Japan’s Shin Ohashi sets 200m breaststroke world record at Asiad; S’pore miss out on sprint medals

TOKYO – When he was three years old, Shin Ohashi was made to learn swimming by his grandparents so that he would not drown at a pond near their house.

Fast forward 14 years, the Japanese is the proud holder of a world record in the pool after winning the Asian Games’ men’s 200m breaststroke final in a stunning 2min 4.83sec on Sept 24.

In front of a packed Tokyo Aquatics Centre, the high school senior got the home fans off their seats in awe and excitement.

Taking more than half a second off Chinese swimmer Qin Haiyang’s previous world-best time of 2:05.48, he finished almost four seconds ahead of Kyrgyzstan’s Denis Petrashov (2:08.67) and South Korean Cho Sung-jae (2:08.76).

After glancing at the scoreboard, the 17-year-old slammed his fist into the water before raising it triumphantly.

He said: “I thought it might be impossible, but everyone supported me and I’m happy that I was able to achieve the world record this time.

“This summer, I didn’t get very good results and learnt how difficult international competitions are, but I’m really happy I was able to do this here. I think the fact that the Games are held in Japan was a factor, so I want to thank everyone.”

Ohashi made up for his joint-slowest reaction time of 0.74sec and relative short 1.69m stature with his unique style of keeping his upper body high above the water surface and taking around six more strokes per 50m than other elite swimmers.

After making the turn in first place, he did not look back.

On Sept 21, he had also won the men’s 100m breaststroke final in a spectacular dead heat to share gold with China’s Dong Zhihao. He also picked up two medley relay silvers.

But showing he is not one to rest on his laurels, he revealed that he went back to the training pool after the victory ceremony on Sept 23 to make adjustments for his 200m race.

His world record sets up a tantalising showdown with Olympic champion Leon Marchand at Los Angeles 2028.

The Frenchman, who was in attendance, said of Ohashi: “He is scary, he’s still young, and he has a great coach. I’m really looking forward to racing him.”

There was no fairy-tale finish, however, for Singapore’s Amanda Lim. The 33-year-old confirmed she has raced at her last Asiad after placing fifth in the women’s 50m freestyle final in 24.79sec, 0.02sec off her national record.

China’s Wu Qingfeng took gold in a Games-record 23.98sec, followed by Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (24.32) and China’s Cheng Yujie (24.46). Singapore’s Yeo Chiok Sze was seventh with a personal best of 25.24.

Lim said: “I’m pretty proud with solid swims in the heats and final. I’m pretty happy with my prep, wanted something more, but didn’t get it. This just shows how fast the Asian standard is with sub-24 tonight.”

Lim was also unsure about competing at the 2027 SEA Games, although she could be motivated to shoot for the 2028 Olympics’ qualifying time of 24.56.

Sharing that she has been spurred on by the memory of her late dad, who died exactly one year ago, Lim said: “I was very nervous today but my mind was switching between racing and my father even while I was napping, and I hope he is happy.”

There was further disappointment for Singaporean sprinters Teong Tzen Wei (23.38sec) and Mikkel Lee (23.40sec), who finished fifth and sixth respectively in the men’s 50m butterfly final.

Russia-born Bahraini Mikhail Arkhangelskiy won by matching his Asian record of 22.91sec, ahead of Japan’s Shoon Mitsunaga (23.06) and China’s Wang Changhao (23.25).

Teong was the silver medallist of this event in 2023, but the 28-year-old has had to cope with recurring tendonitis in his elbows and an ankle sprain. He said: “I’ll be blunt. We’re here to perform and aim for the podium. It just sucks when you work your a** off and you don’t get what you want.

“We accept this is the game we play and we choose whether to continue and learn from our mistakes. After this, I’ll be heading straight into my favourite short-course World Cups and then the short-course world champions at the end of the year, and I’m not looking as far as the 2027 SEA Games.”

Lee, 23, teared up as he shared how he had been training and swimming well in the build-up but was hit by infection in both ears since the start of the meet.

“The times to make the podium in the 50m free (21.94) and 50m fly (23.25) are times that are within my reach. This week has been tough with the infection, the Asian Games comes every four years, and it’s a big opportunity wasted,” he said.

“The 50m free broke me a little bit and I’m very glad to have my parents around this week. To see them after that swim was something I needed.

“The 2027 SEA Games will be a good marker for me to see where I’m at compared to the times needed to qualify for the Olympics. I’m capable of those times for sure.”

More records fell elsewhere as China’s Zhao Jiayue, Wang Haoyu, Zhang Zhanshuo and Pan Zhanle won the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay in an Asian record of 3:10.60 ahead of South Korea (3:11.69) and Japan (3:11.96), while Singapore (3:16.93) were fourth.

This was 19-year-old Zhang’s sixth gold at these Games, and it came half an hour after he won the men’s 800m freestyle final in a Games record of 7:42.49, in front of Japan’s Kaito Tabuchi and South Korea’s Kim Jun-woo who shared silver in 7:43.86.

China also won the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay in 7:49.37, ahead of Japan (7:59.53) and South Korea (8:01.87), with Singapore (8:15.07) in fifth.

Japan surpassed their five-gold performance at the previous Asiad swim meet when Kotomi Kato (2:22.57) won the women’s 200m breaststroke final ahead of South Korea’s Park Si-eun (2:22.69) and China’s Zhu Leiju (2:25.51).

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