FINA World Cup Tokyo: Sjostrom Sets Up For The Double

2018 FINA WORLD CUP TOKYO

• Friday, November 9th – Sunday, November 11th
• Tatsumi International Swimming Center
• SCM
• Heats at 9:30am local/Finals at 6pm local
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Entry List
• Day 1 Prelims/Day 1 Finals
• Day 2 Prelims/Day 2 Finals
• Results

The FINA World Cup Series stop in Tokyo entered its 3rd and final day this morning, with the elite international fields producing solid efforts this morning.

World Record holder Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden fired off the fastest 100m fly time of the morning, hitting the wall in 56.73. That held off Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei by .20, as the 200m fly silver medalist here in Tokyo touched in 56.93.

Japanese dynamo Rikako Ikee kept pace with her temporary training partner Sjostrom, stopping the clock at 57.41 to claim the 3rd slot. Ikee spent 2 weeks with Sjostrom at Energy Standard in Turkey, training alongside the Swedish speedster in the hopes of learning from the fastest female flyer ever.

In the men’s 50m fly sprint, Trinidad & Tobago swimmer Dylan Carter came within .13 of his own National Record, taking the pole position in a prime time of 22.66. The former USC Trojan already fired off a new national standard last night when finishing 4th in the 50m backstroke.

America’s Michael Andrew produced a morning time of 22.76 as runner-up, while Japanese swimmer Kosuke Matsui and Russian multiple World Cup Record holder Vlad Morozov wrapped up the top 4 heading into tonight’s final.

Japan’s newly-minted national record holder in this 50m fly event, Takeshi Kawamoto, is lurking as the 8th seed in 23.05. At the Japanese Short Course World Championships Trials last month, Kawamoto matched the NR of 22.49 that’s been on the books since 2009.

The usual suspects wrangled up the top spots in the women’s 200m backstroke, led by Aussie teenager Minna Atherton‘s morning time of 2:04.58. Also under 2:05 was Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who touched in 2:04.97 as runner-up.

Emily Seebohm, who trains with Atherton at Brisbane Grammar, is very much in the 200m back mix with her prelims time of 2:05.56 for 4th seed behind Japan’s Marina Furubayashi (2:05.10).

Andrew was back in the water for the men’s 100m backstroke, taking the 5th seed in 51.33. He’ll need to step things up a notch to make a move against the top two men of Mitch Larkin of Australia and Xu Jiayu of China. The pair earned times of 50.18 and 50.46, respectively, and have been performing dominantly throughout the World Cup Series in the backstroke discipline. Xu already earned a new Chinese National Record in the 200m back earlier this meet.

In the women’s 100m freestyle, Danish Olympian Pernille Blume got things started with a nice 52.30 to lead a stacked field that included Dutch racers Femke Heemskerk and Ranomi Kromowidjojo. The pair touched in times of 52.58 and 52.61, respectively. Sjostrom registered the 5th fastest time of the morning in 53.02

Additional Top Seeds:

• Russia’s Yuliya Efimova was the quickest 50m breaststroker of the morning, registering a top-seeded effort of 30.23. But, Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson is ready to pounce, holding a morning swim of 30.30.
• The men’s 200m breaststroke also saw a Russian take the top spot, as Kirill Prigoda notched 2:02.79 this morning.
• Kyle Chalmers of Australia reigned in the men’s 200m freestyle prelim, earning a top seed of 1:43.89. Behind him was Great Britain’s world champion in the long course meters version of this event from 2015, James Guy, who finished in 1:44.21. Blake Pieroni, Kosuke Hagino and Mack Horton all made it through to tonight’s final as well.