Sun Yang Tops Chinese Talent, Koseki Leads Japanese Headed To Perth

The Aquatic Super Series slated for February 5th and 6th in Perth, Australia, is set to be one star-studded affair.  We already got a glimpse of the loaded Australian roster, to be officially finalized after this weekend’s Victorian Open Championships and now we know who will be representing the nations of Japan and China in the tri-team competition.

Headlining the Chinese roster is Olympic and World Champion, Sun Yang, the freestyle specialist who earned FINA’s ‘Male Athlete of the Meet’ in Kazan last summer.  Sun took gold in the men’s 400m and 800m freestyle events, before shockingly failing to appear in the men’s 1500m final, an event in which he was a favorite. We found out later that the Chinese superstar had pulled out due to a heart condition.

Sun finds himself in a unique position in that he’s competing in a country in which he’s actually unable to train, at least not at Australia’s official training centers, after having served a 3-month suspension for doping in 2014. We reported late last year that Sun had plans to return in Australia to see out his final Olympic preparation, but there is no word as of where he is training or under whom.

Ye Shiwen will attempt to make a resurgence by also representing China in Perth. The 19-year-old blasted onto the international swimming scene by winning both the women’s 200m IM and 400m IM at the 2012 London Olympics, but has been fairly quiet since then. She failed to take home any medals at the World Championships a year later in Barcelona and managed just an 8th place finish in the 200m IM at last year’s edition of the meet.

Of note, Chinese break-out sprinter, Ning Zetao, who earned gold in Kazan as the first Chinese swimmer to ever win the men’s 100m freestyle event, is not listed on the Chinese roster.

Although the Japanese line-up is missing key players such as Kosuke Hagino, Katsumi Nakamura, Natsumi Hoshi and Kanako Watanabe, there is plenty of talent to put up a good fight in Perth.

Yasuhiro Koseki is a formidable breaststroking force, having finished 5th in the 200m event (2:09.12) and 14th in the men’s 100m race (1:00.31).  The 23-year-old has some experience taking a title in Australia before, having also won gold at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events. Koseki is his nation’s record holder in both events in the short course distances, finishing just off the podium in 4th place in each event.

Another Japanese record holder is set to compete in Perth, as sprinter Shinri Shioura is slated to swim in the men’s 50m and 100m events. His national record stands at 21.88 from the 2014 Japanese Championships, but he failed to final in either event at last year’s World Championships, settling for 15th (48.96) in the 100 and 11th (22.08) in the 50.

Sakiko Shimizu could give Ye Shiwen, as well as the Australians, a run for their money in the IM events. Shimizu finished 6th in the 200m IM in Kazan and will be contesting both medleys in Perth.

The current list of athletes per country scheduled to compete at this year’s Perth Aquatic Super Series are provided below.

CHINA

MALE:

Hao Yun (Events: 200, 400m freestyle):

Li Guangyuan (Events: 100, 200m backstroke):

Li Zhuhao (Events: 100m butterfly)

Qian Zhiyong: (Events: 200m freestyle, 200 IM):

Sun Weixiang (Events: 200m IM, 200 breaststroke, 400 IM):

Sun Yang (Events: 400, 800,1500m freestyle)

Wu Yuhang (Events: 100, 400, 1500 freestyle)

Xu Jiayu (Events: 100, 200 backstroke):

Yan Zibei (Events: 100 backstroke):

Yu Hexin Events (50 butterfly, 100 freestyle):

Zhang Qibin: Events: (100m butterfly):

Zhang Jie (Events: 200m freestyle):

FEMALE:

Ai Yanhan (Events: 200 freestyle):

Chen Jie (Events: 100 backstroke):

Chen Xinyi (Event: 50 Freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly):

He Yun (Events: 100m breaststroke):

Li Bingjie (Events: 800 Freestyle):

Liu Yaxin (Events: 100, 200 backstroke

Liu Xiang (Events: 50, 100, 200 backstroke):

Shen Duo (Events: 100, 200 freestyle):

Xu Danlu: (Events: 800 freestyle):

Ye Shiwen: (Events: 200 IM, 400 IM):

Zhang Yufei (Events: 200 Fly, 200 freestyle):

Zhu Menghui: (Events: 50, 100m freestyle):

JAPAN

MALE:

Yuma Edo: Events (100, 200m backstroke)

Takuro Fujii (Events: 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle):

Hiromasa Fujimori: (Events 200m IM):

Takeharu Fujimori (Events 200m IM, 400m IM ):

Masaki Kaneko (Events: 100, 200m backstroke):

Takeshi Kawamoto: (Events: 100m butterfly, backstroke, freestyle):

Yasuhira Koseki (Events: 100, 200 breaststroke):

Yohsuke Miyamoto (Events: 400, 1500m freestyle):

Shinri Shioura (Events: 100m, 200m freestyle):

Keita Sunama (Events: 100, 200m backstroke):

Masayuki Umemoto (Events: 200m butterfly):

Hayato Watanabe (Events: 100, 200m breaststroke):

Fuyu Yoshida (Events: 50, 100, 200m freestyle):

FEMALE:

Suzuka Hasegawa (Events: 200 butterfly):

Chihiro Igarashi (Events: 100, 200, 400m freestyle):

Rie Kaneto: . (Events: 100, 200m breaststroke):

Nao Kobayashi: (Events: 200m butterfly):

Yayoi Matsumoto: (Events: 50, 100, 200 freestyle ):

Yukino Miyasaka: (Events: 50, 100, 200m breaststroke ):

Emi Moronuki (Events: 100, 200m backstroke):

Yuriko Saito (Events: 200m backstroke, 200m freestyle)

Misaki Sekiguchi: (Events: 50, 100m Freestyle, 50, 100m breaststroke)

Sakiko Shimizu: (Events: 200, 400m IM):

Miho Takahashi (Events: 200, 400m IM):

AUSTRALIA

MALE

Thomas Fraser-Holmes (Events: 200 freestyle, 200, 400IM)

Jayden Hadler (Events: 100m butterfly)

Mack Horton (Events: 400, 1500m freestyle)

Justin James (Events: 200IM):

Mitch Larkin (Events: 100, 200m backstroke):

Cameron McEvoy (Events: 50, 100, 200m freestyle):

David McKeon (Events: 200, 400m freestyle):

David Morgan (100, 200m butterfly):

Jake Packard (Events: 100, 200m breaststroke):

Matthew Wilson (Events: 100, 200m breaststroke)

FEMALE

Jessica Ashwood (Events: 400, 800m freestyle):

Georgia Bohl (Events: 100, 200m breaststroke):

Bronte Campbell (Events: 50, 100m freestyle)

Cate Campbell (Events: 50, 100m freestyle):

Emma McKeon (Events: 100, 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly):

Taylor McKeown (Events: 100, 200m breaststroke):

Keryn McMaster (Events: 200, 400 IM)

Emily Seebohm (Events: 100, 200m backstroke):

Brianna Throssell (Events: 200m butterfly, 200, 400IM):

Tessa Wallace (Events: 100, 200m breaststroke, 200, 400m IM):

Madison Wilson (Events: 100, 200m backstroke)