Yasuhiro Koseki set a new national record Wednesday as he took bronze in the men's 100-meter breaststroke at the FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships.
The 26-year-old Koseki touched in a time of 56.13 seconds, 0.03 seconds behind silver medalist Ilya Shymanovich of Belarus. South Africa's Cameron Van Der Burgh won gold in 56.01.
The result marked a strong return to competition for Koseki, who opted to forgo surgery to treat pain in his left knee following this year's Asian Games in Indonesia, where he won a third straight 100 breaststroke crown.
Also Wednesday, Suzuka Hasegawa took bronze in the women's 200 butterfly with a time of 2 minutes, 4.04 seconds.
She finished 2.44 seconds behind winner Katinka Hosszu of Hungary and 2.31 seconds back from silver medalist Kelsi Dahlia of the United States.
The Japanese women finished fourth in the 4x50 medley relay. The United States took gold ahead of China and the Netherlands.