Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita Breaks World Junior Championship Record in 200 IM (1:58.42)

2023 WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• September 4 – 9, 2023
• Netanya, Israel
• Wingate Institute
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• How To Watch
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Day 1 Prelims Live Recap| Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheet (Start List)

BOYS 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – PRELIMS

• World Junior Record: 1:56.99 – Hubert Kos, Hungary (2021)
• Championship Record: 1:58.46 – Carson Foster, United States (2019)
• 2024 Olympic ‘A’ Standard: 1:57.94
  • ‘B’ Standard: 1:58.53
• Time for 8th at 2022 World Jr Champs: 2:03.80

TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:

1. Tomoyuki Matsushita (Japan) – 1:58.42 (Championship Record)
2. Daniel Diehl (United States) – 2:00.69
3. Riku Yamaguchi (Japan) – 2:01.11 (TIE)
4. Maximus Williamson (United States) – 2:01.11 (TIE)
5. Lorne Wigginton (Canada) – 2:01.53
6. Christian Mantegazza (Italy) – 2:01.70
7. Zhang Zhanshuo (China) – 2:01.93
8. Minkyu Noh (South Korea) – 2:02.20

We saw a Championship Record fall in the very first event this morning at the 2023 World Junior Championships in Netanya, Israel. Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita was brilliant this morning, throwing down a time of 1:58.42 to clock the top time of the morning. With the swim, Matsushita also dipped under the Championship Record in the event, which American Carson Foster set back at the 2019 World Junior Championships.

Matsushita’s time fell just shy of his lifetime best of 1:58.13, set this past December at the Japan Open in Tokyo.

Matsushita clocked a 1:58.42, which was a huge swim for him. He came in as the 3rd seed with a 1:59.96. Foster’s CR in the event stood at 1:58.46.

Here is a split comparison between Matsushita’s swim this morning and Foster’s CR from the 2019 meet.

As the splits show, Matsushita was out more than half a second ahead of Foster’s time on the first 100m this morning. He was faster on both fly and back to do so. The breast splits were essentially a wash, though Foster did out-split Matsushita by 0.08 seconds. Foster was, however, considerably faster than Matsushita on free, splitting 0.50 seconds faster than him.

This sets up what ought to be a really fun race tonight. Of course, Matsushita may be able to lower the record again, but he’ll also have at least one other swimmer to contend with. American Maximus Williamson tied for 3rd this morning but was the top seed coming into the meet, having swum a 1:58.65 at the U.S. Trials in late June.