Ryosuke Irie swims 1:54.02 in 200m back - only .08 slower than Ryan Lochte's WR

http://www.swimnews.com/News/view/6799

I was really afraid Ryosuke Irie would break Ryan's 200m back WR at the Japanese nationals. He didn't break it, but he came incredibly close - .08 seconds.

Here's what Irie said about the race as quoted in the swimnews.com article:

"I was very disappointed because I targeted to break the world record," Irie told local reporters. "I want to put this disappointment behind me at the world Championships in July. You cannot make it unless you try to do it from the very beginning. I felt so good at the 50m and 100m points. I'll do my best to live up to the expectations of the people."

Also from the swimnews.com article is a comparison of Ryan's and Irie's split times:

"The 200m backstroke splits compared:

Lochte: 27.24; 55.77; 1:25.06; 1:53.94
Irie: 27.08; 56.22; 1:25.34; 1:54.02

Irie's first and last laps faster, then, than Lochte's."

This isn't entirely accurate. Actually, Irie swam faster than Ryan for the 1st, 3rd and 4th laps, but much slower for the 2nd lap. The breakdowns for each 50 were as follows:

Lochte: 27.24; 28.53; 29.29; 28.88
Irie: 27.08; 29.14; 29.12; 28.68

Irie lost the WR on his 2nd lap, not on the back half of the race. Still, an extremely impressive swim.