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Japanese teenager Shin Ohashi set a world record in the 200-meter breaststroke on Thursday at the Asian Games, swimming a time of 2 minutes, 4.83 seconds.
The old record was 2:05.48 set by Qin Haiyang of China at the 2023 swimming world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
The 17-year-old Ohashi already had the fastest time of the year (2:06.59) and has been the breaststroker to beat this season. Denis Petrashov of Kyrgyzstan was second in 2:08.67, and Cho Sung-jae of South Korea took bronze in 2:08.76.
Ohashi’s record temporarily took the spotlight away from China and 13-year star Yu Zidi. Yu has won three gold medals, in the 200 butterfly and 200 and 400 individual medley, during the Asian Games. She will not swim any other individual events.
Ohashi won the 400 individual medley earlier in the week in the Asian Games, clocking 4:07.02. That world mark is held by Leon Marchand of France (4:02.50), who won four gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Marchand has been among the presenters handing out medals on the pool deck during the games with swimming being held in the Olympic pool in Tokyo.
Ohashi broke Japan’s national record earlier in the year in the 100-meter breaststroke. That record had been held by Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima, a four-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion.
China, slightly in the shadows of Ohashi’s world record, won four gold medals in Thursday’s seven events. Through five days in the pool — swimming ends Friday — China has won 25 gold medals in 34 events.
Chinese winners on Thursday were Wu Qingfeng in the women’s 50 freestyle (23.98), Zhang Zhanshuo in the men’s 800 free (7:42.49), the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay (3:10.60) and the women’s 4×200 free relay (7:49.37).
In addition to Ohashi, Japan also picked up gold from Kotomi Kato (2:22.57) in the women’s 200 breaststroke.
The other gold on Thursday went to Mikhail Arkhangelskiy of Bahrain (22.91) in the men’s 50-butterfly. Arkhangelskiy was born in Russia and has swum for Florida State. Source: AP.