2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 11th – February 18th, 2024
- Doha, Qatar
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Official Entries
- Live Results
- How To Watch
- Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
Night four of the 2024 World Championships not only brought the first Japanese gold medalist in Doha but the evening’s session also made history for the nation.
For the first time, a Japanese swimmer topped the men’s 200m butterfly World Championships podium, courtesy of Tomoru Honda.
22-year-old Honda hit the wall in a time of 1:53.88, beating out Italy’s Alberto Razzetti and Austria’s Martin Espernberger. The former touched in 1:54.65 and the latter clocked 1:55.16.
Making Honda’s accomplishment even more impressive is the fact that the Olympic silver medalist is competing in Doha with a sprained ankle.
Before this evening, no Japanese male swimmer had ever earned World Championships gold in this 200m fly event. The closest the nation came was silver and on several occasions.
Japanese Men’s 200 Fly World Championships Medalists
- 2003 Barcelona – Takashi Yamamoto, silver
- 2005 Montreal – Takeshi Matsuda, silver
- 2009 Rome – Takeshi Matsuda, bronze
- 2011 Shanghai – Takeshi Matsuda, silver
- 2017 Budapest – Daiya Seto, bronze
- 2019 Gwangju – Daiya Seto, silver
- 2022 Budapeset – Tomoru Honda, bronze
- 2023 Fukuoka – Tomoru Honda, bronze
Honda earned silver at the 2020 Olympic Games on his home turf in a time of 1:53.73. Since then, he’s posted times of 1:52.70 (December 2022), 1:53.15 (September 2023) and 1:53.34 (April 2023) as a testament to his consistency.
The Japanese Olympic Trials are happening in March, a month earlier than the typical timeframe of April. That means Honda has about a month to repair his ankle but he’s already well beneath the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) mandated qualification time of 1:55.27 needed to punch a ticket to Paris.
National/Continental Records Through Day 4:
- China
- Men’s 100m free – Pan Zhanle, 46.80 *WORLD RECORD
- Women’s 100m breast – Tang Qianting, 1:05.27
- Hong Kong
- Women’s 100m breast – Siobhan Haughey, 1:05.92
Medal Table (Asia) Through Day 4:
| RANK | NATION | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
| 1 | China | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | South Korea | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Hong Kong | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Japan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Great to see swimmers from China, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong all having success in Doha!!
Asian strength power
So happy that Honda finally won gold!