57th TOKYO SWIMMING CENTER OUTSTANDING ATHLETES INVITATIONAL
The 57th Tokyo Swimming Center Outstanding Athletes Invitational marched on in Japan, with day three giving us an intense battle in the men’s 50m breaststroke as the marquee event of the evening.
Getting to the wall first in the event was visiting athlete Gideon Burnes, with the Australian ace ripping a time of 26.94 to take the gold.
That checked in as a lifetime best for the man who just turned 21 last month, easily overtaking his former PB of 27.24 to dip under the 27-second threshold for the first time in his young career.
In doing so, Burnes becomes his nation’s 3rd-fastest men’s 50m breaststroke performer in history.
Top 5 Australian Men’s LCM 50 Breaststroke Performers All-Time
- Sam Williamson – 26.32, 2024
- Christian Sprenger – 26.74, 2014
- Gideon Burnes – 26.94, 2026
- Brenton Rickard – 26.95, 2009
- James McKechnie – 27.02, 2018
As another perk of Burnes’ performance, he was able to defeat on-fire Shin Ohashi of the host nation.
17-year-old prodigy Ohashi, the reigning World Record holder in the 200m breast, settled for silver in the race, clocking a still-impressive performance of 27.12 as the runner-up. That was within striking distance of his lifetime best of 26.98 logged in March, as well as the 27.01 which garnered in the bronze medal in the event at this year’s Asian Games.
Another Aussie, Matthew Loffler, rounded out the podium in 27.48. That’s a PB for Loffler, erasing his 27.74 from this year’s World Championship Trials.
The other highlight of the evening came in the men’s 400m free, with Asaki Nishikawa notching a solid outing of 3:47.36 to top the podium.
That held off World Championships medalist Tatsuya Murasa, who grabbed silver in 3:48.77, while Kaito Tabuchi bagged the bronze in 3:50.07.
At just 20 years of age, Nishikawa currently ranks 5th in the world in this race, courtesy of the 3:46.07 he put up in September at a domestic meet.
