Daiya Seto Registers A Smooth 4:12.31 400 IM In Mesa

En route to their training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, a small Japanese elite contingency stopped in Mesa, Arizona to compete at the 2016 Narwhal Invite. Hosted by the Mesa Aquatics Club , key Rio-bound athletes such as Daiya Seto, Rie Kaneto and Koseki Yasuhiro took part in the 3-day meet from June 17th-19th at Kino Aquatics Center.

Note: Full Meet Results Available on Meet Mobile As ‘Nawhal’ (sic) Invite

With Rio less than 50 days away, Seto put up some eye-catching times in his two Olympic events of the men’s 400 IM and 200 butterfly. Headed into the meet in the former, Seto holds the season’s 2nd-fastest time in the world in 4:10.53, sitting only behind national teammate Kosuke Hagino (4:08.85). In Mesa, Seto was able to come within 2 seconds of that mark, hitting a 4:12.31 to easily win the 400m IM event and keep the world looking in his direction as a potential candidate to land on the podium in the race come Rio.

With the 1:54.14 he threw down last April, Seto also holds the 2nd-fastest time in the world in the men’s 200 butterfly. With no one near the dynamic Japanese swimmer in terms of speed in the Narwhal race, Seto was still able to crank out a smooth 1:55.68, a mark which just cracks the world’s top 10.  Seto is also a favorite to final in this event in Rio, where he’ll be looking to take on the likes of South Africa’s Chad Le Clos and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh.

27-year-old breaststroker Rie Kaneto has been on fire since she took down her nation’s 200m breaststroke record at this year’s Aquatic Super Series in Perth (2:20.04). She followed that up with a fresh new record in the event at the Japanese Olympic Trials, clocking a 2:19.65 to become the first Japanese woman ever to dip beneath the 2:20.00 threshold.

Kaneto’s sub-2:20 time still stands as the top mark in the world and she was able to notch a result just a handful of seconds off in Mesa. 2:22.48 is what the veteran threw down with virtually no competition, as the next-swiftest competitor was that of teammate Miho Takahashi who took silver 6 seconds back in 2:28.88.

Yasuhiro Koseki burned up the pool in the men’s edition of the breaststroke events, first taking the 100m distance in 1:01.32 in prelims before scratching the final, then by taking the 200m breaststroke in 2:10.94. The longer event is the one for which Koseki qualified for Rio, clocking a time of 2:08.14 at his nation’s Olympic Trials. That mark ranks Koseki as the 3rd-fastest swimmer in the world.

With Rio on the horizon, Koseki was able to swim away with a time of 2:10.94 in the event in Mesa. That’s a solid time considering where Koseki is most likely at in training and keeps his name in the conversation to make the Rio final.