2018 FINA WORLD CUP TOKYO
- Friday, November 9th – Sunday, November 11th
- Tatsumi International Swimming Center
- SCM
- Heats at 9:30am local/Finals at 6pm local
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Entry List
- Day 1 Prelims/Day 1 Finals
- Day 2 Prelims/Day 2 Finals
- Day 3 Prelims
- Results
19-year-old Rikako Ikee got a major confidence boost in Tokyo tonight, beating Sweden’s Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 100m butterfly.
This morning, Sjostrom led the field with a prelim effort of 56.73, with Chinese Swimmer Zhang Yufei claiming the 2nd seed in 56.93 and Ikee punching 57.41 for the 3rd slot.
Tonight was a different story, however, as Ikee rose to the occasion to race the fastest flyer of all-time, busting out a winning effort of 55.31 to Sjostrom’s 55.56.
Sjostrom raced to the lead with an opening split of 25.95, while Ikee was right behind in 26.01. On the back-end, however, Ikee crept ahead slightly, registering a closing 50 of 29.30 to Sjostrom’s 29.61.
For the Japanese star, Ikee’s time of 55.31 tonight checks-in as the 16th fastest performance of all-time. The teen now slides into the 8th slot among the world’s fastest performers ever in this event.
Ikee spent 2 weeks with Sjostrom at Energy Standard in Turkey, training alongside the Swedish speedster in the hopes of learning from the Olympic champion. The short stint together has appeared to pay off already for Ikee.
No hate, but she swam a 55.97 in Manchester when she was jet lag. I think Sarah is a bit jet-lag because she swam more than 6 tenth faster when she was in Budapest where the time matches Sweden’s.
I’m not sure what the downvotes are supposed to mean? It appears that most people who post here rely on some sort of psychic transference to explain their dislike, rather than the traditional way of using worded sentences. Sarah swam sub-55 in the 100 fly in both Eindhoen and Budapest. In Tokyo she only managed 55.56, so clearly she wasn’t at her best in this meet. Her 50 fly was better, though she didn’t win that final either.
She is 18 years 4 months.