80th OSAKA HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, June 20th – Sunday, June 22nd
- LCM (50m)
- Results
16-year-old Shin Ohashi of Japan ripped a new World Junior Record in the men’s 200m breaststroke while competing on day one of the 80th Osaka High School Swimming Championships.
Beating the field by over 8 seconds, Ohashi crushed a winning time of 2:07.27.
That hacked his previous personal best to bits, with his former PB resting at the 2:08.89 put on the books just last month while competing on the Mare Nostrum Tour. That maintained the World Junior Championships-bound in his slot as the fastest 16-year-old 200m breaststroker of all time.
With this 2:07.27 performance, however, Shin took things to an entirely new level, wiping out the previous officially recognized World Junior Record of 2:08.01 China’s world champion Dong Zhihao established in 2023.
Faster than that was countryman and world record holder Qin Haiyang‘s unofficially recognized WJR of 2:07.35 notched in 2017.
Shin beat both those standards en route to now rank #2 in the world. In fact, Japan now occupies 4 slots among the top 5 performers this season.
2024-2025 LCM Men 200 Breast
FUKASAWA
2:07.24
| 2 | SHIN OHASHI | JPN | 2:07.27 WJR | 06/21 |
| 3 | Qin Haiyang | CHN | 2:07.44 | 03/22 |
| 4 | IPPEI WATANABE | JPN | 2:07.53 | 02/15 |
| 5 | Yu Hanaguruma | JPN | 2:07.93 | 03/22 |
All-Time Top 5 Male 16-Year-Old 200 Breaststrokers (LCM)
- Shin Ohashi, Japan – 2:07.27 (2025)
- Josh Matheny, United States – 2:09.40 (2019)
- Ippei Miyamoto, Japan – 2:10.51 (2016)
- Daniel Gyurta, Hungary – 2:10.75 (2004)
- Matthew Wilson, Australia – 2:11.23 (2015)
Splits for Ohashi’s newest 2:07.27 eye-popping effort against his former quickest efforts are below, including a monster opening 100m of 1:00.53. His time ranks as the 18th-fastest performance in history.
| Ohashi’s New 2:07.27 WJR | Ohashi’s Former 2:08.89 PB | Dong Zhihao‘s Former 2:08.47 WJR |
| 28.23 | 28.98 | 29.30 |
| 32.30 | 33.25 | 33.31 |
| 32.91 | 33.58 | 33.75 |
| 33.83 | 33.08 | 32.11 |
For additional perspective, Shin’s 2:07.27 WJR would have claimed bronze at the 2024 Olympic Games.
Japan is no stranger to having an arsenal of 200m breaststroke among its elite stable. In recent history, the nation has had three world record holders in the event, with Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima, Akihiro Yamaguchi and Ippei Watanabe, the latter of whom is still active and ranks 4th in the world at the moment.
Crazy he didn’t even qualify for worlds here!
It is a law of the universe every now and then a Japanese teenager must dominate the 200m breaststroke
Nothing will ever top Yamaguchi dropping a 2:07 repeatedly at junior meets.
He will still be eligible for world junior record in 2027. Hope he keeps improving.
Classic
video?
Japan + record breaking young male breaststroker = iconic duo
japan would probably win a 4×200 br relay
“probably?” who is beating them lol
Japan v the world in that would still be shockingly competitive
Aww man now I’m thinking of other events where this might work.
I think US women 100 fly would actually win, recent AUS women 100 free/US women 200 back could prolly also taken on everyone else. Somebody help me think of more
this is insane. how did he drop 1.5s in a month! kinda sad that he didnt make world champs tho
He’s 16.