The USA Swimming junior national team and strong representation from Australia, Spain, and host country Japan have joined the stars for the second meet of the Asian cluster of the FINA World Cups in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Tokyo is always one of the fastest stops on the tour, and times that were almost medaling just a few days ago in Beijing are needed in morning prelims just to make it back. The Japanese swimmers are showing some serious depth, along with impressive performances from young swimmers, in the lead-up to a home Olympics in 2020.  

2017 FINA World Cup - Cluster No. 3

Nov. 10-11: Beijing

Nov. 14-15: Tokyo

Nov. 18-19: Singapore

LIVE RESULTS

World championships silver medallist Yasuhiro Koseki kicked things off in style in front of a home crowd, narrowly taking out the 100m breaststroke ahead of Russian rival Kirill Prigoda. Koseki has now won 3 of 3 breaststroke races this cluster. 

Men’s 100m Breaststroke

1. 56.49 -- Yasuhiro Koseki 
2. 56.71 -- Kirill Prigoda 
3. 57.15 -- Ilya Shymanovich

Four-time world champion Daiya Seto followed up by breaking his second World Cup record in as many meets, taking out domestic rival Kosuke Hagino’s 2013 mark by 0.1 seconds in the 200 IM with a 1:51.40.

Men’s 200m IM

1. 1:51.40 -- Daiya Seto (World Cup Record)
2. 1:54.49 -- Takeharu Fujimori
3. 1:55.16 -- Keita Sunama

Budding backstroke star Masaki Kaneko made it three wins for the Japanese men, taking out his more fancied rival Ryosuke Irie by just 0.2 in the 200m backstroke. Kaneko used his stunning underwater work on the last two turns to storm home in 26.8 for the win. The domestic scene in Japan is really heating up.

Men’s 200m Backstroke

1. 1:49.74 -- Masaki Kaneko
2. 1:49.95 -- Ryosuke Irie
3. 1:50.96 -- Jiayu Xu

Vlad Morozov showed he is in his best form, pushing his personal best in the 100m freestyle in a good tussle with points leader Chad Le Clos. Not many swimmers have gone 45 point in textile, but Morozov consistently does it on tour. 

Men’s 100m Freestyle

1. 45.65 -- Vlad Morozov 
2. 46.09 -- Chad Le Clos
3. 46.54 -- Katsumi Nakamura

In women’s action, Sarah Sjöström and Katinka Hosszu got the job done in their respective events. Sjostrom continues her hunt for the 50m fly short course world record, shading it every time, but needs to be wary of Ranomi Kromowidjojo snapping at her heels. 

Women’s 50m Butterfly

1. 24.65 -- Sarah Sjöström 
2. 24.81 -- Ranomi Kromowidjojo 
3. 25.14 -- Rikako Ikee

Sjostrom won in a romp in the 200m freestyle, as did Hosszu in her pet 400m IM event. Notably, Cate Campbell swam a personal best time for second in the 200m free, expanding her repertoire — all for the points. 

Women’s 200m Freestyle

1. 1:52.94 -- Sarah Sjostrom
2. 1:54.69 -- Cate Campbell
3. 1:54.91 -- Bingjie Li

Women’s 400m IM

1. 4:22.05 -- Katinka Hosszu 
2. 4:27.82 -- Yui Ohhashi
3. 4:29.06 -- Sakiko Shimizu

Emily Seebohm continued her win streak in the 50m backstroke, getting the touch over world-record holder Etiene Medieros, who joined the tour from Brazil. 

Women’s 50m Backstroke

1. 26.24 -- Emily Seebohm
2. 26.34 -- Etiene Medeiros
3. 26.56 -- Mayuko Mori

Les Clos, the overall men’s points leader, made it 27 wins in a row and four years undefeated on the World Cup tour in this event with another dominant display in the 50m butterfly. 

Men’s 50m Butterfly

1. 22.49 -- Chad Le Clos
2. 22.81 -- Pavel Sankovich
3. 22.96 -- Andrii Govorov

Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk had a good battle with Korean star Tae Hwan Park, this time defeating the short course world champion over the 1500m distance. After Romanchuk’s huge improvements made this year in the long course pool, and with a best time of 14:15 from this meet last year, look for him to again push distance king Gregorio Paltrinieri and the world record at the upcoming European SC Championships next month. 

Men’s 1500m Freestyle

1. 14:28.26 -- Mykhailo Romanchuk
2. 14:32.90 -- Tae Hwan Park
3. 14:40.69 -- Sergii Frolov

Another star who will be at the European’s in her home country next month is Denmark’s Rikke Pedersen. On Tuesday night, she got the win over Budapest world champion Yulia Efimova, who has just joined the tour for the single Tokyo stop. 

Women’s 200m Breaststroke

1. 2:18.29 -- Rikke Pedersen
2. 2:18.78 -- Reona Aoki
3. 2:19.21 -- Yuliya Efimova

FINA High Point Scorers [Tokyo, Day 1]

Men

1. 954 – Vlad Morozov (100m Free)
2. 953 – Yasuhiro Koseki (100m Breast)
3. 953 – Daiya Seto (200m IM)

Women

1. 970 – Katinka Hosszu (400m IM)
2. 967 – Sarah Sjöström (50m Fly)
3. 948 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo (50m Fly)

Cluster Point Scores [Progressive]

Men

1. 69 – Chad Le Clos
2. 60 – Vlad Morozov
3. 48 – Daiya Seto
4. 36 – Yasuhiro Koseki
5. 24 – Jiayu Xu
6. 21 – Andrii Govorov

Women

1. 93 – Sarah Sjöström
2. 57 – Katinka Hosszu
3. 48 – Emily Seebohm
4. 45 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo
5. 36 – Cate Campbell
6. 24 – Alia Atkinson