Yasuhiro Koseki Torches 100 BR Games Record By Over A Second In 58.86

SWIMMING AT THE 2018 ASIAN GAMES

• August 19th-24th, 2018
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Schedule & Results

Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki absolutely obliterated the Asian Games Record to win the men’s 100 breast on day 4 in Jakarta, as he clocked 58.86 to starch the previous mark of 59.91.

China’s Yan Zibei had broken the record in the heats, bringing Dmitriy Balandin‘s mark of 59.92 down by a hundredth. Koseki then brought it down 1.05 seconds in the final, as he narrowly missed his Asian Record of 58.78 set earlier this year on the Mare Nostrum Tour. That swim ranks him 3rd in the world for 2018.

Both Yan and Balandin were well under the old record in the final as well, with Yan (59.31) edging the Kazakh (59.39) for the silver. Yan has been 59.26 this year, but that is Balandin’s fastest of 2018 by quite a wide margin and actually falls just .01 shy of his National Record set at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan (59.38).

Four years ago in Incheon Balandin completed the breaststroke sweep with a gold medal in all three distances, but has just the 50 left if he wants to retain any of his titles. He sat out of the 200 breast, which is his best event as the reigning Olympic champ, because of injury, but shows he’s on good form with this swim so he’ll certainly have a shot at the 50. Koseki, on the other hand, will be looking to do that same treble in the 50 as he’s now won both the 100 and 200 here.