Milak Tops Hagino In Men’s 400 Free, Shioura Edges Out Nakamura In 100 Free

2019 TOKYO OPEN

• Thursday, November 21st – Sunday, November 24th
• Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo, Japan
• LCM
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Results (in Japanese)

While Japanese superstar Daiya Seto took a break on day 2 of the 2019 Tokyo Open, visiting Hungarian swimmer Kristof Milak was back at it this evening at the Tatsumi International Swimming Center.

Registering a time of 3:50.55, the newly-minted long course 200m fly World Record holder touched first in the men’s 400m free tonight, getting to the wall ahead of runner-up Kosuke Hagino. Hagino posted a routine time of 3:51.21, while Yuki Ikari rounded out the top 3 in 3:51.53.

Milak took both the 200m free and 100m fly yesterday, so tonight’s performance makes it gold #3 for the 19-year-old. He took gold in this 400m free event in Buenos Aires last year at the Youth Olympic Games, clocking a podium-topping effort there of 3:48.08.

For Hagino, the 400m IM Olympic champion owns the Japanese national record in this 4free event, having produced a mark of 3:43.90 back in 2014. His recent best time checks-in with the 3:47.20 logged in Jakarta at the 2018 Asian Games, which garnered Hagino the bronze medal.

Speedster Shinri Shioura got it done in the men’s 100m free tonight to out-touch his domestic rival Katsumi Nakamura. Shioura stopped the clock in 48.89 to Nakamura’s runner-up result of 48.96, with both men representing the only competitors to get under the 49-second threshold.

The only woman not named Rikako Ikee to hold a spot among Japan’s top female 100m free performances of all-time, Rika Omoto, notched a solid effort in the event this evening to reap gold in 54.63. Splitting 26.37/28.26, Omoto held a .20 advantage over tonight’s silver medalist Tomomi Aoki, who put up a time of 54.83.

Omoto has been as quick as 54.16 this year at the Japan Open, while Aoki’s 2019-best is represented by the 54.45 she produced at the Japan Swim.

24-year-old Olympian Chihiro Igarashi notched a winning 400m free outing of 4:10.73 to pair tonight’s gold with her 200m free victory from last night. Her PB is represented by the 4:07.52 logged in Rio at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Yuki Aoki won the women’s 100m breast in a mark of 1:06.77 after taking the 200m breast last night. She got to the wall over 2 seconds ahead of last night’s 100m fly winner Yui Ohashi, who notched 1:08.82 in this off event.

Additional Winners:

• Masaki Kaneko was successful in the men’s 100m back, taking gold in a time of 54.36. That edged out Takeshi Kawamoto who touched in 54.72, while Keita Sunama was also in sub-55 second territory with his bronze medal-worthy time of 54.91.
• The men’s 100m breast saw Yoshiki Yamanaka get to the wall first, posting a time of 1:00.02. Yesterday’s 200m breast winner, Ippei Watanabe, wound up 4th in 1:01.10.
• Rio Shirai registered a time of 1:00.37 to take the women’s 100m back by over a second.