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Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki made a run at the world record in the men’s 200-meter breast semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.
Koseki, out well under world record pace at the 150 with a 1:34.02, wound up fading back to a top-seeded time of 2:08.03. That’s a bit off his lifetime best of 2:07.77 that stands as the top time in the world this year.
Koseki has compatriot Akihiro Yamaguchi’s world record of 2:07.01 from 2012 in his sights heading into finals.
Germany’s Marco Koch charged his way to the second seed in 2:08.34, tying Adam Peaty for the second best time in the world this year. Peaty, surprisingly, missed semis this morning during prelims.
Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta qualified third in 2:08.53. He’s looking to join Grant Hackett and Ryan Lochte as fourpeat winners as he previously won the 200 breast in 2009 (2:07.64), 2011 (2:08.41) and 2013 (2:07.23).
USA’s Kevin Cordes claimed fourth in 2:08.69 with Great Britain’s Andrew Willis taking fifth overall in 2:08.72.
Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin (2:09.22), China’s Mao Feilian (2:09.54) and Russia’s Anton Chupkov (2:09.64) also made the finale.
Chupkov broke the World Junior Record of 2:09.75 set by Ippei Watanabe back in May at the Japan Open.
SCHEDULED EVENTS
- Women’s 100 free semis
- Men’s 200 IM finals
- Women’s 200 breast semis
- Men’s 100 free finals
- Women’s 200 fly finals
- Men’s 200 breast semis
- Women’s 50 back finals
- Men’s 200 back semis
- Women’s 800 free relay finals
