#3 Seed and Reigning Silver Medalist Tomoru Honda Misses 2 Fly Semis, #12 Luca Urlando Out Too

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

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Japan’s Tomoru Honda, the reigning Olympic Silver medalist and a three-time medalist at the World Championships, including a World Championships title earlier this year in Doha has missed the semi-finals of the 200 fly. Honda finished 22 overall in a time of 1:57.30.

Honda, the #3 seed overall, swam in the first of the circle-seeded semifinals out of lane 4 and was 4th at the 50 turns, but steadily dropped back to 6th at the 100 and ultimately finished in 8th in the heat.

If we look at Honda’s splits, at the 150 mark, his swim this morning was actually ahead of his swim from Doha, but the Japanese swimmer struggled on the last 50, splitting 31.19, much slower than his 30.21 from Doha.

His 31.19, however, was not the slowest last 50 of the heat as American Luca Urlando, the 12th seed, was leading at the 150 mark (1:23.77) but paid dearly for his early speed and fell from 1st to 5th, closing in 32.41.

Tonight’s semifinal will pit World Record Holder Kristof Milak against Canada’s Ilya Kharun. France’s Leon Marchand safely advanced in 6th, as did Thomas Heilman (11th).

MEN’S 200 BUTTERFLY – HEATS

• World Record: 1:50.34 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2022)
• World Junior Record: 1:53.79 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2017)
• Olympic Record: 1:51.25 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2021)
• 2021 Winning Time: 1:51.25 – Kristof Milak, HUN
• 2021 Time to Advance to Semis: 1:55.96

1. Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:53.92
2. Ilya Kharun (CAN) – 1:54.06
3. Noe Ponti (SUI) – 1:54.77
4. Alberto Razzetti (ITA) – 1:54.78
5. Martin Espernberger (AUT) – 1:5.19
6. Leon Marchand (FRA) – 1:55.26
7. Michal Chmielewski (POL) – 1:55.28
8. Wang Kuan-Hung (TPE) – 1:55.32
9. Krzysztof Cmielewski (POL) – 1:55.42
10. Kregor Zirk (Estonia) – 1:55.42
11. Thomas Heilman (USA) – 1:55.74
12. Giacomo Carini (ITA) – 1:55.81
13. Genki Terakado (JPN) – 1:55.82
14. Arbidel Gonzalez (ESP) – 1:55.86
15. Minseop Kim (KOR) -1:56.02
16. Richard Marton (HUN) – 1:56.03

This morning kicked off with the men’s 200 fly, where Bulgarian Petar Mitsin took the 1st of 4 heats in 1:57.03. That was a good swim for Mitsin, coming in less than a second off his personal best.

The 2nd heat this morning saw Canadian Ilya Kharun put up a very strong performance, winning in 1:54.06. He was out pretty fast, splitting 25.19 on the opening 50m, then went 29.03, 29.92, and 29.92 respectively the rest of the way. Though Kharun didn’t go the fastest time overall this morning, he was notably the only swimmer in the field to keep all 4 of his 50s under 30 seconds.

American Luca Urlando was swimming in the 2nd heat as well. He put up a solid morning swim of 1:56.18. Unfortunately for Urlando, his bid fell just short, as he finished 17th overall this morning, one spot away from advancing. Urlando had pulled into the lead over Kharun in the middle of the race, splitting 28.34 and 29.84 respectively on the 2nd and 3rd 50s, however, he paid for that speed, coming home in 32.41 on the final 50, which saw him fade from 1st all the way to 5th in the heat.

The 3rd heat featured World Record holder Kristof Milak, who led from start to finish. Milak clocked a very encouraging 1:53.92 to win the heat. That time would stand as the fastest of the morning when all was said and done. He was pretty aggressive early in the race this morning, splitting 24.61 and 28.84 on the first pair of 50s for a 53.45 on the opening 100m. He kept it under 30 seconds on the 3rd 50, splitting 29.82, then came home in 30.65. His swim this morning was right on the 1:53.58 he swam in prelims in Tokyo 3 years ago.

Swiss swimmer Noe Ponti was excellent in the 3rd heat as well, swimming a 1:54.77 for 2nd. He established himself as 2nd in the heat early, splitting a 54.00 on the opening 100m, which was 0.55 seconds behind Milak. He would split 30.60 on the 3rd 50, then actually ended up coming home the fastest of anyone in the heat, splitting 30.17 on the final 50.

The final heat was probably the best race of the 4, with Italian Alberto Razzetti swimming a 1:54.78. Leon Marchand was also in the heat, sitting in 2nd for most of the race. Marchand, swimming the first of two races this morning as he’s also in the men’s 200 breast later, clocked a 1:55.26 for 2nd. He finished 6th overall with the time, meanwhile, Razzetti was 4th.

American Thomas Heilman, 17, made it through to semifinals, swimming a 1:55.74, which was good for 11th.