2014 Asian Games – Hagino knocks off Sun and Park for 200 free gold on day 1

2014 ASIAN GAMES – SWIMMING

EVENT SCHEDULE

Sunday

  • M 200 Free
  • W 400 Free
  • M 100 Back
  • W 100 Breast
  • M 200 Fly
  • W 4×100 Free Relay

Men’s 200 freestyle

  • World record – 1:42.00 – Paul Biedermann – Germany (2009)
  • Asian record – 1:44.47 – Sun Yang -China (2013)
  • Asian Games record – 1:44.80 – Park Tae-hwan – South Korea (2010)

The hype leading up to the meet was all about two of those record-holders above, but when push came to shove, Japan’s Kosuke Hagino opened up the Asian Games with a statement swim, leapfrogging both Olympic gold medalists in one fell swoop.

Hagino, the versatile Japanese star who’s drawn comparisons to American Michael Phelps for his wide event range, pulled off a Phelpsian final 50, coming from third place at the 150 to erase a nearly-one-second lead and pick up the win in 1:45.23.

Just a hair behind was the Chinese Sun Yang in 1:45.28. Sun led from the 100-wall on, but couldn’t quite close hard enough to outdo Hagino. Park Tae-hwan of South Korea was 1:45.85, leading at the 50 but falling behind the other two late.

China’s Li Yunqi was fourth, quite a ways back of that top trio. He went 1:49.25 with only one more man, Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda, under 1:50 in the race.

Women’s 400 freestyle

  • World record – 3:58.37 – Katie Ledecky – USA (2014)
  • Asian record – 4:02.35 – Chen Qian – China (2009)
  • Asian Games record – 4:05.58 – Shao Yiwen – China (2010)

The Chinese women dominated these Games the last time around, and they got off to a similar start in 2014 with a 1-2 finish in the women’s 400 free. 19-year-old Yuhan Zhang was the gold medalist, going 4:07.67 for a come-from-behind win.

Her teammate Bi Yirong was the top seed, and wound up second, but the duo had an inauspicious start, running third and fourth early. Japan’s Chihiro Igarashi pushed the pace at the start, leading until 200 meters, but that’s when the Chinese took over. Bi grabbed the lead at 200, but Zhang closed better and took gold, leaving Bi at 4:08.23 for silver.

Igarashi wound up third in 4:09.35, with her countrywoman Asami Chida 4:09.64 for fourth. There was another big dropoff after that, with fifth place coming in 4:14.61; that was Thailand’s Sarisa Suwannachet.

Men’s 100 backstroke

  • World record – 51.94 – Aaron Peirsol – USA (2009)
  • Asian record – 52.24 – Ryosuke Irie – Japan (2009)
  • Asian Games record – 53.61 – Ryosuke Irie – Japan (2010)

Japan’s Ryosuke Irie defended his 2010 title in the men’s 100 back, blasting past China’s Xu Jiayu and tying Jiayu’s world-leading time in the process.

Irie went 52.34, coming back on Jiayu after trailing by a few tenths at the halfway mark. That 52.34 ties the time Jiayu put up at Chinese Nationals to lead the world for the entire summer.

Jiayu, who just turned 19 last month, was 52.81 for second place as the top two really checked out on the rest of the field. Both were also well under the old meet record.

Japan’s Kosuke Hagino, pulling a tough double with that 200 free, took bronze in 53.71 to gain an early lead in the medal count. Korea’s Park Seonkwan was fourth back at 54.67.

Women’s 100 breaststroke

  • World record – 1:04.35 – Ruta Meilutyte – Lithuania (2013)
  • Asian record – 1:05.32 – Ji Liping – China (2009)
  • Asian Games record – 1:06.84 – Luo Xuejuan – China (2002)

China stayed atop the women’s medals with a touchout win in the 100 breast. Shi Jinglin trailed Japan’s Kanako Watanabe by a few hundredths at the turn, but came back to nip Watanabe for gold, 1:06.67 to 1:06.80. That’s a season-best for Jinglin by a half-second, but is about a full second off of Watanabe’s best time of the year, done at the Japan Open in June.

That time for Shi also breaks the meet record set back in 2002.

Another Chinese swimmer beat out a Japanese rival in the battle for bronze. He Yun was 1:08.11 to claim the final medal, with Japan’s Satomi Suzuki falling to 1:08.61 for fourth. That’s also well off a season-best for Suzuki.

Korea took the next two spots with Kwon Minji (1:09.19) and Yang Jiwon (1:09.79).

Men’s 200 butterfly

  • World record – 1:51.51 – Michael Phelps – USA (2009)
  • Asian record – 1:52.97 – Takeshi Matsuda – Japan (2008)
  • Asian Games record – 1:54.02 – Takeshi Matsuda – Japan (2010)

In the final individual race of the night, Japan made it a three-peat on the men’s side. Daiya Seto won the third gold for Japan, going 1:54.08 and just missing the meet record by a few hundredths.

Seto led wire-to-wire, and second behind him the whole way was his teammate Kenta Hirai. Hirai was just a couple tenths back at the 100, but Seto’s big back-half opened the lead wider by the end. Hira was 1:55.47 for silver.

Things dropped off from there to Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, who took bronze in 1:57.54. Schooling, a highly-touted freshman at the University of Texas, won his second big international medal of the summer after taking silver in the 100 fly at the Commonwealth Games.

He was a few tenths up on China’s top entrant, Wang Pudong (1:57.80).

Women’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay

  • World record – 3:30.98 – Australia (2014)
  • Asian record – 3:35.63 – China (2009)
  • Asian Games record – 3:36.88 – China (2010)

The Chinese women continued to dominate, picking up three golds of their own with a win in the 4×100 free relay. The team of Ye Shiwen, Shen Duo, Zhang Yufei and Tang Yi went 3:37.25, getting its fastest split from the 17-year-old Shen at 53.58. It’s a young team, with Ye (18), Shen (17) and Zhang (16) all still holding junior status. Tang is the veteran at 21 years old.

Ye, the IM sensation, showed some speed, leading off in 54.94. Zhang was 54.0 and Tang 54.6 on their legs.

Japan took second at 3:39.35 with a more veteran relay. Miki Uchida led off in 54.41, getting within a half second of the Japanese national record in the 100 free as she continues her climb to becoming one of the nation’s best-ever sprinters. Even with a flat start, that was Japan’s best overall split.

Hong Kong took bronze  just over a half-second back at 3:39.94. Anchor Siobhan Bernadette Haughey was the star of that team, splitting 53.71 to nearly run down Japan.

Full results can be found here

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Tm
9 years ago

Reid very good points about the impossible schedule hagino faces in OG. The WC schedule is a little better spread out but the 400 IM is on the last day which doesn’t bode well for a tired swimmer.

Reid
9 years ago

Hagino will never get to compare fairly to Phelps and Lochte simply because of the current Olympic schedule. As it is, his six primary individual events only occur on three days, with ALL of them being doubles. 400 free/400 IM is impossible. Sort of weird that they’re on the same day, and not even far apart. 200 free/100 back and 200 back/200 IM are more manageable, but has anyone in the modern era ever won two individual golds in the same day?

Gina!Rhinestone
Reply to  Reid
9 years ago

If only they let the first 3 in heats to go directly to the final. There should be a reward for sexing up the morning heats. Give them lanes 6 4 & 2 .

Tm
9 years ago

Agree that the WC/OG schedule is unforgiving and hagino totally run out of gas at the worlds last year. Plus the next two years he will be facing specialists in most events and even phelps and lochte have parred down their schedules considerably and will be more rested especially not having to compete in any national selection meet expect Omaha in 2016. To compare hagino to MP is totally ridiculous and a goal he will never reach. By his age phelps was a 6 time Olympic champion and 10 world champion. Even the comparison to lochte is somewhat unfair.

carlo
9 years ago

sven i agree with you concerning hagino,s scheduling for the olympics but l don,t know of ryan murphy will be in contention in the 200 back.i think it,ll be between irie,tyler clary and xu jiayu.xu jiayu has a best time of 1.55.11 and is still improving.

Braulio
9 years ago

I was able to catch today finals, 4 of them including the 200m freestyle. I had some problems with synch but it’s still decent (and in english 3 of the races) will try to upload in my channel unless they took them down! take a look (i was the one who uploaded pan pacs)

aswimfan
Reply to  Braulio
9 years ago

Thanks!

But where’s the youtube account/address?

aswimfan
Reply to  Braulio
9 years ago

Found it, Deportes Plus! 🙂

Gina Rhinestone
9 years ago

Lol – Can you see where this is heading? Brazil just happens to be the largest Japanese community outside of Japan .

TheTroubleWithX
9 years ago

I know this meet has a few days yet, but Hagino sure seems to have a lock on male swimmer of the year.

mcgillrocks
Reply to  TheTroubleWithX
9 years ago

If his good form holds up, then yes. Remember, he began 2013 worlds with a bang in the 400 free. We’ll have to see if he can keep his momentum going, though if Pan Pacs was an indicator it shouldn’t be an issue.

Sven
Reply to  mcgillrocks
9 years ago

That’s a fair point to make, but it’s also important to note that the Olympics and WC’s are prelim-semi-final while things like Pan Pacs and AG’s are only prelim-final. This knocks his total number of swims down by at least 4 (100 back, 200 free, 200 IM, 200 back– 400 free and IM are prelim-final regardless, IIRC), which I think will be a huge factor in managing fatigue.

With that in mind, maybe Hagino can handle a large number of races in a prelim-final format, but for something like the Olympics or WC’s, it might be better to drop some races… the 200 back, for example. Hugely fatiguing, he’s not a serious contender for gold (not that he’s out of… Read more »

carlo
9 years ago

china,s womens medley relay is looking stronger now. they have fu yuanhi on the backstroke,shi jinglin on the breaststroke,chen xinyi on the butterfly and shen duo on the freestyle.they are all young and have decent times so far.shi jinglin just beat kanako watanabe and swam a 1.06 mid in the 100 breaststroke,chen xinyi,s best time in the 100 fly is 57.54 and she,s just 16 years old.shen duo is approaching 53 mid in the 100 free and is just 17 years old,she,s quite tall too at 5,11.japan,s men are swimming lights out so far.that 200 fly by daiya seto is crazy good.i think japan,s men are far ahead of their women except on the breaststrokes.kosuke hagino is very versatile.

Zhen
Reply to  carlo
9 years ago

Lu Ying can still swim a couple more years (she is 25 already though). Chen Xinyi is quite good in all strokes except breaststroke, so not sure which one she will focus on in the future. Shen Duo may be promising, she is young, tall, strong and looks a tough girl.

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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