2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships
- August 21-24, 2024
- Canberra, Australia
- LCM (50 meters)
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- All Days Prelim Heat Sheet
- Prelims Recaps: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4
- Finals Recaps: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4
GIRLS 200 BREASTSTROKE – FINALS
- World Junior Record: 2:19.64 – Viktoriya Gunes, TUR (2015)
Meet Record: 2:25.46 – Zoe Bartel, USA (2016)- All Comers Record: 2:20.04 – Rie Kaneto, JPN (2016)
Top 8 Results
- Kotomi Kato (Japan) – 2:24.73 (Meet Record)
- Julia Remington (Australia) – 2:27.53
- Addie Robillard (USA) – 2:30.20
- Kotomi Sato (Japan) – 2:30.46
- Hayley Mackinder (Australia) – 2:30.73
- Shima Taghavi (Canada) – 2:32.88
- Kamila Blanchard (Canada) – 2:32.96
- Raya Mellott (USA) – 2:33.96
Japan’s Kotomi Kato turned in another record-breaking breaststroke performance on the last night of finals at the 2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, winning the 200 breast in a time of 2:24.73 to shatter the meet record.
The feat marked her second championship record of the meet, having already broken the Junior Pan Pacs record in the 100 breast earlier in the week.
The previous record of 2:25.46 was set by Zoe Bartel from the United States back in 2016. Kato’s performance not only shaved .73 off the record time, but also set a whole new standard by bumping it below the 2:25 mark.
Split Comparison
| Kato – New JPP Record | Bartel – Previous JPP Record (2016) | |
| 50 | 33.34 | 34.16 |
| 100 | 1:10.34 (37.00) | 1:10.45 (36.29) |
| 150 | 1:47.76 (37.42) | 1:48.48 (38.03) |
| 200 | 2:24.73 (36.97) | 2:25.76 (36.98) |
Kato also lowered her own career best time by .81 from her previous best of 2:25.54, marking her first time ever swimming in the 2:24 range.
Kato’s biggest competition in the race was the meet record, as she led the field by a wide margin right from the start. She held the lead by over a second at the 100-meter mark and claimed a definitive victory at the end, speeding into the wall almost three seconds ahead of runner-up Julia Remington from Australia.
Thanks to her second record-breaking performance of the meet, Kato completed a sweep of the breaststroke events, bringing home gold for Japan in both the 100 and 200.