Ippei Watanabe Breaks 200 Breast Olympic Record With 2:07.22

2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Swimming: August 6-13
• Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
• Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
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Japan’s Ippei Watanabe became the latest 200 breaststroker to rattle the world record, going 2:07.22 in the Rio Olympic semifinals to break the Olympic record and move to #3 all-time.

The 19-year-old Watanabe won the first of two semifinals in Rio, knocking off his higher-seeded teammate Yasuhiro Koseki and nabbing the top seed into tomorrow’s medal final.

The previous Olympic record was a 2:07.28 from Daniel Gyurta back in 2012.

Watanabe’s 2:07.22 makes him the next in a long line of swimmers to challenge, but not break, the world record of 2:07.01 held by another Japanese breaststroker, Akihiro Yamaguchi.

Here’s a look at the top swimmers in history:

Men’s 200 Breaststroke – All-time

1. Akihiro Yamaguchi, JPN (2012) – 2:07.01
2. Josh Prenot, USA (2016) – 2:07.17
3. Ippei Watanabe, JPN (2016) – 2:07.22
4. Daniel Gyurta, HUN (2013) – 2:07.23
5. Ross Murdoch, GBR (2014) – 2:07.30
6. Christian Sprenger, AUS (2009) – 2:07.31
7. Eric Shanteau, USA (2009) – 2:07.42
8. Michael Jamieson, GBR (2012) – 2:07.43
9. Marco Koch, GER (2014) – 2:07.47
10. Kosuke Kitajima, JPN (2008) – 2:07.51

This 200 breast features one of the most tightly-packed top 10 lists in all of swimming, and tomorrow’s medal final should be no different. Watanabe will lead a field that includes Prenot and Koch from that top 10 list, plus Koseki, new Russian record-holder Anton Chupkov among others.