Yui Ohashi and Daiya Seto Post World Leading Times At Hamamatsu Bay Long Course Champs

Photo Courtesy: SIPA USA

Several of Japan’s biggest names had their first long course racing of 2019 at the Hamamatsu Bay Long Course Championships this weekend, with several swimmers posting world leading times in their respective events. Olympic gold medalist Daiya Seto, Olympian Kosuke Hagino, and National record holder Yui Ohashi were all hitting the water with some notable swims.

Ohashi may have been the standout of the meet, winning four events with world class times. The Japanese record holder won the 200 IM (2:09.14) and 400 IM (4:35.73) to take the #1 spot in the world in those events. Ohashi’s 200 IM time actually passes teammate Rika Omoto (2:09.93) as the top time in the world this year, giving Japan the top two times and the only female swimmers to have been sub-2:10 so far in 2019.

Her 400 IM time is also the #1 time in the world by more than three seconds, passing Katinka Hosszu’s 4:38.92 from the Luxembourg Euro Meet. Ohashi also posted some strong fly swims, hitting a 58.83 in the 100 fly and a 2:08.78 in the 200 fly. That puts her at #2 in the 200 fly, and within the top-10 in the world this year in the 100 fly.

Seto hit the wall in 1:56.98 to hit an early-year #1 time in the world, passing Chase Kalisz’s 1:57.68 from the TYR Pro Series meet in Knoxville. He also did the same in the 400 IM, throwing down a dominate 4:09.25 to take the top time in the world by more than 9 seconds.

Hagino was runner-up to Seto in both those races, putting up the fourth ranked swim so far this year in the 200 IM (1:58.67) and the second ranked time this year in the 400 IM (4:15.79). He also registered a third silver medal performance in the 200 free, touching in 1:47.83 to finish just behind Katsuhiro Matsumoto (1:47.46). Those times ranked them second and third, respectively, in the world so far this year.

You can see full results of the meet here.

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