Junya Koga breaks U.S. Open record in 50 back at Athens Sectional time trial

Japanese backstroker Junya Koga turned a time trial opportunity into a U.S. Open record on Saturday night, going 24.50 in the 50 backstroke, the fastest time ever on American soil.

Koga, who trains and competes for Club Wolverine in Ann Arbor, Michigan, time trialed the event near the end of night 3 at the Athens Speedo Sectional meet, vaulting to #1 in the world ranks. His training partner, Miguel Ortiz, raced with him and posted at 25.17. That time is also within the top 20 in the world this year.

The old U.S. Open record (the fastest time done on American soil by a swimmer of any nationality) was a 24.52 put up by David Plummer at the 2013 World Champ Trials. Koga got under that by the narrowest of margins with his 24.50

The world record currently stands at 24.04 from Great Britain’s Liam Tancock.

Koga took this opportunity to go after records because he’s not a part of the Japanese World Championships team. Japan currently has a wealth of great backstrokers, with Ryosuke Irie and Masaki Kaneko both holding top-10 world rankings in the 100- and 200-meter distances.

Koga’s a diminuitive swimmer – nowhere near the massive height of Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers – but succeeds with an abundance of short speed and one of the best backstroke starts in the world.

Even more impressive is that Koga hit his 24.50 tonight without use of the new backstroke starting wedges, which were legalized last year for all FINA and USA Swimming competitions.