Konami Open: Masato Sakai Throws Down Another 1:54 200 Fly

2017 KONAMI OPEN

• Saturday, February 18th – Sunday, February 19th
• Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo, Japan
• Prelims at 9am local (7pm previous night EST)/Finals at 6pm local (4am EST)
• Meet Site
• Day 1 Recap
• Start Lists/Results (in Japanese)

After further cementing herself as Japan’s red-hot freestyle and butterfly sprinter yesterday, 16-year-old Rikako Ikee was at it again today in Tokyo, racing her way to 2 victories over just 10 minutes. Ikee fired off a super swift 50m butterfly win in 25.71, a new Konami Open meet record that sits just .21 outside of her own national mark. The teen then took on the women’s 100m freestyle, stopping the lock in a mighty 54.69. That’s off her own season-best of 53.68 from earlier this month that ranks as the 3rd fastest in the world, but still a solid swim from the teen who appears to simply have one speed – super fast.

Olympic medalists Daiya Seto and Masato Sakai were also both in action today in their specialty events, taking respective wins on the day. Seto scored the top prize in the men’s 200m IM race after clocking a speedy 4:11.37 in the 400m IM yesterday. Today, Seto touched in 1:59.65 for the victory, registering the only sub-2-minute outing of the field. For Sakai, he proved once again that he is Japan’s weapon of pool destruction in the 2fly, stopping the clock in a wicked-fast 1:54.72. That establishes a new Konami Open record for the Olympic silver medalist, but also represents the Waseda University student’s 2nd sub-1:55 time this season. He already owns the top time in the world with is 1:54.53 from last November’s Asian Swimming Championships.

2016-2017 LCM MEN 200 FLY

ChadRSA
LE CLOS

07/26
1.53.33

2	Masato SAKAI	JPN	1.53.71	04/15
3	Laszlo CSEH	HUN	1.53.72	07/26
4	Kristof MILAK	HUN	1.53.79*WJR	07/01
5	Nao HOROMURA	JPN	1.53.90	08/20

View Top 26»

Additional wins on the day came from freestyle sprinting specialist Shinri Shioura, who followed up his 22.08-winning splash n’ dash from day 1 with a 100m freestyle win today. Shioura vanquished the field in the 100m event today, touching in 48.75 to win by over half of a second. Shioura now ties Scotland’s Duncan Scott for the top time in the world in the event.

2016-2017 LCM Men 100 FREE

CaelebUSA
DRESSELL

07/27
47.17

2	Mehdy METELLA	FRA	47.65	07/26
3	Nathan ADRIAN	USA	47.87	07/28
4	Duncan SCOTT	GBR	47.90	04/20
5	Cameron McEVOY	AUS	47.91	04/12

View Top 26»

Sitting out the 200m breaststroke even this meet, the newly-minted world record holder in that race, Ippei Watanabe, stuck to the men’s 100m distance today. He notched a time of 59.99 for the win in Tokyo.

All of this racing points to a monster Asian Swimming Championships with perhaps record-breaking swims. Japan’s Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Hagino is set to return at the meet, which is slated for April.