Shioura Thows Down 21.67 Asian Record On Penultimate Night In Tokyo

2019 JAPAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, April 2nd – Monday, April 8th
• Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo, Japan
• LCM
• Qualifying Meet for 2019 World Championships
• Meet Site
• SwimSwam Preview
• Psych Sheets (in Japanese)
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap/Day 5 Recap
• Results
• Live Stream

After having missed individual qualification in the men’s 100m freestyle earlier here in Tokyo, Shinri Shioura came back with a vengeance in the men’s 50m freestyle event, knocking down the Asian Continental and Japanese National Record in tonight’s semi-finals.

The 27-year-old Olympian led the men’s field after heats with a solid 22.00 morning outing, only to take things to an entirely new level this evening to clock a monster effort of 21.67 to take lane 4 for the final.

Shioura’s massive effort tonight overtakes the previous Asian continental and Japanese national record of 21.87 set by teammate Katsumi Nakamura just earlier this year, with still the final to come.

Proving that 27 years is still young in sprinting terms in today’s world of swimming, Shioura’s time is his best in 5 years. His previous PB sat at the 21.88 he established as the JPN national record back in 2014.

Incredibly, as a testament to how strict the Japanese-dictated qualification times are for Gwangju, Shioura’s 21.67 national record would dip under the 21.71 minimum World Championships selection standard by just .04. Shioura will need to hit the same type of time in tomorrow night’s final in order to make the squad in this event

Koushirou Sakai is lurking as the 2nd seeded swimmer in 22.18, a new personal best, while former record holder Nakamura lurks as the 3rd seed in 22.26, now with extra motivation to take back his record tomorrow night.

In terms of the season rankings, Shioura’s time now makes the man the 2nd fastest swimmer in the world, sitting only behind Italian Andrea Vergani.

As a refresher, Shioura had to sit out last year’s Short Course World Championships due to tonsillitis complications, which required him to sit out for several weeks.