Japan's 17-year-old swimmer Shin Ohashi broke the men's 200-metre breaststroke world record on his way to Asian Games gold, thrilling the home crowd at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Thursday. Ohashi's blistering time of 2 minutes and 4.83 seconds eclipsed the previous record of 2:05.48, set by China's Qin Haiyang at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

"The world record was my goal, so I'm very happy to get it," Ohashi said. "Thanks to my fans, my family, all who supported me. My next goal is for the gold medal at the world championships."

Kazakhstan's Denis Petrashov finished 3.84 seconds behind Ohashi to claim silver, ahead of South Korea's Cho Sung-jae (2:08.76). "There was a strong rival in the breaststroke. It went exactly as I had thought," Cho said of Ohashi. "Honestly, I never imagined a world record would come out of it. I am delighted to come away with a medal."

Ohashi's triumph came days after French swimmer Leon Marchand, the Olympic 200m breaststroke champion, praised the Japanese swimmer and called him a major threat. "I'm scared. I'm very scared of him," Marchand said of Ohashi. "He's still so young. His coach is really good. I think his entourage, the people around him, are really good, so I hope he's going to keep improving."

Thursday's medal adds to the 100m breaststroke gold Ohashi shared with China's Dong Zhihao (58.64) ahead of Games record holder Qin, who settled for bronze. He also powered Japan to silver in both the men's and mixed 4x100m medley relays. Ohashi could win his fifth and final medal on Friday in the 50m breaststroke.

Source: www.aljazeera.com