Japanese teenager Shin Ohashi has broken the men’s 200-metre breaststroke world record, winning gold at the Asian Games in Tokyo on Thursday.

The 17-year-old clocked 2 minutes, 04.83 seconds, lowering the previous world record of 2:05.48 set by China’s Qin Haiyang in July 2023.

Ohashi dominated the race from the start and finished 3.84 seconds ahead of silver medallist Denis Petrashov of Kyrgyzstan.

The world record was Ohashi’s second gold medal of the competition after he won the 100m breaststroke earlier in the week following a dead heat with China’s Dong Zhihao.

Ohashi said breaking the world record had always been one of his targets and thanked those who supported him ahead of the competition.

The teenager now has his sights set on further major honours, saying his next objective is to win gold at next year’s World Championships before targeting Olympic gold at the Los Angeles Games.

Qin Haiyang, whose previous world record stood for more than three years, did not compete in the 200m breaststroke at this year’s Asian Games.