Earlier this month, 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and two-time gold medalist from the 2019 FINA World Aquatic Championships, Daiya Seto of Japan, posted a video of an unofficial, yet speedy short course meters 100 IM race.
Taking on teammate Naito Ehara in a 3-lane practice pool, Seto fired off a short course meters (25m) 100 IM time of 54.61 from a push. Ehara came in about a second and a half later in 56.10.
The friendly dual took place in the spirit of Seto’s Smile Cup initiative, which is an online swimming competition meant to inspire and motivate junior swimmers whose regular championship meets were canceled amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
The 100m IM is the event to be contested by these swimmers, which time trial dates spanning 4 separate sessions. Swimmers are competing against those in the age groups of 8&U, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16 and 17-18.
Less than 2 weeks later at his next Smile Cup date, Seto wowed onlookers once again, this time getting under 53 seconds in the race with a time of 52.91. That means the man sliced over 1 1/2 seconds from his previous performance to check-in with a time just outside the top 50 performances all-time from Japanese men.
Seto’s lifetime best in this fast and furious IM rests at the 51.40 he produced at the 2018 FINA World Cup stop in Eindhoven.
The 26-year-old has only been back in the water less than 10 weeks, having been welcomed back to his training base in Tokyo in early June.
Didn’t realize his underwaters were so good. Legit elite in 5 “strokes”.
man, he’s fun to watch
So smooth… but it really looks to me like he’s doing a front flip from back to breast… or do mine eyes deceive me?
Looks like a crossover turn to me a la Ryan Lochte.
His turnover is just incredible. Looks like he’s doing 4x25s each for time.
Especially on the breaststroke. Obviously it’s only 100, but being able to have a quick tempo on the breaststroke leg of an IM is always really impressive to me.