There was a lot of press on Katinka Hosszu and Mireia Belmonte Garcia on their event line up. Kosuke Hagino from Japan is in the same boat as these women. We’ve seen Hagino compete in the 200 (5th) & 400 (2nd) freestyle, 100 (7th) & 200 backstroke (5th, semis) and 200 IM (2nd) thus far in Barcelona.
He finished 2nd in 1:56.29, coming up half-a-second shy of his personal best. He continues to be challenged on his breaststroke leg, where Lochte made up the bulk of the overall difference between the two. Hagino is very young and has a bright future ahead of him, especially since he comes from one of the top breaststroke countries in the world.
The Chinese women continue to succeed in the 200 butterfly amoung the rest of the world. Let’s take a look at some past results. Liu Zige was the 2008 Olympic champion then in 2012 Jiao Liuyang was crowned the champion. At 2011 worlds, Liuyang finished 1st with Zige in 3rd.
Liu Zige, also the 2009 World Champion, took the women’s 200 butterfly in a time of 2:04.59 in a thrilling race with crowd favorite Mireia Belmonte Garcia. This was the first time since 2009 Zige has really had a strong showing in this event. Liuyang finished 6th, 2:06.65.
The three medal positions in the women’s 50 backstroke were taken by Asian athletes. In her first swim of the meet, world record holder Zhao Jing won the event at 27.29. Zhao, who finished sixth in the 100 backstroke in London, did not compete in the 100 in Barcelona.
Zhao’s teammate Fu Yuanhui finished second in a time of 27.39. She had a strong showing in semi-finals & first 50 in the 100 backstroke earlier in the week, but was caught tonight by her teammate.
Aya Terakawa of Japan collected bronze finishing in a time of 27.53. The bronze medal is one that Terakawa is familar with after finishing third at both the London Olympics and earlier in Barcelona in the 100 backstroke.
Here are some other observations from day 5 of the Asian athletes and new records set by Asian athletes below.
Day 5 Notes
– Wang Shun finished 4th in the 200IM for China. He passed three swimmers on his freestyle leg, but it was not enough to end up with a medal. His backstroke is the worst in the field, and will need to improve that aspect of his race if he wants to continue to move up in the ranks.
– Satomi Suzuki from Japan, the sivler medalists from London in this event, failed to advance out of the semifinals tonight. Her teammate Rie Kaneto will represent Japan in the final, finishing 5th overall.
– Japan’s Natsumi Hoshi found herself right outside the top 3 in the women’s 200 butterfly finishing 4th, .5 away from Hosszu, at 2:06.09.
– The Japanese swimmers barely snuck in to the final of the men’s 200 breaststroke, including Akihiro Yamaguchi, the World Record holder, with a 2:10.00, and Ryo Tateishi in 8th with a 2:10.01.
– Ryosuke Irie (3rd, 1:56.14) and Kosuke Hagino (5th, 1:56.24) make two Japanese in the final of the men’s 200 backstroke. These two still have the top two times in the world this year, and could be the only two to break up the 1-2 punch of Clary and Lochte.
Records
CHINA: Wang Shun – Men’s 200 IM, 1:56.86
PAKISTAN: Anum Bandey – Women’s 200 Breaststroke, 2:55.65
PHILIPPINES: Jasmine Alkhaldi – Women’s 100 Freestyle, 56.37
I like that Hagino is already one of the top freestylers in the world. Among the other multi-eventers, Cseh never did well on freestyle, Lochte only late in his career (individually), and even Phelps wasn’t this good in 2 different freestyle events at 18.
China “crows” 2 world champions?