Yumeki Kojima Blasts World Junior Record in 200 IM; Betters Michael Phelps’ Unofficial Junior Best
While the Asian Games feature some of the premier names in the sport, the showcase event at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre will also provide an opportunity for rising stars to flash their talent. That chance was embraced by Japan’s Yumeki Kojima during the opening session of finals, as the 17-year-old popped a world junior record en route to the silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley.
Giving countryman Tomoyuki Matsushita all he could handle throughout the event, Kojima finished in a time of 1:55.36. That time was just off the 1:55.30 from Matsushita, but easily bettered the WJR of Russia’s Mikhail Shcherbakov, who held the record at 1:56.16 from last month’s European Championships in Paris. Kojima also bettered the unofficial world junior record in the event, the 1:55.94 from Michael Phelps in 2003. That effort from Phelps, registered at the United States National Championships and on the heels of the World Championships in Barcelona, was a world record at the time.
Kojima went out in 25.34 for the opening butterfly leg and made the turn at the midway point of the race in 54.61. At that juncture, Kojima was .16 ahead of Matsushita. Kojima touched at the 150-meter turn in 1:27.97, .04 ahead of Matsushita. Although Matsushita was able to pull out the win over the freestyle leg, Kojima was sensational in producing a world junior standard. Kojima is also the WJR record holder in the 400 IM, which he will contest later in the meet.
Kojima has enjoyed a strong summer, as he was the gold medalist in the 200 backstroke at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California. His strong start at the Asian Games moved Kojima to a share of 13th in the all-time rankings in the 200 IM.
