Japan's Shin Ohashi Sets 200m Breaststroke World Record

At the Asian Games, Japanese teenager Shin Ohashi, aged 17, broke the men’s 200m breaststroke world record on Thursday, achieving a time of 2 minutes 04.83 seconds. This performance surpassed the previous record of 2:05.48 set by China's Qin Haiyang in July 2023.

Ohashi had already secured gold in the 100m breaststroke earlier in the week in Tokyo, where he finished in a dead heat with China’s Dong Zhihao. Expressing his joy, Ohashi stated, “My target has always been to break the world record and I’m so happy to have done it.” He finished 3.84 seconds ahead of silver medallist Denis Petrashov from Kyrgyzstan.

Ohashi took an early lead in the race, focusing on the clock. Looking ahead, he aims to win gold at the next year’s world championships and at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years, stating, “I don’t want to be satisfied and I want to feel these emotions again.” Notably, Qin Haiyang did not compete in the 200m event at this year’s Asian Games.