Daiya Seto Hits 4:09.07 400 IM, Rikako Ikee 25.49 50 Fly At Japan Swim

2022 JAPAN SWIM (JAPAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS)

Although the Japanese roster for the 2022 World Championships has already been decided, this year’s Japan Swim/Japan Swimming Championships still holds a vital purpose for domestic swimmers.

Kicking off today, the 4-day meet presents another opportunity for racers to bag spots on the Asian Games, Junior Pan Pacific Championships and World Junior Championships rosters.

Reminder of Japan’s 2022 World Championships Roster

Not wasting any time putting his mark on this meet was 27-year-old multi-world champion Daiya Seto. Seto crushed a world-leading time of 4:09.07 in the men’s 400m IM, exacting revenge on his domestic rival Tomoru Honda who won this event at the World Championships Trials.

After establishing himself as the top-seeded swimmer of the morning with a heats time of 4:14.44, Honda wound up with the silver, posting a final outing of 4:11.35. As such, Seto won commandingly, beating Honda by over 2 seconds en route to logging a new season-best.

Seto has already been as swift as 4:10.82 from the World Trials, so the man managed to hack nearly 2 seconds off of that result to now grab the world rankings crown away from newly-minted British national record holder Duncan Scott. Both Honda and Seto will represent Japan in this event in Budapest this summer.

2021-2022 LCM Men 400 IM

LeonFRA
Marchand
06/18
4:04.28
2Carson
Foster
USA4:06.5606/18
3Chase
Kalisz
USA4:07.4706/18
4Ilya
Borodin
RUS4:08.0507/25
5Lewis
Clareburt
NZL4:08.7007/30
View Top 26»

Our partner SwimmingStats recently posted a graphic on the number of sub-4:10 400m IM times performed by swimmers around the world. Prior to this race, Seto had led the all-time field with a remarkable 16, and that number now grows to 17. We’ll see how the Americans answer this performance at their International Trials final coming up this evening from Greensboro.

But Seto wasn’t the only world rankings-rattler tonight, as leukemia survivor and two-time Olympian Rikako Ikee made some major waves in the women’s 50m fly.

The 21-year-old swimmer posted a time of 25.49 to win the race, producing her fastest since having returned to racing in late 2020.

Entering this meet, the national record holder held a 2021-best of 25.56 followed by a time of 25.75 from March of this year. As such, tonight’s result sliced .08 off of her fastest post-comeback outing, inserting her atop the world rankings for the season.

Additional Notes:

  • Yuya Tanaka posted a time of 23.19 to nearly hit a new Japanese national record in the men’s 50m fly. The current Japanese standard rests at the 23.17 Takeshi Kawamoto logged last year, so Tanaka was merely .02 away from matching it. He now becomes the nation’s 2nd fastest man ever in the event.
  • Reona Aoki didn’t quite come into range of her world-leading 1:05.19 100m breaststroke she produced earlier this year, but the Olympian still grabbed gold, hitting 1:06.60 as the only swimmer under 1:07 this evening.
  • Just one man dipped under the minute threshold in the 100m breast, with Ryuya Mura getting it done for gold in 59.65.

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John26
1 year ago

Plz don’t taper at altitude again

Mr Piano
1 year ago

I hope Seto gets some redemption at worlds this year

aquajosh
1 year ago

If Seto could have done that last year, he would have won the Olympics by six-tenths. Looks like he’s getting back on track now.

swimmerfromjapananduk
Reply to  aquajosh
1 year ago

he had a magnificent short course season after the olympics, and so if that translates well, this summer we’re eating good

Khachaturian
1 year ago

Ikee is coming back!

zdhamme86
Reply to  Khachaturian
1 year ago

Her progress post illness has been incredible!

USA
1 year ago

What is Ikee’s PB?

aquajosh
Reply to  USA
1 year ago

25,11 from the Mare Nostrum in 2018, which I believe also makes her the third-fastest performer in history behind Sjostrom (24.43) and Alshammar (25.07). I’m not sure why it’s not the World Junior Record though, she was 17 when she did it.

Troyy
Reply to  aquajosh
1 year ago

She turned 18 that year so wasn’t elligible to set WJRs.

Big Mac #1
Reply to  USA
1 year ago

25.11 – Mare Nostrum – Meeting International de Canet-en-Roussillon 2018, #3 performer, #21 performance

PFA
1 year ago

The 4 IM should be interesting this year at worlds can’t wait

swimmerfromjapananduk
Reply to  PFA
1 year ago

if he was able to do a number 1 time right after changing coaches, he should be able to perform at summer. assuming he tapers well and the team actually makes sure the mens side performs well as a whole, because the last summer, out women’s carried hard

swimah
Reply to  swimmerfromjapananduk
1 year ago

well…yui ohashi specifically carried hard.

Hashimoto warrior
Reply to  swimah
1 year ago

ahaha yeah

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