Mao Feilian made history today in the heats of the men’s 200m breaststroke becoming the first Chinese male swimmer to break 2:10 in the race.
For his efforts, Mao managed to take home the third seed overall heading into tonight’s semifinals, sporting a 2:09.56 at the touch. Mao’s time takes just over half a second off the previous record of 2:10.25. That mark was set back at the 2013 Chinese Nationals by Mao himself.
Mao’s 2015 record splits
- 50m – 30.22
- 100m – 1:03.56 (33.34)
- 150m – 1:36.73 (33.17)
- 200m – 2:09.56 (32.83)
The only two swimmers faster than Mao this morning were Andrew Willis of Great Britain and Marco Koch of Germany. Koch was a 2:09.12 and Willis was a 2:09.35, both not too far ahead of Mao.
Behind Mao was Kazakhstan’s rising star Dimitriy Balandin who rocked a 2:09.75. He’s been a 2:07 before, so he will be a tough man to beat come semifinals and finals.
Defending world champion Daniel Gyurta of Hungary qualified fifth overall in 2:09.81, however is also extremely capable of going a 2:07 later on in the meet.
With Mao’s 2:09 swim, he will likely be able to make the final although it’s not for certain given the strength of this event internationally. There are plenty of swimmers who could go a 2:09-low or even a 2:08 in the semifinals and spoil his chance of qualifying for finals.
