Ryosuke Irie world record

World record held by Ryosuke Irie.

Ryosuke Irie hacked 1.08sec off the 200m backstroke world record held by Ryan Lochte (USA), Olympic champion, with a 1:52.86 win at the Duel in the Pool between Australia and Japan in Canberra today. Irie did not wear the arena X-Glide leggings, a suit not yet approved by FINA for use, as first reported, but a new product developed by arena Japan and Descente.

Lochte Vs Irie splits compared:

• Irie: 26.84, 55.46 (28.62), 1:24.42 (28.96), 1:52.86 (28.44)
• Lochte: 27.24, 55.77 (28.53), 1:25.06 (29.29), 1:53.94 (28.88)

So Irie can go out faster than Lochte but the bulk of that second gained on the American's standard came in the second-half of the race. Lochte, a 4:06 400 medley man may need to look at his fitness/endurance levels. Alternatively he could go shopping for the right suit for this season. Full body versions of the suit were worn by Alain Bernard (FRA) in the 100m freestyle and Yulia Efimova (RUS) in the 50m breaststroke in the past month, while the Jaked suit, another 100% non-permeable performance-enhancer, was responsible for other global standards this year.

There are those who will doubtless point to the fact that Irie wore "only" leggings. Ask any of those who have conducted lab tests on suits over the past 18 months if fast fabric leggings make a difference to speed and endurance and they say" yes, no question. Angle of buoyancy is altered in all of these suits. No question. That Irie is clearly a fine technician and talent simply highlights the tragedy of the situation: not a single person I know in the swimming world could tell me hand on heart what difference the suit made. All we know is that it made a difference.

Irie hacked more than a second off the mark. The last time that happened at global level in the 200m backstroke was back in 1976, when John Naber, a powerhouse of a man, became the first man to break 2mins and brought and end to the era of Roland Matthes. That goggles were worn for the first time at an Olympic Games doubtless had an impact on the clock and accounted for some of the peaks of progress that had not been seen until 2008 onwards and the introduction of non-permeable fabrics into the race pool. The pioneering element of the suits was not the fabric itself - such things have been around in the world for many a long year. But they had never been allowed in suits before (Diana was refused when it tried to introduce such a suit in 2007).

As for goggles Vs suits: little comparison. Goggles helped people to see and seeing is helpful at the turn and in other ways, so speed is improved. Suits contribute directly to speed, the efficiency of stroke, technique, angle of buoyancy and much more that used to set one swimmer apart from another without reference to a suit.

In the days of Krisztina Egerszegi and Alex Popov, to name just a few at the tip of generations of greats, when technique and a workload beyond the norm were clearly overriding factors, the swimming story was one of excellence, outstanding qualities, nurture and nature. The suit was not a part of the discussion. That would be impossible today for all but those who are determined to turn a blind eye to the fact that the sport we knew is dead and an impostor has taken its place.

Irie's effort made it 18 world records so far this year, 15 of them long-course, after the 26.89 blast of Felipe Silva in the 50m breaststroke at the Maria Lenk Trophy in Rio last Friday. We are still in the second week in May. There will be those saying 'ah, but you would expect that in world championship year'. No you would not.

That's 15 world l/c records so far this post-Olympic year with a world champs in the middle of the northern summer pending. Take the first five months of the post-Olympic world championship years 1994, 1998 (which includes the world championship result of January that year), 2001, 2005, and you have a total (that’s all four years) of 9 world records, all but two in 2001, when the world was catching up with a new trend seen for the first time in Olympic waters in Sydney: the drag-resistant full bodysuit.