Sanberk Oktar Cracks Turkish Record in The 200 IM with 1:59.89 for World Jr Gold

2022 FINA WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• August 30-September 4, 2022
• Lima, Peru
• Long Course Meters (50m), Prelims/Semis/Finals
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    • Prelims: 10:30 AM (ET)
    • Finals: 7:00 PM (ET)
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BOYS 200 IM — FINALS

• World Record — 1:54.00, Ryan Lochte, USA (2011)
• World Junior Record — 1:56.99, Hubert Kos, HUN (2021)
• World Jr Champ Record — 1:58.46, Carson Foster, USA (2019)

Top 8:

1. Sanberk Oktar (TUR) – 1:59.89
2. Tomoyuki Matsushita (JPN) – 2:00.89
3. Yuta Watanabe (JPN) – 2:01.39
4. Simone Spediacci (ITA) – 2:01.90
5. Minkyu Noh (KOR) – 2:02.89
6. Roberto Bonilla (GUA) – 2:03.34
7. Kian Keylock (RSA) – 2:03.71
8. Kun-Ming Fu (TPE) – 2:05.29

Turkey’s Sanberk Oktar took down Berke Saka‘s Turkish national record en route to his victory in the boys 200 IM. Saka’s old record stood at 2:00.04, which was set at the 2021 European Junior Championships.

Oktar’s previous best time was 2:00.68, which was set earlier this summer at European Juniors. Oktar pulled away from the rest of the field in the backstroke leg, putting up the fastest split by almost half a second. He also put up the fastest breaststroke split in the field, extending his lead to 1.42 seconds heading into the final 50.

Split Comparison:

Oktar’s butterfly split gave him the advantage on Saka’s record. The two had very similar backstroke and breastroke splits, and Saka had the faster freestyle split, but the 1.30 seconds gap Oktar created with his fly was enough to undercut the record.

Japan took silver and bronze due to Tomoyuki Matsushita early lead and Yuta Watanabe‘s late charge out of lane 1 to overtake Simone Spediacci.