After Japan’s Ryosuke Irie made a big splash with a new Australian All-Comers Record in the 200 backstroke at the Western Australia Open State Championships, he wasn’t done with his domination.
He would go on to break two of the oldest State Records in Australia in the 50 and 100 backstrokes. In the 50, his 25.24 tops this year’s World Rankings and breaks a 21-year old Western Australia All-Comers mark held by Jeff Rouse from 1991 at 25.98.
Later, he would twice lower a 100 backstroke mark set by the legend Lenny Krayzelburg in 1998. First, leading off the 400 medley relay in 53.32 (which would stay as the mark, and stands as the best time in the world this year), and then in the individual 100 with a 53.54 (the 2nd-best time in the world this year).
If we go ahead and read too-far into these swims, Irie was about four-tenths faster than his 53.3 from the relay at 2011’s World Championships. His 200 backstroke at this meet, however, was faster than he was at Worlds. That could mean that Irie is not maxed-out in that 200 at this meet, which puts him a bit closer to challenging Ryan Lochte in London (remember that Irie is only 21, so it would not be a shock to see big time drops from last year to this).
One thing is that Asian physiology and development is different from a caucasian’s. Asian men (and women) tend to hit growth spurts and develop at a younger age. I would be surprised to see bigger time drops to a 152.