A Special Thanks to Deep Blue Media for providing the images from this meet World Championships, Day Five Men’s Finals: Daiya Seto Extends Gold-Medal Streak In 400 IM The streak is alive. In a sport which routinely produces new challengers, Daiya Seto has repeatedly fended off assaults to his throne in the 400-meter individual medley. And on Night Five of the World Short Course Championships in Melbourne, the Japanese standout again rebuffed a run at his supremacy. But in typical style, it was Seto who emerged on top, as he won his sixth consecutive world title in the event. With American Carson Foster serving as his latest challenger, Seto surged to a commanding advantage on the breaststroke leg and captured the gold medal in 3:55.75. That time is the fourth-fastest in history, and was nearly two seconds quicker than the silver-medal mark of Foster, who touched in 3:57.63. South African Matthew Sates, the gold medalist in the 200 medley earlier in the meet, won the bronze in 3:59.21. Seto carried significant momentum into the final, thanks to a gold-medal outing in the 200 breaststroke from the prior night. And it was the breaststroke leg of the medley in which Seto separated himself from Foster, and assured his marvelous streak would be extended. After Sates led the opening butterfly leg, Foster moved in front on the backstroke leg while Seto bided his time in second place. It didn’t take long into the breaststroke for Seto to take over and give himself a cushion for the closing freestyle. Seto split 1:05.54 for the third leg of the event, compared to the 1:08.29 of Foster. The American cut into his deficit during the freestyle, but Seto had created too much of a gap. Seto now has three medals for the week, his titles complemented by a silver medal in the 200 butterfly. “I was focused on this event,” Seto said. “I swam the 200 IM and the 200 butterfly and the 200 breast, but the 400 IM is my favorite event. I never lose short course. Next year i want to be the champion in long course .” The silver medal was the second for Foster, who was also the runnerup in the 200 medley. Photo Courtesy:
