2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
- Hangzhou, China
- Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
- SCM (25m)
- Live Results (Omega)
In a race that came down to the touch, Daiya Seto of Japan fended off reigning short course world champion Chad Le Clos of South Africa in the men’s 200m butterfly tonight in Hangzhou. Le Clos had entered tonight’s final as the casual 7th seed with his morning effort of 1:51.90, while Seto staked his claim early, taking the top seed in 1:49.88, the only sub-1:50 result of the heats.
In tonight’s race, Seto separated himself on the third 50 with a split of 28.00 to ultimately touch the wall in a mighty 1:48.24, a new World Record. Le Clos clocked a split of 28.48 on the final 50 to chase down Seto, but the Japanese National Record holder held on for the victory by .08. Le Clos captured a time of 1:48.32 for silver, also under his old record and in a new African mark.
Watch how the race went down, courtesy of Alex Muni. You can read more about the history-making race here.
I gotta be honest, Seto is a sight to behold, his kick doesn’t seem like it should be moving him so fast, especially if you look on the underwater footage while he is swimming. But still a remarkable athlete and well-deserved of the WR