TOKYO, Japan, August 28. AT the Junior Olympic Summer Games national cup being held in Tokyo this week, Kosuke Hagino lowered his national high school record in the men's 200 back.
Hagino dropped a blistering time of 1:55.74 in the distance dorsal to surpass his previous high school standard of 1:55.81 set at the Japanese High School Championships earlier this month. That time had moved him to sixth in the world. Today's effort kept him there, as Zhang Fenglin of China held on to fifth with a 1:55.59 from the Olympics.
Hagino had a strong outing at the 2012 London Olympics earlier this summer, setting an Asian record in the men's 400 IM with a blistering 4:08.94 to earn bronze in London behind Ryan Lochte and Thiago Pereira. In the process, Hagino held Michael Phelps off the podium. Along with his 200 back time today, he's moving into early title contention at the 2013 Worlds and beyond.