Tokyo 2020, Asia Recap Day 1: Ohashi Brightens Up The Day

2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
  • Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
• Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
• Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
• Full aquatics schedule
• SwimSwam Event Previews
• Entry Lists
• Live Results
• Day 1 Finals Heat Sheet

Yui Ohashi Earns Japan’s First Swimming Gold in Tokyo

We reported earlier today how the host nation of Japan got off to a sluggish start all-around at these home-based Olympic Games, exacerbated by the fact that medal favorite Daiya Seto missed the men’s 400m IM final.

The women’s 4x100m freestyle relay also missed out on its own final, despite entering these Games as the 7th seeded nation.

Thus, instead of being buoyed by positive performances by her teammates, Yui Ohashi was left with the challenge of singularly securing Japan’s sole medal on day 1 of these Games.

In today’s women’s 400m IM event, Ohashi pushed herself to a prelims time of 4:35.71 to claim the top seed and the 25-year-old never intended to look back.

Tonight in the final, Ohashi clocked a winning time of 4:32.08 to get to the wall ahead of two Americans in Emma Weyant and Hali Flickinger.

There are plenty more events to transpire here in Tokyo but adding at least one gold to kick off their campaign gives Japan a much-needed boost heading into day 2.

Quick Hits

• Daiya Seto missed the men’s 400m IM final despite entering the meet as the top-seeded swimmer, reigning world champion and reigning Olympic bronze medalist in the event.
• China’s Zhang Yufei enters tomorrow’s women’s 100m fly final as the top-seeded swimmer. The national record holder produced the only sub-56 outing of the field in 55.89, just .27 off of her Chinese standard and lifetime best of 55.62.
• China also has a chance to medal in tomorrow’s men’s 100m breaststroke final. Yan Zibei, the Asian continental record holder in the event, comes into the final as the #2 seed behind Great Britain’s Adam Peaty.

Continental & National Records Through Day 1

• China may have finished last in the women’s 4x100m free relay, but the combination of Cheng Yujie, Zhu Menghui, Ai Yanhan and Wu Qingfeng earned a new national record in the event. The foursome ultimately checked in with a time of 3:34.76 with collective splits as follows: Cheng 54.10, Zhu 53.54, Ai 54.22 and Wu 52.90.

Medals Table for Asia Through Day 1

Rank            Nation                                                  Gold       Silver          Bronze     Total       Total Rank