Suzuka Hasegawa Scorches 2:05.6 200 Fly To Put World On Notice (Video)

2020 TOKYO SPECIAL SWIMMING TOURNAMENT

• Saturday, August 29th & Sunday, August 30th
• Tatsumi International Swimming Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Timed Finals
• Entries (in Japanese)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Results
• Live Stream

After an explosive performance in the 100m fly on day 1 here at the inaugural Tokyo Special Swimming Tournament, 20-year-old Suzuka Hasegawa scorched another stellar swim to wrap up her campaign.

Taking on the 200m fly, the Tokyo-based swimmer scorched a lifetime best of 2:05.62 to top the podium once again. Splitting 59.33/1:06.29, Hasegawa raced the entire distance essentially solo, crushing the next closest competitor by over 5 seconds.

Entering this meet, Hasegawa’s previous career-fastest in this 2fly race was represented by the 2:06.29 she posted at the 2017 Japan Swim, a mark that checked in as a new World Junior Record at the time.

Flash forward to tonight, and Hasegawa’s 2:05.62 now slides her into the list of all-time women 200m fly performers all-time at slot #16. Only Japan’s Olympic medalist Natsumi Hoshi has been faster for the nation, owning the Japanese record at 2:04.69.

Narrowing swims down to Asia alone, Hasegawa’s impressive outing tonight now makes her the continent’s 5th fastest performer all-time.

Top Women’s 200 Fly Performers All-Time – Asian Continent

1. Liu Zige (CHN), 2:01.81 WR 2009
2. Jiao Liuyang (CHN), 2:04.06 2012
3. Natsumi Hoshi (JPN), 2:04.69 2012
4. Gong Jie (CHN), 2:05.38 2012
5. Suzuka Hasegawa (JPN), 2:05.62 2020

Responding to the performance that now puts ahead of the likes of American Hali Flickinger and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu to top the season’s world rankings, Hasegawa said, “I was more surprised than I was happy.

“I didn’t think it would come out like that for me. When I saw the number 5, I thought it would be good.”

Hasegawa earned bronze in this event at the 2018 Asian Games, with her 2:08.80 there seeming downright pedestrian compared to her sub-2:06 result here.

The ace raced the women’s 100m fly event last year at the FINA World Aquatic Championships but was rendered outside of the top 16 after hitting a time of 58.71 in the heats.

In historically her better event, this 200m fly, Hasegawa missed out on the Gwangju final by .16, posting 2:09.22. Her time here tonight would have taken the gold, beating Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas‘ podium-topping mark of 2:06.78.