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Irie sets 200 backstroke record in Canberra
JAPANESE teenager Ryosuke Irie set a world record for the men's 200 meters backstroke at a low-key international meet in Australia yesterday.
The 19-year-old powered his way to victory in the "Duel in the Pool" meet between Japan and Australia to stop the clock at one minute, 52.86 seconds, ahead of Australia's Ashley Delaney and compatriot Takashi Nakano.
Irie wore an Arena brand swimsuit, which is undergoing independent testing by world governing body FINA, which still has to verify the record.
His time at the Australian Institute of Sport pool in Canberra wiped 1.08 seconds off the previous world record of 1:53.94 set by American Ryan Lochte in the Beijing Olympic final last year.
"I couldn't think I could go that fast," Irie told Australian television, speaking through a translator. "I can say only one phrase: unbelievable."
Irie finished fifth behind Lochte in Beijing but has since established himself as the top men's backstroker in the world.
He came within 0.08 of Lochte's world record at the Japanese national championships in April then was just 0.02 outside Aaron Peirsol's 100 backstroke record at the Duel in the Pool on Saturday.
Irie, a Kinki University student from Osaka, won yesterday's race by more than five seconds, a huge margin in a sport where medals are often decided by hundredths of a second, and promised to go even quicker at this year's world championships in Rome.
"I am going to swim in the world championships and I am going to break (the world record) again," he said.
Irie's record was the first in the Australian Institute of Sport pool since Michael Klim's 100-meter butterfly world mark of 51.81 seconds in December 1999.
The 19-year-old powered his way to victory in the "Duel in the Pool" meet between Japan and Australia to stop the clock at one minute, 52.86 seconds, ahead of Australia's Ashley Delaney and compatriot Takashi Nakano.
Irie wore an Arena brand swimsuit, which is undergoing independent testing by world governing body FINA, which still has to verify the record.
His time at the Australian Institute of Sport pool in Canberra wiped 1.08 seconds off the previous world record of 1:53.94 set by American Ryan Lochte in the Beijing Olympic final last year.
"I couldn't think I could go that fast," Irie told Australian television, speaking through a translator. "I can say only one phrase: unbelievable."
Irie finished fifth behind Lochte in Beijing but has since established himself as the top men's backstroker in the world.
He came within 0.08 of Lochte's world record at the Japanese national championships in April then was just 0.02 outside Aaron Peirsol's 100 backstroke record at the Duel in the Pool on Saturday.
Irie, a Kinki University student from Osaka, won yesterday's race by more than five seconds, a huge margin in a sport where medals are often decided by hundredths of a second, and promised to go even quicker at this year's world championships in Rome.
"I am going to swim in the world championships and I am going to break (the world record) again," he said.
Irie's record was the first in the Australian Institute of Sport pool since Michael Klim's 100-meter butterfly world mark of 51.81 seconds in December 1999.
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