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September 22, 2014

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Hagino upstages Sun, Park to take 200 free

Source: Agencies | September 22, 2014, Monday | Print Edition

ONE devastating late sprint was all it took for Kosuke Hagino to alter the established order of Asian swimming yesterday.

The 20-year-old Japanese student steamed past his two big rivals — China’s Sun Yang and Park Tae-hwan of South Korea — to win the 200-meter freestyle gold medal at the Asian Games in Incheon.

Sun and Park had their excuses but all the signs are there that Hagino is going to win plenty more medals, not only at these Asian Games but also the 2016 Rio Olympics.

He had already established himself as the rising star when he beat Michael Phelps in a real dogfight at last month’s Pan Pacific championships in Australia.

Yesterday’s victory just reinforced that notion, even if he did spoil the most anticipated showdown of the 17th Asian Games.

The 200 was meant to be a race between Sun and Park, both pioneers of Asian swimming who have chalked up a stack of world, Olympic and Asian titles between them. But neither man could hold off Hagino, who reeled off his final lap in 26 seconds flat to win the gold in one minute 45.23 seconds.

Hagino was gracious in victory, saying that if the big-name rivals had swum their best they probably would have beaten him.

“They are both great swimmers. Just being able to compete with them meant a lot to me,” said Hagino, echoing similar comments he made after beating Phelps.

Sun was in a glum mood after his loss, saying he hurt his thumb when he slammed into the wall at the end. Better over longer distances, Sun led when the field turned for home but couldn’t muster the same devastating finishing speed as Hagino.

“I got caught up in the last 50 meters. I injured my thumb when I touched the touchpad,” Sun said. “I am satisfied with today’s result. I did my best.”

Minutes after he was presented with his gold medal, Hagino stripped off his tracksuit and jumped back in the pool for the 100 backstroke final.

He could only manage third behind his teammate Ryosuke Irie, who won in a time of 52.34, just ahead of China’s Xu Jiayu.

Japan completed a sweep of the three men’s swimming finals on the first night when Daiya Seto won the 200 butterfly.

But China won all three golds in the women’s races yesterday.

Zhang Yuhan won the 400 freestyle in 4:07.67 ahead of her teammate Bi Yirong and Japan's Chihiro Igarashi. Shi Jinglin won the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.67, from Japan's Kanako Watanabe and He Yun, of China.

China also won the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay, giving London Olympic medley champion Yi Shiwen another gold medal.

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