Sydney - Japan's Ryosuke Irie set a new 200-metre backstroke record Sunday in a race in Australia. Swimming in Canberra, Irie broke American Ryan Lochte's Beijing Olympics mark by more than one second with a time of 1 minute 52.86 seconds.
The time may not be ratified because the 19-year-old wore a hi-tech Arena swimsuit that international swimming body FINA may rule illegal for providing too much buoyancy.
Irie said he would be world champion regardless, promising to lower the mark when he competes at July's World Championships in Rome.
"I am going to swim in the World Championships and I am going to break it again," he said.
Australian national head coach Alan Thompson said he wasn't surprised by Irie's time.
"He's probably technically one of the best backstrokers you'd ever want to see and I think it was probably just a matter of time before he broke the world record," he said.
