2014 Asian Games – Ryosuke Irie Smashes Asian Games Record In 200 Back – Day Five Finals

2014 ASIAN GAMES – SWIMMING

• Sunday, September 21st-Friday, September 26th
• Incheon, South Korea
• Prelims/Finals: 9AM/7PM local time
• Event website
• Entry lists
• Meet results

EVENT SCHEDULE

Thursday

• M 50 Fly
• W 50 Breast
• M 100 Free
• W 800 Free (timed finals, fastest heat at night)
• M 200 Back
• W 4×100 Medley Relay

Men’s 50 Fly

• World Record: 22.43 – Rafael Munoz, Spain (2009)
• Asian Record: 23.43 – Joseph Schooling, Singapore (2014) and Zhou Jiawei, China (2009)
• Asian Games Record:  23.66 – Zhou Jiawei, China (2010)

Yang Shi of China took down 100m fly victor and University of Texas freshman Joseph Schooling by a sizable amount to break the previous Asian Games record and come within three one-hundredths of Schooling’s Asian record.

Shi touched the wall in 23.46 to Schooling’s 23.70. Behind Schooling was Korea’s Jungdoo Yang who squeezed into the top three with a 23.79 performance, rounding out the top three in the first event of the night.

Women’s 50 Breast

• World Record: 29.48 – Ruta Meilutyte, Lithuania (2013)
• Asian Record: 30.46 – Chen Huijia, China (2009)
• Asian Games Record: 31.04 – Wang Randi, China (2010)

Satomi Suzuki was able to hold off two Chinese women in the final of the 50m breaststroke to secure herself as the gold medallist and touch the wall first in 31.34. This meet has been dominated by the Chinese women, so Suzuki’s gold for Japan is one of few.

Ran Suo and Yuzhe He of China chased down Suzuki, but ended up placing second and third respectively. Suo touched the wall in 31.52, nearly two-tenths behind Suzuki, and He was exactly one tenth of a second behind Suo at 31.62.

Men’s 100 Free

• World Record: 46.91 – Cesar Cielo, Brazil (2009)
• Asian Record: 48.27 – Ning Zetao, China (2013)
• Asian Games Record: 48.70 – Park Taehwan (2010)

Zetao Ning of China absolutely rocked the field in the 100m freestyle taking down the Asian Games record and the Asian Record all in one fantastic swim to become the first Asian swimmer to ever break 48 seconds in the 100m freestyle.

Ning touched a body-length ahead of the rest of the swimmers in 47.70 taking over half a second off his Asian record of 48.27 that he set back in 2013. This win gave him his third gold of the meet, sweeping the sprint freestyles and taking part in the gold medal winning Chinese 4x100m freestyle relay.

Second to Ning was Park Tae Hwan who was over a second behind him with a time of 48.75. Park was fourth at the wall but was able to come home in 24.99 which was the second fastest last 50 behind that of Ning’s.

Third was Shinri Shioura of Japan touching in at 48.85.

Women’s 800 free (fastest heat)

• World Record: 8:11.00 – Katie Ledecky, USA (2014)
• Asian Record: 8:19.43 – Xin Xin, China (2013)
• Asian Games Record: 8:23.55 – Li Xuanxu, China (2010)

Yirong Bi, 18, 0f China led the pack in the 800m freestyle with a start-to-finish victory, eventually touching the wall in 8:27.54 to claim gold. Behind her was her fellow countrymen Daniu Xu who made it a 1-2 finish for the Chinese, touching the wall at 8:33.89.

Asami Chida of Japan was able to get her hand on the wall for a bronze medal, staying with Xu for the majority of the race but not being able to push past her to get silver. Chida’s time of 8:34.66 however, was good for third.

Men’s 200 Back

• World Record: 1:51.92 – Aaron Peirsol, USA (2009)
• Asian Record: 1:52.51 – Ryosuke Irie, Japan (2009)
• Asian Games Record: 1:55.45 – Ryosuke Irie, Japan (2010)

Ryosuke Irie smashed his games record of 1:55.45 from 2010 en route to gold tonight in Incheon, touching the wall in 1:53.26 to take down both Jiayu Xu of China and Kosuke Hagino of Japan. Irie’s time would have ranked him first in the world this year, improving on the 1:53.91 that already had him ranked first.

Currently he’s the fastest 200m backstroker of 2014.

Xu touched in for the silver medal, also under the previous Asian Games record, in 1:55.05. That time was good enough to take out Kosuke Hagino who’s been absolutely on fire this week racking up a very impressive medal count where he just added another bronze medal with a 1:56.36 finish.

Hagino’s medal count now stands at four golds, one silver, and two bronze medals.

Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay

• World Record: 3:52.05 – USA (2012)
• Asian Record: 3:52.19 – China (2009)
• Asian Games Record: 3:57.80 – China (2010)

With no Chinese team in the final, it was a breeze for the Japanese team who led after every single leg of the race. The end time for Japan was 4:00.94 which gave them a comfortable win over the second place finishers, the Koreans, who touched the wall in 4:04.82.

The Hong Kong team finished third in 4:07.15.

The Chinese team were the favorites, however following the DQ this morning it allowed for the Japanese team to claim the gold medal.

For full results click here.