Japanese swimmer Daiya Seto won the 200-meter individual medley at Saturday's selection trials, qualifying for his third Olympic Games.
On the second to last day of the competition held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, Seto touched the wall with a time of 1:56.87, well below his qualifying time of 1:57.51. Second place So Ogata missed the qualifying time by 0.01 seconds.
Daiya Seto, who qualified for the Paris Olympics in the men's 200m individual medley, reacts during the swimming preliminaries held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center on March 23, 2024 (Kyodo News)
Daiya Seto (above) participating in the butterfly section of the men's 200m individual medley final at the Olympic Swimming Qualification held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center on March 23, 2024 (Kyodo News)
The top two swimmers who meet the qualifying times for each event set by the Japan Swimming Federation will participate in this summer's Paris Olympics.
Seto, a bronze medalist in the 400 IM at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, said, “I want to beat my personal best and win a medal at the Olympics.''
“I didn't feel a lot of pressure (heading into the 200m final) because I've been doing this since I was little. I decided to stay calm until the end and do what I can.”
No athletes qualified for the day's other two finals, the men's 50m freestyle and the women's 200m backstroke.
On Sunday, Rikako Ikee will swim in the 50m freestyle final, aiming to qualify for her second competition in Paris. The 23-year-old star athlete, known for his return to competition from leukemia, qualified for the 100 butterfly on Monday.
Yui Ohashi, who missed out on qualifying for the Paris Games in the 400m on Tuesday, will compete in the women's 200m individual medley final. She won both individual medley events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Related coverage:
Swimming: World champion Toru Honda qualifies for the Olympic men's 200m butterfly
Swimming: Hirai and Ikee participate in the Olympics in the 100 butterfly
Swimming: Rikako Ikee confident of going to Paris on her own
