In an epic race, Japan broke the Games Record with a 7:05.17, holding off a late charge from China who finished with the silver at 7:05.45. Both teams finished under the Games Record that Japan broke in 2014 at 7:06.74. Katsuhiro Matsumoto was out very fast in the anchor leg to try and swim away from China’s superstar Sun Yang. Matsumoto went out in a 50.14 to Sun’s 51.65. Matsumoto held on with his 1:44.85 split while Sun came home in a 1:44.19.
Naito Ehara (1:47.31), Reo Sakata (1:46.51), Kosuke Hagino (1:46.50) and Matsumoto (1:44.85) put up the third fastest time in the world this year as they will win the bronze medal in the Virtual World Championships behind United States and Australia, finishing just ahead of Great Britain’s Commonwealth Games add up time. China would have placed fifth with their team of Ji Xinjie (1:47.58), Shang Keyuan (1:47.15), Wang Shun (1:46.53) and Sun Yang (1:44.19).
Those two were well in front of everyone else as Singapore put together a solid relay for the bronze at 7:14.15. Zheng Quah (1:48.31) and Joseph Schooling (1:46.66) gave them some clear water up front with Kai Quan Yeo (1:49.23) and Jonathan Tan (1:49.95) closing the race for them to hold off South Korea at 7:15.26.
Japan has won every single gold medal in this event at the Asian Games except for in 2010 when China ended the streak.
- Japan, 7:05.17, Games Record (Ehara, Sakata, Hagino, Matsumoto)
- China, 7:05.45 (Ji, Shang, Wang, Sun)
- Singapore, 7:14.15 (Quah, Schooling, Yeo, Tan)
- South Korea, 7:15.26 (Yang, Jang, Kim, Lee)
- Chinese Taipei, 7:24.48 (Wang, Huang, Wang, An)
- Vietnam, 7:32.02 (Hoang, Ngo, Nguyen, Nguyen)
- India, 7:37.07 (Nataraj, Sangvekar, Mani, Roy)
- Hong Kong, DQ (Cheuk, Liao, Chan, Cheung)
Virtual World Championships
- United States, 7:04.36, Pan Pacs
- Australia, 7:04.70, Pan Pacs
- Japan, 7:05.17, Asian Games
- Great Britain, 7:05.30, Commonwealth Games aggregate
- China, 7:05.45, Asian Games
- Russia, 7:06.66, Europeans
- Italy, 7:07.58, Europeans
- Germany, 7:09.31, Europeans
