Several Olympic gold medalists, particularly on the women’s side, posted strong efforts during day two prelims at the FINA World Cup Tokyo. Among the highlights, the Olympic gold medalist set up a showdown against two World Champions in the women’s 50 free, while a 15-year-old American topped one of the world’s best swimmers in the prelims of her best event.<\/p>\n
Japan’s\u00a0Sakiko Shimizu<\/strong> was the only swimmer under 2:10 in the women’s 200 IM, touching in 2:09.99. She was followed by countrywomen\u00a0Miku Kojima\u00a0<\/strong>(2:10.23) and\u00a0Yui Ohhashi<\/strong> (2:10.29). Japan’s\u00a0Tomoni Aoki<\/strong> topped prelims of the women’s 100 free in 54.47, just ahead of\u00a0Nagisa Ikemoto<\/strong> (54.49) and\u00a0Sayuki Ouchi<\/strong> (54.54).<\/p>\n Japan’s\u00a0Hiromasa Fujimori<\/strong> posted the top time in the men’s 200 breast at 2:06.77. Long course world record-holder\u00a0Ippei Watanabe\u00a0<\/strong>tied with\u00a0Kazuki Watanabe\u00a0<\/strong>for second at 2:07.02. Japan’s\u00a0Naito Ehara\u00a0<\/strong>finished well ahead of anyone else in the men’s 400 free at 3:42.48, ahead of countrymen\u00a0Taketomo Tani\u00a0<\/strong>(3:47.23) and\u00a0Kaito Tatsumi\u00a0<\/strong>(3:47.73).<\/p>\n Japan’s\u00a0Hiromasa Fujimori<\/strong> clocked a time of 53.57 to qualify first in the 100 IM, leading\u00a0Meguru Hotta\u00a0<\/strong>(53.97) and\u00a0Yuuma Edo\u00a0<\/strong>(54.10).\u00a0<\/strong>Japan’s\u00a0Kousuke Matsui\u00a0<\/strong>was easily atop the 50 free with his time of 21.45.\u00a0Katsumi Nakamura\u00a0<\/strong>qualified second (21.85) and\u00a0Masayuki Kishisa\u00a0<\/strong>third (22.14).<\/p>\n In the women’s 100 IM, Hungary’s\u00a0Katinka Hosszu\u00a0<\/strong>and Australia’s\u00a0Emily Seebohm<\/strong> set up a showdown for the finals as Hosszu qualified in 57.09 and Seebohm in 59.31. American teenager\u00a0Alex Walsh\u00a0<\/strong>qualified third in 1:00.41.<\/p>\n Japanese Olympic silver medalist\u00a0Masato Sakai\u00a0<\/strong>topped prelims in the men’s 200 fly, finishing with a time of 1:53.32.\u00a0China’s\u00a0Li Zhuhao\u00a0<\/strong>was second in 1:53.49, and Japan’s\u00a0Nao Horomura\u00a0<\/strong>took third (1:53.56).<\/p>\n The USA’s\u00a0Regan Smith\u00a0<\/strong>took the top seed in the women’s 200 back in 2:03.81, but World and Olympic silver medalist Hosszu was just behind in 2:04.67. China’s\u00a0Liu Yaxin<\/strong> qualified third in 2:05.94. Hosszu later topped the 100 fly prelims in 56.50, with Japan’s\u00a0Rikako Ikee\u00a0<\/strong>second (57.09) and Smith third (57.40).<\/p>\n