Daiya Seto Books Olympic Ticket in 200 Butterfly at Japanese Trials; Tomoru Honda Wins Event
The Olympic schedule of multi-event star Daiya Seto just got busier as the 26-year-old added the 200-meter butterfly to his Tokyo Games program on Tuesday night. Racing in the 200-meter butterfly, Seto took second to Tomoru Honda, with both men punching their tickets to a home Games that has been delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Honda, who missed out on Olympic qualification with a third-place finish in the 400 individual medley on the opening day of the meet, won the 200 butterfly in 1:54.88. Honda trailed Seto for much of the race, but surged on the final lap to pull ahead. Seto took second with an effort of 1:55.20, which is more than two seconds off his Asian record. The performance suggests Seto has much more to show on the Olympic stage.
By adding the 200 butterfly to his program, Seto will contest three individual events at the Tokyo Olympics. As the reigning world champion in the 200 individual medley and 400 individual medley, he was granted automatic qualification in those events. When the Olympics start, Seto will be a medal favorite in all three disciplines.
Less than a half-second separated the top three finishers in the final of the women’s 200 individual medley, but only two of the athletes will be going to Tokyo due to the two-per-country rule. Taking first place was Miho Teramura, who recorded a mark of 2:09.55 to edge Yui Ohashi, who was timed in 2:09.67. Rika Omoto charged through the freestyle leg but couldn’t catch the leaders and was third in 2:09.85.
The finals of the women’s 200 freestyle went to Chihiro Igarashi in 1:57.47 while the women’s 1500 freestyle was won by Yukimi Moriyama in 16:17.60.
A spectacular battle for the two Olympic berths in the men’s 200 breaststroke is set, as seven athletes went under the 2:10 barrier, led by Ryuya Mura in 2:08.08. He was followed by Ippei Watanabe in 2:08.14, with Shoma Sato lurking at 2:09.18. Watanabe and Sato are two of the five men in history to go sub-2:07.
A swim of 48.64 made Katsumi Nakamura the top seed for the final of the men’s 100 freestyle while Suzuka Hasegawa qualified fastest for the final of the women’s 200 butterfly with a performance of 2:08.84.
In the 200 fly, a contender for silver or bronze (with Le Clos), certainly – I don’t see anyone close to Milak in the final.