Ippei Watanabe Breaks 200 Breast World Record (RACE VIDEO)

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Japan’s Ippei Watanabe broke the world record in the men’s 200 breast Sunday, becoming the first man to ever crack the 2:07-barrier in the event.

Watanabe posted a time of 2:06.67 at the Kosuke Kitajima Cup in Tokyo, breaking the 2:07.01 set by countryman Akihiro Yamaguchi in Sept. 2012.

“I’m very surprised, I didn’t think I could break a world record,” Watanabe said, according to the Associated Press. “I want to become a swimmer who can keep breaking records.”

Check out the video of Watanabe’s record-setting performance below.

Watanabe previously ranked third all-time in the event at 2:07.22, having swum that time in the semi-finals of the event at the Olympic Games last summer in Rio. He went on to finish sixth in the final a day later, but his time from Rio still stands as the Olympic record.

The performance comes, ironically, at a meet named after Kosuke Kitajima, the Japanese breaststroker who won gold in both the 100 and 200-meter distances in both Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. Kitajima is widely regarded as one of the greatest breaststrokers of all time.

News of the record was publicized on Twitter, and Kitajima responded with congratulations to his countryman.

渡辺一平選手世界記録おめでとう?
素晴らしい瞬間に立ち会えたことに感謝！！

— Kosuke Kitajima (@kitajimakosuke) January 29, 2017

(Rough translation: “Congratulations Ippei Watanabe players world record. Thanks to those wonderful feelings!)

This graphic from USA Swimming High Performance Manager Russell Mark compares splits from Watanabe’s swim to recent world record-breaking performances.

ICYMI Watanabe 2 brst WR?<VID+ TOP 4 DATA> Late kick & fast heels? Body+hands shoot fwd? Last 50m=⬆️tempo+⬆️strokes? https://t.co/mPMGbJX2DQ pic.twitter.com/P9TqFXFECZ

— Russell Mark (@RussellMark1226) January 30, 2017

USA Swimming Stats tweeted a graphic of the world record progression in the event from the last 15 years, going back to when Kitajima became the first man to break 2:10 in 2002. Kitajima and longtime rival Brendan Hansen each lowered the mark three times over that span.

The progression of the world record in the men's 200m Breaststroke. Ippei Watanabe (JPN) swam a 2:06.67 earlier today. An awesome swim. pic.twitter.com/XYJ2UOsqDP

— USA Swimming Stats (@USASwimStats) January 29, 2017

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56 Comments

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Mike Lewellyn

7 years ago

American breaststrokers better get off the schnide and get to work.

Dayan A Manathunga

7 years ago

I knew this was coming!

Tim Laurens

7 years ago

Megan Wolff Prinsloo showing flames!!!!

Ben Ruback

7 years ago

Hamish Trlin Liam Albery

Melanie Loo

7 years ago

John-Charles Loo

Nicholas Capovilla

7 years ago

Nathan Zhu

Qamar Dogar

7 years ago

Helena Zhou

7 years ago

Yichen Zhou

7 years ago

Reply to Helena Zhou

im a sprinter thats not gonna happen anytime soon

Yichen Zhou

7 years ago

Reply to Helena Zhou

helena thats wat im expecting out of u

Sam McKenzie

7 years ago

Tame Govaerts-Paul

7 years ago

Reply to Sam McKenzie

Surely you’ll be under too with your 59?

Sam McKenzie

7 years ago

Reply to Sam McKenzie

good 1 bro

Tame Govaerts-Paul

7 years ago

Reply to Sam McKenzie

Hey thanks g

Leon Spector

7 years ago

Marchenko Igor

Noa Cne

7 years ago

sous 2:07 Kim Anh Sander c quoi ce mec ??

Kim Anh Sander

7 years ago

Reply to Noa Cne

Ouais c’est énorme! Au boulot hein noa ?

Noa Cne

7 years ago

Reply to Noa Cne

ouai c clair il va falloir venir a l’entrainement deja hein mdrr mais normalement je reviens demain

Noa Cne

7 years ago

Reply to Noa Cne

Kim Anh Sander va snap

Shaheen Alghofari

7 years ago

Mental Joe Stott

Owen Davies

7 years ago

Rory Huggins Polly Lorimer Jack Ford

Polly Lorimer

7 years ago

Reply to Owen Davies

What the hell

Victor Lessa

7 years ago

Maurício

Pat Kennedy

7 years ago

AWESOME

Tony Watanabe

7 years ago

Gambarimasu Watanabe San 🙂

Cambo James

7 years ago

Alex got some work to do haha

Kelvin Yew

7 years ago

https://youtu.be/9OU0ELmBPNU

Ethan Lim

7 years ago

Tyler Shimada ?

Tyler Shimada

7 years ago

Reply to Ethan Lim

I was just about to tag you in swimswam’s article of this

Chio J. Aguilar

7 years ago

Manuel Heriberto

Manuel Heriberto Reyes Pérez

7 years ago

Reply to Chio J. Aguilar

Julie Bryan

7 years ago

Jo Murphy Connor Bryan ?

Simon-Pierre Bélanger

7 years ago

Jonathan Minier

7 years ago

Reply to Simon-Pierre Bélanger

Whaàaat

Jonathan Minier

7 years ago

Reply to Simon-Pierre Bélanger

En janvier calixx

Badreddine Loulidi

7 years ago

Amar Zaidi

Ricardo Parra Hdz

7 years ago

Alejandro Saúl jajajjaja

Sam Kim

7 years ago

Paul Kim

Jeffrey Li

7 years ago

Dave Makhervaks Aaron Elhajj

Aaron Elhajj

7 years ago

Reply to Jeffrey Li

Is that you?

Jeffrey Li

7 years ago

Reply to Jeffrey Li

Aaron Elhajj bruh

Zoë Gossett

7 years ago

Rei Isobe

Grant Wolner

7 years ago

Yousef Almatrok

Zachary Fojtasek

7 years ago

“200 breast world record” it’s a wonder he can move at all

Alexio Dos Santos

7 years ago

Nadia Blaauw Reino von Wielligh Sergio Dos Santos Samantha Blaauw Licinda Kleynhans Abie Van Oort Ludick Nel Wiehann Kock

Jesus Eduardo Cabrera Calleja

7 years ago

Daniel M Heredia Yassir Abdalla no seas burro

Rubén Mako

7 years ago

2:06

Samuel Paquin

7 years ago

Simon-Pierre Bélanger Jonathan Minier Solide!!!! ?

Simon-Pierre Bélanger

7 years ago

Reply to Samuel Paquin

j’ai vu c’est fast

Samuel Paquin

7 years ago

Reply to Samuel Paquin

Ca veut pas dire que si t’es asiatique que t’a une petite queue

Tanner T. T. Do

7 years ago

He train extremely hard when he was training at our pool.

Bill Yuan Hong Sun

7 years ago

Jarrett Hui Victor Luu beat that

Jarrett Hui

7 years ago

Reply to Bill Yuan Hong Sun

Why is it that most Japanese swimmers are fast at breaststroke? I want that

Bill Yuan Hong Sun

7 years ago

Reply to Bill Yuan Hong Sun

learn their technique

Chua Wee Kang Ryan

7 years ago

Tomohiko Watanabe your brother? Haha

Tomohiko Watanabe

7 years ago

Reply to Chua Wee Kang Ryan

If I’m my brother, it can be swum earlier.
What a shame!