Monday 17 September 2012

New World Record: Akihiro Yamaguchi Sets New Mark in 200m Breaststroke (With Video)



Get used to this name... Akihiro Yamaguchi. You should be hearing plenty more from him in the coming years.

After a stunning 2:07.01 at the Japan Open, the 18-year-old is now the fastest man to ever swim the 200 breaststroke long course. His last 50m was particularly impressive, splitting nearly a second faster than Daniel Gyurta's closing 50m in his Olympic winning and previous world record time of 2:07.28.

Japan has incredible depth in the 200 breast with 9 men in the world top 50, and now they have someone sitting on the top of the world pile. Talk about picking up Kosuke Kitajima's mantle and running with it.

Unfortunately John Leonard couldn't be reached for comment, otherwise we would know what illegitimate steps Yamaguchi took to finish his race off so well.