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Japanese Hirako breaks men's 5,000m speed skating Asian record
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-01-29 13:04

CHANGCHUN, Northeast China - Japanese Hiroki Hirako broke the Asian record to pocket the men's 5,000m speedskating title at the 6th Asian Winter Games here on Monday.

Japanese Hirako breaks men's 5,000m speed skating Asian record
Japan's Hiroki Hirako competes in the men's 5000 meters Asian Winter Games Speed Skating race in Changchun in northeastern China's Jilin Province January 29, 2007. Hirako set an Asian record with a time of six minutes 39.71 seconds. [Reuters]

Hirako rushed to win in six minutes and 39.71 seconds, improving the previous Asian mark of 6:41.62 set by Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Babenko who competed side by side against him.

Yeo Sang-Yeop of South Korea came second in 6:43.34 while Babenko bagged a bronze in 6:43.40.