On-Fire Daiya Seto Becomes Japan’s 7th Fastest 200 Freestyler All-Time

2020 KONAMI OPEN

The final meet within the trio of Japanese ‘K’ competitions kicked off today in Tokyo, as the 2020 Konami Open brought the heat at the Tatsumi International Swimming Centre.

Situated after both the Kosuke Kitajima Cup and the Kirara Cup, the Konami Open holds extra significance in this Olympic year, giving both veterans and rising swimming stars within Japan additional chances to fine-tune their racing craft before the all-important Japan Swim.

Set for April, the Japan Swim represents the nation’s Olympic Trials and the sole qualification opportunity for athletes to qualify for a home nation-hosted 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

But also up for grabs here are sums of cash to the tune of a $275,000 prize to anyone who breaks a World Record at the meet. Also up for grabs is a prize worth $50,000 USD for any Japanese swimmer who produces a new national record at the meet.

Day One Highlights

Japanese IM queen Yui Ohashi easily defeated the field in the 400m IM, posting a gold medal-worthy time of 4:34.85. The World Championships bronze medalist stated post-race that she was hoping for a faster time, but was consoled at least by the fact her outing surpassed the previous Konami Open record of 4:34.99.

Ohashi currently ranks #2 in the world behind Hungary’s Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu in this women’s 400m IM event, owning season-best effort of 4:32.57 from the Queensland Championships in December.

The men’s 400m IM saw Ippei Miyamoto get to the wall first, stopping the clock in a time of 4:16.38. That gave the 20-year-old an almost 2-second advantage over next-closest competitor Yamaguchi Nanami, who touched in 4:18.28.

The gold medalist in this event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Kosuke Hagino, was also in the field, finishing 4th in a time of 4:20.42.

Going back to Miyamoto, the man is not to be overlooked when examining potential Olympic qualifiers in this event. World champion Daiya Seto has already qualified in both IM events by way of his taking gold in Gwangju, but Miyamoto logged a time of 4:13.94 at the Japanese Student Championships last year to rank among the world’s top 10 this season.

Reona Aoki did damage in the women’s 50m breast event to open her meet, taking the gold in a time of 30.80. That dipped under the Konami Open Record of 30.96 and bumped her up to now rank among the top 10 performers in the world this season.

The women’s 200m free saw Rio Shirai put up a winning time of 1:58.21, while the aforementioned Seto put on a show in the men’s race by hitting the wall in 1:46.65.

Splitting 51.58/55.07, Seto beat the field by over a second en route to earning the fastest time of his ever-evolving career. Japan’s 5th fastest performer ever, Naito Ehara, was behind Seto in 1:47.76 tonight, with his outing sitting just outside 1 1/2 seconds his PB of 1:46.35 from 2018.

As for Seto, his 1:46.65 now slides him into the list of all-time Japanese performers at spot #7. He also enters the season’s world rankings list in spot #9.

2019-2020 LCM MEN 200 FREE

DanasLTU
Rapsys
08/16
1:44.38
2Sun
Yang
CHN1:45.5501/18
3Dominik
Kozma
HUN1:45.7708/04
4Katsuhiro
Matsumoto
JPN1:45.8201/24
5Townley
Haas
USA1:45.9212/06
6Tom
Dean
GBR1:46.0303/13
7Kyle
Chalmers
AUS1:46.1203/14
8Xinje
Ji
CHN1:46.5410/19
9Marco
de Tullio
ITA1:46.5608/13
10Mikhail
Vekovishchev
RUS1:46.6111/03
View Top 26»

Shirai returned to the wall to produce the only sub-minute time of the women’s 100m backstroke field. Touching in 59.83, Shirai earned a new meet record en route to topping the podium for a 2nd time this evening.

Her outing this evening fell within a half-second of her lifetime best of 59.42 from September of last year, a result which ranks Shrai as the 5th fastest Japanese performer all-time.

30-year-old veteran Ryosuke Irie rarely fails to impress, with the once-Team-Elite-trained Olympian powering his way to the wall in a big-time 52.99 in the men’s 100m backstroke. Irie crushed tonight’s field by over 2 seconds en route to collecting a new met record.

Irie turned 30 in January of this year and, on that very day, posted a time of 52.59 in this event at the Kosuke Kitajima Cup. That mark remains as the top time in the world at this moment.

2019-2020 LCM MEN 100 BACK

RyosukeJPN
Irie
01/24
52.59
2Ryan
Murphy
USA52.7903/07
3Xiayu
Xu
CHN52.9701/18
4Shaine
Casas
USA53.1411/22
5Apostolos
Christou
GRE53.2308/05
View Top 26»

The men’s 100m fly saw Takeshi Kawamoto post an impressive performance, logging a winning effort of 51.62. Splitting 23.86/27.76, 25-year-0ld Toyota swimmer Kawamoto scored a new meet record, as well as a new lifetime best.

Entering this meet Kawamoto’s personal best was represented by the 51.89 he delivered way back in 2015. However, his 51.62 from tonight now bumps him up to become Japan’s 6th fastest performer ever in the event.

Worldwide, Kawamoto is now the 7th fastest swimmer this season.

2019-2020 LCM MEN 100 FLY

2Shinnosuke
Ishikawa
JPN51.1109/06
3Kristof
Milak
HUN51.1407/24
4Naoki
Mizunuma
JPN51.2608/16
4Grant
Irvine
AUS51.2608/15
6Szebasztian
Szabo
HUN51.2808/15
7Michael
Andrew
USA51.3303/06
8Andrew
Seliskar
USA51.3408/02
9Kyle
Chalmers
AUS51.3703/15
10Marius
Kusch
GER51.5403/06
View Top 26»

Shinri Shioura dipped under the 22-second threshold for what is becoming the norm for him. The national record holder stopped the clock tonight in 21.96, just shy of the 21.92 he produced at the FINA Swimming World Cup stop in Tokyo last fall.

The women’s 200m breast saw Kanako Watanabe get to the wall first, producing a time of 2:24.77. That edged out runner-up Aoki, tonight’s 50m breast champion, by just .04.

In the men’s race, 19-year-old Shoma Shato proved that his menacing 2:07.58 from last month wasn’t a fluke. The teen won tonight’s 200m breast in 2:08.25 for a time slower than before, but still enough to render the performance as his 2nd fastest ever. He is raising the stakes among possible Tokyo qualifiers Ippei Watanabe

Finally, to close out the night, Hirai Akira produced the fastest 1500m freestyle time of the field, scoring a new meet record of 14:58.03 to top the podium with ease. That outing came within 4 seconds of the national record and places him among the top 5 performers in the world this season.

2019-2020 LCM MEN 1500 FREE

2Mykhailo
Romanchuk
UKR14:41.6303/13
3Florian
Wellbrock
GER14:46.6102/07
4Domenico
Acerenza
ITA14:49.9808/13
5Akos
Kalmar
HUN14:52.0007/26
View Top 26»

In This Story

18
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

18 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
EasySpeed
4 years ago

Could we get an update on the 12-16th place relay teams on qualifying for tokyo? Before trials season begins.

Admin
Reply to  EasySpeed
4 years ago

Good idea – we’ll put one together.

Teddy
4 years ago

Daiya “the Situation” Seto

Quack
4 years ago

Jeez…this is a man on a mission. Although he’s no shoe-in for gold, wouldn’t be surprised at all if he swept the IMs. Plus, I think him and Le Clos will battle it out for the 200 Fly silver.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Quack
4 years ago

Luca says hello.

Brian
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

Luca is great, but seto is on a different level from him.

Ol’ Longhorn
Reply to  Brian
4 years ago

200 fly final is on day 4. Seto will have already swum 400 IM, 200 free, relays. Luca will be fresh. That’s how Schooling, Nesty and lots of other one event (I realize Schooling hot last in semis of the 100 free) guys pulled the upset (Phelps, Biondi). Leclos will be leg dead again from his inability to pace the 200 free rounds. I like Lucas chances. Seto was pretty dead towards the end of Worlds.

WHKIRCH
Reply to  Quack
4 years ago

Seto just went 1:52.5 in the 200 fly recently. I doubt Le Clos will even be close and if Milak isn’t on form, Seto could swipe gold in the 200 fly.

Rafael
Reply to  WHKIRCH
4 years ago

Milak swam 1:50 I think he will be just fine

Togger
4 years ago

4.20 from Hagino is impressive for a guy who was recently out of shape and is presumably now putting in some brutal yards to make up for that.

In a fairly open 200 IM field behind Seto, I can see him sneaking in for silver if he gets into decent condition.

Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

So much for Seto’s weak leg on the IM. And so much for Chase’s chances for gold.

Bub
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

I think Setos weak leg being freestyle was more about him sprinting the first three legs about being dead by freestyle but this is still a huge improvement.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Bub
4 years ago

Probably right. Not sure what his best backstroke times are.

Superfan
Reply to  Bub
4 years ago

Totally!

Some dude
Reply to  Bub
4 years ago

One of these days he’s not gonna die on the free and he’ll have a world record

Dee
4 years ago

Japanese 4×2 is one to watch if Hagino can get back close to his best.

Jeff
Reply to  Dee
4 years ago

A lot of strong teams in that event though. Going to be tough to get past Australia, GB, USA, Russia, Italy

Casas 100 back gold in Tokyo
Reply to  Dee
4 years ago

This is a big if. He hasn’t shown any sign of getting back up to now.

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

Read More »