2025 World Championships
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
- Singapore, Singapore
- World Aquatics Championships Arena
- LCM (50m)
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Men’s 50 Breaststroke – Prelims
- World Record: 25.95 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2017)
- World Junior Record: 26.97 – Nicolo Martinenghi, Italy (2017)
- Championship Record: 25.95 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2017)
- 2023 World Champion: Qin Haiyang, China – 26.29
Top 16 Qualifiers:
- Simone Cerasuolo (ITA) – 26.42
- Taku Taniguchi (JPN) – 26.65
- Melvin Imoudu (GER) – 26.74
- Kirill Prigoda (NAB) – 26.76
- Ivan Kozhakin (NAB) – 26.77
- Chris Smith (RSA) – 26.82
- Ronan Wantenaar (NAM) – 26.85
- Ilya Shymanovich (NAA) – 26.89
- Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA) -26.90
- Caspar Corbeau (NED) – 26.94
- Qin Haiyang (CHN) – 26.98
- Koen de Groot (NED) – 27.01
- Choi Dongyeol (KOR) – 27.13
- Emre Sacki (TUR) /Antoine Viquerat (FRA) – 27.18
- N/A (tie)
- Luka Mladenovic (AUT) – 26.20
Taku Taniguchi threw down a 26.65 in the men’s 50 breaststroke during Thursday’s preliminaries at the 2025 World Championships, shattering his own Japense record of 26.91 from May.
Swimming in heat eight of nine, France’s Antoine Viquerat had the best start and surfaced with a lead after the pull-out. He was quickly run down by Taniguchi, who used a notably quick turnover to pull himself into the lead and take the heat win.
Taniguchi’s time held up as the second-fastest of the morning, with Italian Simone Cerasuolo’s 26.42 from heat seven securing the top seed.
His time also elevates him to third on the all-time list of Asian performers, up from his previous position of fourth.
Top 5 Asian Men’s LCM 50 Breaststroke Performers All-Time:
- Qin Haiyang (CHN) – 26.20, 2023
- Sun Jiajun (CHN) – 26.61, 2023
- Taku Taniguchi (JPN) – 26.91, 2025
- Yan Zibei (CHN) – 26.86, 2019
- Choi Dongyeol (KOR) – 26.93, 2023
Taniguchi won the 50 breast at the Japanese National Championships this past March in 27.18. He was also the runner-up in the 100 breast, where he set his current personal best of 59.30. Earlier this week in Singapore, he placed 14th in the 100 breast, going 59.59 in the semifinals after advancing 12th from prelims in 59.75.
The 23-year-old is a relatively new face on the international scene, having only made waves over the past year. His breakthrough came at the World Short Course Championships in Budapest this past December, where he delivered standout swims in both sprint breast events. At December’s World Short Course Championships in Budapest, he went 25.96 for 10th in the 50 breast, missing Yasuhiro Koseki‘s 2021 national record by just 0.05. He also notched 56.32 in the 100 breast for 5th.
Prior to Singapore, Taniguchi’s only long course international experience was at the Paris Olympics, where he touched 19th in the 100 breast in 1:00.20.
On this event, I believe the 27:50 by Max Morgan is a new GB 17 year old age group record.