World record progression 200 metres breaststroke

The first world record in the men's 200 metres breaststroke in long course (50 metres) swimming was recognised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 1908 and the first world record in the women's 200 metres breaststroke was recognised in 1921. In the short course (25 metres) swimming events the world's governing body recognizes world records since March 3, 1991.

There have been two rule changes enacted by FINA for this event that have resulted in the nullification of world records.

In the mid-1930s, many breaststroke swimmers began practicing an early variant of the butterfly stroke that involved recovering the arms above the water in an effort to reduce drag. This technique was disallowed when the butterfly stroke was established as a distinct stroke with its own rules in 1952, and world records set using the technique were nullified.

Another style was developed by the Japanese swimmer Masaru Furukawa shortly after this rule change. It involved swimming underwater for as much of each pool length as possible without surfacing, as the act of breaking the water's surface created resistance, slowing a swimmer. This method of swimming the breaststroke was disallowed by FINA in 1956 and records set with the technique were nullified.

(see History of swimming)

Contents

Men

Long course

Time Swimmer Date Place
3:09.2 Frederick Holman July 18, 1908 London, United Kingdom
3:08.3 Robert Andersson April 18, 1909 Stockholm, Sweden
3:00.8 Félicien Courbet October 2, 1910 Schaarbeek, Belgium
2:56.6 Percy Courtman July 28, 1914 Garston, United Kingdom
2:54.4 Erich Rademacher November 12, 1922 Amsterdam, Netherlands
2:52.6 Bob Skelton March 21, 1924 Milwaukee, United States
2:50.4 Erich Rademacher April 7, 1924 Magdeburg, Germany
2:48.0 Erich Rademacher March 11, 1927 Brussels, Belgium
2:45.0 Yoshiyuki Tsuruta July 27, 1929 Kyoto, Japan
2:44.6 Lionel Spence April 2, 1931 Chicago, United States
2:44.0 Lionel Spence April 1, 1932 New Haven, United States
2:42.6 Jacques Cartonnet February 8, 1933 Paris, France
2:42.4 Erwin Sietas March 16, 1935 Düsseldorf, Germany
2:39.6 Jacques Cartonnet May 4, 1935 Paris, France
2:37.2 Jack Kasley March 28, 1936 New Haven, United States
2:36.8 Alfred Nakache July 6, 1941 Marseille, France
2:35.6 Joseph Verdeur April 5, 1946 Bainbridge, United States
2:35.0 Joseph Verdeur February 15, 1947 New Haven, United States
2:32.0 Joseph Verdeur February 14, 1948 New Haven, United States
2:30.5 Joseph Verdeur April 2, 1948 New Haven, United States
2:30.0 Joseph Verdeur June 28, 1948 New Haven, United States
2:28.3 Joseph Verdeur March 31, 1950 New Haven, United States
2:27.3 Herbert Klein June 9, 1951 Munich, West Germany
2:37.4 Knud Gleie March 14, 1952 Copenhagen, Denmark
2:36.6 Masaru Furukawa April 10, 1954 Tokyo, Japan
2:35.4 Masaru Furukawa April 10, 1954 Tokyo, Japan
2:35.2 Mamoru Tanaka September 17, 1954 Tokyo, Japan
2:33.7 Masaru Furukawa August 5, 1955 Tokyo, Japan
2:31.0 Masaru Furukawa October 1, 1955 Tokyo, Japan
2:36.5 Terence Gathercole June 28, 1958 Townsville, Australia
2:33.6 Chester Jastremski July 28, 1961 Tokyo, Japan
2:29.6 Chester Jastremski August 19, 1961 Los Angeles, United States
2:28.2 Chester Jastremski August 30, 1964 New York City, United States
2:27.8 Ian O'Brien October 15, 1964 Tokyo, Japan
2:27.4 Vladimir Kosinsky April 3, 1968 Tallinn, USSR
2:26.5 Nikolai Pankin March 22, 1969 Minsk, USSR
2:25.4 Nikolai Pankin April 19, 1969 Magdeburg, East Germany
2:23.5 Brian Job August 22, 1970 Los Angeles, United States
2:22.79 John Hencken August 5, 1972 Chicago, United States
2:21.55 John Hencken September 2, 1972 Munich, West Germany
2:20.52 John Hencken August 24, 1973 Louisville, United States
2:19.28 David Wilkie September 6, 1973 Belgrade, Yugoslavia
2:18.93 John Hencken August 24, 1974 Concord, United States
2:18.21 John Hencken September 1, 1974 Concord, United States
2:15.11 David Wilkie July 24, 1976 Montreal, Canada
2:14.77 Victor Davis August 5, 1982 Guayaquil, Ecuador
2:14.58 Victor Davis June 17, 1984 Etobicoke, Canada
2:13.34 Victor Davis August 2, 1984 Los Angeles, United States
2:12.90 Mike Barrowman August 4, 1989 Los Angeles, United States
2:12.90e Nick Gillingham August 19, 1989 Bonn, West Germany
2:12.89 Mike Barrowman August 20, 1989 Tokyo, Japan
2:11.53 Mike Barrowman July 20, 1990 Seattle, United States
2:11.23 Mike Barrowman January 11, 1991 Perth, Australia
2:10.60 Mike Barrowman August 13, 1991 Fort Lauderdale, United States
2:10.16 Mike Barrowman July 29, 1992 Barcelona, Spain
2:09.97 Kosuke Kitajima October 2, 2002 Busan, South Korea
2:09.52 Dimitri Komornikov June 15, 2003 Barcelona, Spain
2:09.42 Kosuke Kitajima July 24, 2003 Barcelona, Spain
2:09.04 Brendan Hansen July 11, 2004 Long Beach, United States
2:08.74 Brendan Hansen August 5, 2006 Irvine, United States
2:08.50 Brendan Hansen August 21, 2006 Victoria, Canada
2:07.51 Kosuke Kitajima June 8, 2008 Tokyo, Japan
2:07.31 Christian Sprenger July 30, 2009 Rome, Italy

Short course

Time Swimmer Date Place
2:07.93 Nick Gillingham October 20, 1991 Birmingham, United Kingdom
2:07.80 Philip Rogers August 28, 1993 Melbourne, Australia
2:07.79 Andrey Korneyev March 28, 1998 Paris, France
2:07.59 Roman Sloudnov March 19, 2000 Athens, Greece
2:06.40 Ed Moses March 25, 2000 Minneapolis, United States
2:04.37 Ed Moses January 18, 2002 Paris, France
2:03.28 Ed Moses January 22, 2002 Stockholm, Sweden
2:03.17 Ed Moses January 26, 2002 Berlin, Germany
2:02.92 Ed Moses January 17, 2004 Berlin, Germany
2:01.98 Christian Sprenger August 10, 2009 Hobart, Australia
2:00.67 Dániel Gyurta December 13, 2009 Istanbul, Turkey

Women

Long course

Time Swimmer Date Place
3:38.2 E. Van Den Bogaert August 7, 1921 Antwerp, Belgium
3:34.6 E. Van Den Bogaert May 6, 1922 Brussels, Belgium
3:31.4 E. Van Den Bogaert October 4, 1922 Antwerp, Belgium
3:20.4 Irene Gilbert June 18, 1923 Rotherham, United Kingdom
3:20.2 Erna Murray April 5, 1925 Leipzig, Germany
3:19.1 Brita Hazelius August 11, 1926 Stockholm, Sweden
3:18.4 Mietje Baron October 24, 1926 Brussels, Belgium
3:16.6 Else Jacobsen August 20, 1927 Oslo, Norway
3:15.8 Charlotte Mühe April 15, 1928 Magdeburg, Germany
3:11.2 Mietje Baron April 22, 1928 Rotterdam, Netherlands
3:11.2 Charlotte Mühe July 15, 1928 Berlin, Germany
3:10.6 Margery Hinton July 20, 1931 Manchester, United Kingdom
3:08.4 Clare Dennis January 18, 1932 Sydney, Australia
3:08.2 Lisa Rocke April 21, 1932 Leipzig, Germany
3:03.4 Else Jacobsen May 11, 1932 Stockholm, Sweden
3:00.4 Hideko Maehata September 30, 1933 Tokyo, Japan
3:00.2 Jopie Waalberg May 11, 1937 Amsterdam, Netherlands
2:58.0 Jopie Waalberg June 27, 1937 Zaandijk, Netherlands
2:56.9 Jopie Waalberg October 2, 1937 Ghent, Belgium
2:56.0 Maria Lenk November 8, 1939 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2:55.5 Anni Kapell March 19, 1941 Düsseldorf, Germany
2:52.6 Nel van Vliet August 17, 1946 Bilthoven, Netherlands
2:51.9 Nel van Vliet March 29, 1947 Amsterdam, Netherlands
2:49.2 Nel van Vliet July 20, 1947 Hilversum, Netherlands
2:48.8 Eva Novak October 21, 1950 Székesfehérvár, Hungary
2:48.5 Eva Novak May 5, 1951 Moscow, USSR
2:46.4 Ada den Haan November 13, 1956 Naarden, Netherlands
2:52.6 Ada den Haan May 18, 1957 Blackpool, United Kingdom
2:51.9 Ada den Haan August 3, 1957 Rhenen, Netherlands
2:51.3 Ada den Haan August 4, 1957 Rhenen, Netherlands
2:50.3 Anita Lonsbrough July 25, 1959 Waalwijk, Netherlands
2:50.2 Wiltrud Urselmann June 6, 1960 Aachen, West Germany
2:49.5 Anita Lonsbrough August 27, 1960 Rome, Italy
2:48.9 Karin Breyer August 5, 1961 Budapest, Hungary
2:47.7 Galina Prozumenshchikova April 11, 1964 Blackpool, United Kingdom
2:45.4 Galina Prozumenshchikova May 17, 1964 East Berlin, East Germany
2:45.3 Galina Prozumenshchikova September 12, 1965 Groningen, Netherlands
2:40.8 Galina Prozumenshchikova August 22, 1966 Utrecht, Netherlands
2:40.5 Catie Ball July 9, 1967 Santa Clara, California
2:39.5 Catie Ball August 20, 1967 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2:38.5 Catie Ball August 26, 1968 Los Angeles, California
2:38.32 Julia Bogdanova April 7, 1971 Leningrad, USSR
2:37.89 Anne-Katrin Schott July 6, 1974 Rostock, East Germany
2:37.44 Karla Linke August 19, 1974 Vienna, Austria
2:34.99 Karla Linke August 19, 1974 Vienna, Austria
2:33.35 Marina Koshevaia July 21, 1976 Montreal, Quebec
2:33.11 Lina Kachushite August 24, 1978 West Berlin
2:31.42 Lina Kachushite August 24, 1978 West Berlin
2:31.09 Svetlana Varganova March 30, 1979 Minsk, USSR
2:28.36 Lina Kachushite April 6, 1979 Potsdam, East Germany
2:28.33 Silke Hörner June 5, 1985 Leipzig, East Germany
2:28.20 Sylvia Gerasch March 1, 1986 Leningrad, USSR
2:27.40 Silke Hörner August 18, 1986 Madrid, Spain
2:27.27 Allison Higson May 28, 1988 Montreal, Quebec
2:26.71 Silke Hörner September 21, 1988 Seoul, South Korea
2:25.92 Anita Nall March 2, 1992 Indianapolis, Indiana
2:25.35 Anita Nall March 2, 1992 Indianapolis, Indiana
2:24.76 Rebecca Brown March 15, 1994 Brisbane, Australia
2:24.69 Penelope Heyns July 17, 1999 Los Angeles, California
2:24.51 Penelope Heyns July 17, 1999 Los Angeles, California
2:24.42 Penelope Heyns August 26, 1999 Sydney, Australia
2:23.64 Penelope Heyns August 27, 1999 Sydney, Australia
2:22.99 Qi Hui April 13, 2001 Hangzhou, PR China
2:22.99e Amanda Beard July 25, 2003 Barcelona, Spain
2:22.96 Leisel Jones July 10, 2004 Brisbane, Australia
2:22.44 Amanda Beard July 12, 2004 Long Beach, California
2:21.72 Leisel Jones July 29, 2005 Montreal, Quebec
2:20.54 Leisel Jones February 1, 2006 Melbourne, Australia
2:20.22 Rebecca Soni August 15, 2008 Beijing, PR China
2:20.12 Annamay Pierse July 30, 2009 Rome, Italy

Short course

Time Swimmer Date Place
2:22.89 Guohong Dai December 3, 1993 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2:21.99 Guohong Dai December 3, 1993 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2:20.85 Samantha Riley December 1, 1995 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2:20.22 Masami Tanaka April 2, 1999 Hong Kong, PR China
2:19.25 Qi Hui January 28, 2001 Paris, France
2:18.86 Qi Hui December 2, 2002 Shanghai, PR China
2:17.75 Leisel Jones November 29, 2003 Melbourne, Australia
2:17.50 Annamay Pierse March 14, 2009 Toronto, Canada[1]
2:16.83 Annamay Pierse August 7, 2009 Leeds, United Kingdom
2:15.42 Leisel Jones November 15, 2009 Berlin, Germany
2:14.57 Rebecca Soni December 18, 2009 Manchester, England

References

  1. ^ http://tsn.ca/summer_sports/story/?id=271257&lid=sublink03&lpos=headlines_main
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