Veteran Japanese swimmer Rie Kaneto rocked a brand new All Comers Record, as well as a shiny new Japanese National Record in the women’s 200m breaststroke while competing at the 2016 Aquatic Super Series in Perth.
At 27 years old, Kaneto threw down a personal best time of 2:20.04 to obliterate the previous All Comers mark of 2:20.54 held by Australian Hall of Famer, Leisel Jones, since 2006.
With her outstanding performance tonight, Kaneto downed her own Japanese National Record and Asian Record in the event, destroying her old mark of 2:20.72 set all the way back in 2009 (aka, the rubber suit era). She now sits as the absolute top time in the world by a wide margin:
2015-2016 LCM Women 200 BREAST
KANETO
2.19.65
| 2 | Yulia EFIMOVA | RUS | 2.21.41 | 03/04 |
| 3 | Taylor McKEOWN | AUS | 2.21.45 | 04/12 |
| 4 | Rikke PEDERSEN | DEN | 2.21.69 | 05/20 |
| 5 | Jinglin SHI | CHN | 2.22.28 | 08/11 |
Splits for Kaneto’s time tonight were as follows: 1:08.55/1:11.49
To add to the superlatives, Kaneto’s time would have won gold at least year’s World Championships….by over a full second. The winning time was that of Japanese teammate Kanako Watanabe in 2:21.15, so tonight’s sub-2:21 just demolished that already-impressive swim. In that Worlds race, Kaneto clocked a 2:23.19, so the seasoned swimmer ripped a time in Perth over 3 seconds beneath that outing from just about 6 months ago.
Kaneto now ranks as the 5th-fastest performer of all time in the event – again, at 27 years old.
Women’s Top 5 Performers in 200 Breast:
Rikke Pederson (DEN) – 2:19.11, 2013
Yulia Efimova (RUS) – 2:19.41, 2013
Rebecca Soni (USA) – 2:19.59, 2012
Viktoria Gunes (TUR) – 2:19.64, 2015
Rie Kaneto (JPN) – 2:20.04, 2016
I would love to see Kaneto and Watanabe go 1-2 in the 200 breast in Rio. Rie Kaneto has been knocking on the door of greatness and posting fantastic times for so long but has never been able to put it together when it counts. I hope this gave her the confidence to do it in Rio and end her career with a bang. She has a beautiful stroke.
Um, the top 5 list is
1. Pedersen 2:19.11 2013
2. Efimova 2:19.41 2013
3. Soni 2:19.59 2012
4. Gunes 2:19.64 2015
5. Kaneto 2:20.04 2016
Also, the 200 breast in Rio looks awesome, Gunes vs Watanabe vs Kaneto, and maybe Pedersen or Efimova can comeback to strength. Either way I predict a world record in this event this year.
Once again the magic of Japanese breaststrokers.
Wonderful swimmers with a great beautiful technique.