Ohashi Takes 200 Breaststroke Pace Below 2:05 24 Years After Kitajima's Pioneering Sub-2:10
At 17 years & 6 months, Shin Ohashi is the youngest-ever holder of the 200m World Record - The previous youngest holder was also 17: Denmark's Knud Gleie set the mark in February 1953 a month before his 18th birthday
"These are the days of miracle and wonder", the boy in the bubble of fame on Day 5 at the Asian Games in Tokyo 17-year-old Shin Ohashi, of Japan, who swept the pace of 200m breaststroke inside 2:05 for the first time in history with a 2:04.83.
- Ohashi led from go to gold: 28.27 - 59.89 - 1:32.40 - 2:04.83
Since the last standard set in textile before the shiny suit era, Ohashi's 0.65 gain on the top clock is the biggest single bite out of the record since fellow Japanese holder Kosuke Kitajima took 0.99 off Hansen in 2008. It's 24 years since Kitajima took the 200m breaststroke pace below 2:10 for the first time - at the same Asian Games, then in Busan 2002.
Ohashi improved from the 2:06.59 World Junior record he clocked at the Japan Open at the same venue back in March. The World and World Junior standards are now the same.
Analysis and history follow, with the rest of the finals on day 5 in Tokyo, where China made it 25 golds in 5 days ...
