Daiya Seto of Japan continued Japan’s hot streak in the 200 fly at the Asian Games with his 1:54.53 on Sunday night in Jakarta, Indonesia. Seto finished 1-2 with Japanese teammate Nao Horomura who was a 1:55.58, much faster than he went at Pan Pacs earlier this month.
Seto defended his title from 2014 and is just the third swimmer to defend the 200 fly title at the Asian Games, joining China’s Wu Peng (2002, 2006) and Japan’s Yasuhiro Komazaki (1970, 1974) as two-time winners.
The early leader in the final was Li Zhuhao of China, who ended up in the third spot at 1:55.76. Li is one of the favorites to win the 100 fly later in the week. All top three finishers placed in the top eight in the Virtual World Championships with times compiled from all four major meets this summer.
China’s Wang Zhou (1:56.75), India’s Sajan Prakash (1:57.75), Singapore’s Zheng Quah (1:57.95), Taipei’s Wang Kuanhung (1:58.63) and Korea’s Park Junghun (1:58.67) also swam in the final.
Seto joins a long list of names who won the Asian Games gold for Japan in the 200 fly. Japan has now won 13 gold medals in this event. Seto joins the likes of Takashi Ishimoto (1958), Kenzo Izutsu (1962), Yasuo Takada (1966), Komazaki (1970, 1974), Shinsuke Kayama (1978), Taihei Saka (1982), Hiroshi Sato (1986), Kunio Sugimoto (1990), Takashi Yamamoto (1998) and Takeshi Matsuda (2010) as gold medalists for Japan.
- Daiya Seto, JPN, 1:54.53
- Nao Horomura, JPN, 1:55.58
- Li Zhuhao, CHN, 1:55.76
- Wang Zhou, CHN, 1:56.75
- Sajan Prakash, IND, 1:57.75
- Zheng Quah, SIN, 1:57.95
- Wang Kuanhung, TPE, 1:58.63
- Park Junghun, KOR, 1:58.67
Virtual World Championships
- Kristof Milak, HUN, 1:52.79, Europeans
- Chad Le Clos, RSA, 1:54.00, Commonwealth Games
- Daiya Seto, JPN, 1:54.34, Pan Pacs
- Tamas Kenderesi, HUN, 1:54.36, Europeans
- Leonardo De Deus, BRA, 1:54.89, Pan Pacs
- Zach Harting, USA, 1:55.05, Pan Pacs
- Nao Horomura, JPN, 1:55.58, Asian Games
- Li Zhuhao, CHN, 1:55.76, Asian Games
