself has already become a fan of the young athlete with the famous name. “Most people just call me Clark, but now when I beat Michael Phelps’ record, they start calling me Superman,” the burgeoning aquatic superstar told CBS News. (Soon, they might also be calling him [Aquaman](http://time.com/4853722/comic-con-2017-movies-television/item//), given the nature of his powers.) His coach further told CBS that the swimmer is interested in being “a scientist, an Olympic gold medalist for the United States, and a black belt. He’s on track for all of those things.” No big deal. While the soonest that Apuada could think about heading to the [Summer Olympics is 2024](http://time.com/4943235/paris-olympics-2024-terrorism-isis-security-threat/) in Paris, France — at which point he will be 16 — Phelps himself already has an eye on the aspiring champion. “Big congrats to #clarkkent for smashing that meet record,” Phelps tweeted on Tuesday. “Keep it up dude!” (Luckily for everyone involved, Phelps’s own progeny — including two-year-old [Boomer](http://time.com/4396589/michael-phelps-son-boomer-swimming/) and new [baby Beckett](http://time.com/4920983/michael-phelps-baby-two/) — may already be practicing in the pool with their famous dad, but they won’t be eligible for Olympic competition until at least 2032 and 2036, respectively.) > [](https://twitter.com/MichaelPhelps/status/1024765399592652801) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5356745/michael-phelps-clark-kent/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5356745/michael-phelps-clark-kent/"},"headline":"A 10-Year-Old Named Clark Kent Has Flown Past a Michael Phelps Record","datePublished":"2018-08-02T20:29:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:16.116Z","description":"Watch out, Boomer and Beckett Phelps","url":"https://time.com/5356745/michael-phelps-clark-kent/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Michael Phelps","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5356745/michael-phelps-clark-kent/","name":"A 10-Year-Old Named Clark Kent Has Flown Past a Michael Phelps Record"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Relive all of Michael Phelps’ Gold Medal Moments in pictures","description":"As Michael Phelps is heads into what is likely his final Olympic swim on Saturday, TIME surveys all of his gold-medal moments in this snappy video.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/qTMehIoT/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-08-13T14:03:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qTMehIoT.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5356745/michael-phelps-clark-kent/","duration":"PT23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5356745/michael-phelps-clark-kent/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```