Tokyo WC Day 1 Prelims: Morozov, Andrew Set for 100 IM Showdown

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
• Results

We’re on to the second stop of the third cluster of the 2018 FINA World Cup Series, with athletes throwing down in Tokyo this weekend. Sarah Sjostrom enters the meet leading the women with 237 points overall, while Vlad Morozov is well ahead of the rest of the men with 272 points.

Both swimmers fared well in the 100m IM this morning, with Sjostrom taking the 2nd seed in 58.44 behind Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu. Hosszu staked her claim on the gold early, taking the top spot in 57.06, just over a half a second off her own World Record.

Sjostrom also went the morning’s top time in the 50m free (23.59), ahead of Dutch teammates Femke Heemskerk (23.85) and Ranomi Kromwidjojo (23.94).

Russian Kirill Prigoda nabbed the top seed in the men’s 100m breast by over .5 seconds, going 57.31. Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki and China’s Yan Zibei tied for the second-fastest swims of the morning, going 57.58.

Morozov busted out a 51.77 as the only swimmer under 52 seconds in the men’s 100m IM this morning, but American Michael Andrew is within striking distance at 52.51. Hiromasa Fujimori is in the mix with a morning swim of 52.76, while Wang Shun of China and Mitch Larkin of Australia posted solid swims of 52.87 and 53.09, respectively.

Morozov will also be the top seed in the 50m free after posting a 21.03 in prelims. Australian Kyle Chalmers (21.14) and Japan’s Kousuke Matsui (21.33) were the only others under 21.4, followed by Americans Blake Pieroni and Michael Andrew in 21.43 and 21.44, respectively.

Additional Top Seeds:

• Japanese Olympic champion Kosuke Hagino earned the fastest men’s 400m freestyle time of 3:43.01. Femke Heemskerk led the women’s heats in 4:05.15.
• Kira Toussaint, of the Netherlands, topped the 50m back in 26.46, followed by Australians Minna Atherton (26.73) and Emily Seebohm (26.85).
• Japan’s Yuuma Edo took the top spot in the men’s 200m back (1:52.04) and was followed by Australian Mitch Larkin in 1:52.32. Germany’s Christian Diener was just behind in 1:52.52.
• Russian veteran Vitalina Simonova led the way in the women’s 200m breast, taking the top seed in 2:20.51. Teammate Yulia Efimova was second in 2:21.42, just ahead of China’s Yi Shiwen in 2:21.48.
• Japan’s Takeshi Kawamoto was the only man under :51 in the 100m fly, going 50.64. Belarus’ Yauhen Tsurkin posted the next-fastest swim in 51.30, and Great Britain’s James Guy will be the three-seed with his 51.30.
• Japan’s Suzuka Asegawa (2:05.54) has the top spot in the women’s 200m fly over Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu (2:05.59).