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2020 ASIAN MALE SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: KOSUKE HAGINO
26-year-old Olympic champion Kosuke Hagino has earned SwimSwam’s 2020 Swammy Award for Asian male swimmer of the year.
The newly married father-of-one was nearly unstoppable in both individual medley events over the course of the International Swimming League (ISL) 2020 season. Hagino finished the Tokyo Frog Kings’ season ranked 5th in the entire league in the 200m IM with a season-based of 1:52.35 while he remained 2nd fastest through the end in the long IM with a time of 4:01.41.
Although London Roar’s Duncan Scott hit a faster time to rank #1 season-wide in the 400m IM, the Brit clocked that time outside of any head-to-head meetings with the Frog Kings. As such, Hagino was completely undefeated in the 400m IM.
Hagino’s prowess in Budapest continued the momentum he had been building earlier in the season as the man who took a near-5-month hiatus in 2019 to tend to mind and body has been steadily coming back to form.
At October’s Japanese Short Course Swimming Championships, Hagino clocked his fastest 400m IM time in two years to earn the national title and doubled up with the 6th fastest 200m IM time of his career.
Hagino candidly called the Olympic postponement ‘a gift’, as the extra time will only make the comeback kid stronger both mentally and physically as he attempts to qualify for a home-based Olympics and possibly defend his 400m IM gold medal in front of a home crowd.
Hagino’s ISL Season 2 Key Events
| 200m IM | ||
| Match | Time | Place |
| 3 | 1:53.01 | 1 |
| 5 | 1:52.76 | 2 |
| 8 | 1:52.69 | 2 |
| 9 | 1:52.84 | 1 |
| SF 1 | 1:52.35 | 2 |
| 400 IM | ||
| Match | Time | Place |
| 3 | 4:02.58 | 1 |
| 5 | 4:01.52 | 1 |
| 8 | 4:01.41 | 1 |
| 9 | 4:01.77 | 1 |
| SF 1 | 4:02.40 | 1 |
HONORABLE MENTIONS
In no particular order.
- Daiya Seto – 26-year-old Seto started out this year primed to do major damage at a home-based Olympics. The man already qualified for the Games via his 200m IM and 400m IM double gold last year in Gwangju, but he had his sights set on the 200m fly and at least relay qualification in the 200m free. Seto kicked off the 2020 calendar year with a big-time Asian Record in the 200m fly, ripping a lifetime best of 1:52.53. The time slotted him as the 3rd fastest performer of all-time. However, Seto ran into out-of-the-pool troubles, which rendered him booted off the JPN national team and out of meets for the remainder of the year. This included the ISL, which is why his season was cut even shorter.
- Katsuo Matsumoto – The man who took silver in the 200m free at last year’s World Championships was a freestyle force to be reckoned with domestically this year. Matsumoto, whose full first name is Katsuhiro but likes to be called Katsuo, nailed two national records in short course in 2020. He put up a lifetime best of 3:37.94 to rewrite the mark in the 400m free in January and squeezed out a 1:41.77 200m free in October, both ranking him as the fastest man ever from Japan.
Previous Winners:
- 2013 – Sun Yang, China
- 2014 – Kosuke Hagino, Japan
- 2015 – Sun Yang, China
- 2016 – Kosuke Hagino, Japan
- 2017 – Sun Yang, China
- 2018 – Daiya Seto, Japan
- 2019 – Daiya Seto, Japan
Not arguing with this article or anyone in the comments section. Just want to state a fact: I’ve stood next to Seto and he is at MOST 5’8, I’d guess 5’7. (I know he is listed as 5’9). He has no business dropping a 1:52 200 fly. What a beast.
For reference: I’m 5’8.5. Kitajima is about an inch taller than me. Seto is about an inch shorter than me. And I’m lucky enough to have photo evidence!
Pic or didnr happen
I think it definitely should be Seto. 1:52 2fly, 1:55 2IM, 4:06 4im are super impressive.
Xu and Yan also deserve some love for 52s 1back/58s 1breast, and their combined efforts to break the mixed medley relay WR.
Young Sato’s 2:07 low 200 breast is impressive too.
I think all of them were ahead of Hagino this year.
Hagino began to show some sign of recovery recently, but his times are still not enough to contend for medals at Olympics. Still some way to go.
Some short memories around here. Seto was beast mode the first three months of the year and if not for Covid he would have two Olympic golds now.
As much as I love Hagino and think he would be in the running for best comeback story, but Seto was just a monster
Seto:
4:06.09 400 IM
1:52.53 200 fly
1:55.98 200 IM
1:45 200 free
He easily is the best Asian swimmer of the year.
No, actually because he cheated on his wife he becomes a lesser swimmer. East Asian logic.
Yeah SwimSwam kinda did him dirty and lended more credibility to his “out of water issues”. The times you list would probably have made him US swimmer of the year (if it weren’t for Dressel).
Those are literally Phelpsian times.
His hot streak at the start of 2020 feels so long ago now, with what has happened globally and to Seto personally since.
“His hot streak at the start of 2020 feels so long ago now, with what has happened globally and to Seto personally since.”
If early 2020 me would see these lines, just after first reading about Sato’s incredible performances… wow… so much has happened since. If everything went well the guy would be a national hero, multiple olimpic gold medalist. Now we are here.
Days before covid seem like a long time ago.
Seto is 1:55.55 in the 200 IM also his best 200 free is only 1:47
He would be my choice. But that 1.45 200FS you credit him with doesn’t appear right.