Nao Horomura Rattles Milak’s 200 Fly WJR In 1:53.90 At WUGS

29TH WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES (SUMMER UNIVERSIADE 2017)

• Sunday, August 20-Sunday, August 20, 2017
• 50-Meter Course
• Taipei, Taiwan
• National Taiwan Sport University Arena
• Meet Info
• Webcast schedule
• Results

Japan’s Nao Horomura had an incredible performance in the men’s 200 fly final on day 4 of the 2017 World University Games in Taipei.

Facing off against an experienced field, including countryman Daiya Seto who won bronze in this event at the World Championships last month, Horomura didn’t flinch as he took over the lead on the second 50 and never looked back.

Out in 54.31, he held it together on the back half with splits of 29.5 and 30.0 to post a time of 1:53.90, breaking the Universiade meet record (1:54.30) by four tenths and narrowly missing Kristof Milak‘s junior world record of 1:53.79.

Back in April, Horomura clocked a 1:55.37 which would’ve been a new junior record had China’s Li Zhuhao not lowered his previous mark of 1:55.52 down to 1:55.29 just a few days prior. Milak annihilated that record at the European Junior Championships, out like a rocket in 53.24 before holding on to win gold.

Prior to Milak’s swim, the fastest ever swim from someone 18-and-under was from none other than Michael Phelps, as he went 1:53.93 in the semi-finals of the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona. Noromura finds himself under that mark now as well, putting him on track to be one of the world’s best butterflyers for years to come.

Seto gained a bit of ground on Horomura on the third 50, but fell off the pace coming home to finish over a second back in 1:55.09 for silver.

Hungarian Bence Biczo won the bronze in 1:56.16, continuing the country’s incredible recent showing of depth in the event. In the last 12 months they’ve had four different swimmers win the Olympic bronze medal, the World Championship silver medal, break the junior world record, and win bronze at the World University Games. Milak wasn’t even able to swim this event at Worlds, as Laszlo Cseh and Tamas Kenderesi took precedence. Given Milak’s incredible improvement in the 100m event in Budapest (he went 50.62 for a new WJR and the silver), it would’ve been very interesting to see what he could’ve done at Worlds. We’ll get the opportunity to see what he can do this week, as Milak will contest the event at World Juniors in Indianapolis which are underway today.

In the all-time ranks, Horomura now sits 11th all-time and third all-time among Japanese men, trailing Olympic medalists Takeshi Matsuda (1:52.97) and Masato Sakai (1:53.40). He and Sakai (22) will carry on Japan’s tradition of excellence in this event, as they’ve won an Olympic medal at four consecutive Games.