Kosuke Hagino Closes Japan Intercollegiate Champs With Sub-4:10 400 IM, 1:45 in 200 Free

Kosuke Hagino

Photo by Delly Carr

KANAGAWA, Japan, September 7. KOSUKE Hagino wrapped up an impressive appearance at the Japanese Intercollegiate Championships with another strong swim, this time in the 400 individual medley.

A day after lowering his own Japanese and Asian records in the 200 long course IM, Hagino took to the longer IM and won handily with a 4:09.62. It’s not as fast as his world-leading 4:07.88 from April’s nationals, and is more than a second off his 4:08.31 that he swam two weeks ago to win the Pan Pacific championship.

Hagino’s splits:
Butterfly: 55.62
Backstroke: 1:02.35
Breaststroke: 1:11.60
Freestyle: 1:00.05

Behind Hagino was an exciting battle for second. Takeharu Fujimori overcame a two-second deficit after butterfly to lead Daiya Seto after breaststroke, but could not hold that advantage at the end as Seto took silver with a 4:13.73 to Fujimori’s 4:13.81. Seto has been much faster this year, with a 4:10.21 to his credit from the Japan Open. It’s Fujimori’s fastest time of the year, beating the 4:14.00 he swam at Pan Pacs.

As he has done in the previous two days, Hagino put up another fast relay leadoff for Toyo University, this time in the 800 free relay. His 1:45.96 almost beats his 2014 best, a 1:45.89 from the spring nationals that ranks seventh in the world and second among Asians behind the 1:45.25 of Korea’s Tae Hwan Park. Hagino’s swim helped Toyo break the meet record in the 800 free relay with a 7:13.31.

Photo Courtesy: Tobiuo Japan

Photo Courtesy: Tobiuo Japan

Miyu Otsuka won the women’s 400 IM by two seconds with a 4:39.65 over the 4:41.34 by Sakiko Shuimizu and 4:42.88 posted by Miho Takahashi. All three are ranked in the top 20 in the world with much faster times from earlier in the year.

After taking down the oldest Japanese record in the books in the 50 freestyle, Miki Uchida went after Haruka Ueda’s 54.00 that has stood as the national record since 2012. Uchida fell short with a winning time of 54.54. Satomi Aoki placed second with a 55.23, while Yasuko Miyamoto took third with a 55.71.

Katsu Nakamura backed up his 50 free win with a 49.09 to win the men’s 100 free, ahead of the 49.28 by Rei Sakata and the 49.89 by Toru Maruyama. Hagino remains the fastest Japanese man in the event with a 48.76 relay leadoff on Friday, though Nakamura also has a sub-49 to his credit with a 48.96 from Pan Pacs.

Sayaka Akase, whose 1:00.48 from January stands 22nd in the world, won that event today with a 1:00.64. Emi Moronuki captured the silver medal with a 1:01.37 and Masumi Takesako was third with a 1:01.44.

In the men’s 100 back, Takeshi Kawamoto and Kuninori Tada swam stroke for stroke for the entire race. Kawamoto barely got the win with a 54.40 over Tada’s 54.45 while Keita Suna wasn’t far behind with a 54.96.

Reona Aoki beat her season best of 2:25.82 tonight with a 2:25.04 to win the women’s 200 breaststroke. Mio Motegi rallied in the final 100 meters but settled for second with a 2:25.53. Aya Hamano took third with a 2:26.55.

Kazuki Kohinata cracked 2:10 in the men’s 200 breast with a time of 2:09.85, just off his season best of 2:09.67 from nationals. Hiroshi Yamaguchi took second with a 2:10.93, while Yuta Oshikiri took third with a 2:11.07.

In the distance freestyle events, Asami Chita won the women’s 800 free with an 8:35.02 over Yuna Kikuchi’s 8:35.69, while Akira Hirai won the men’s 1500 by two seconds over Wataru Takeda, 15:10.46 to 15:12.61.

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