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Doha 2024, Day 4 Asian Recap: Honda Pulls Through For 200 Fly Gold

2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

Night four of the 2024 World Championships not only brought the first Japanese gold medalist in Doha but the evening’s session also made history for the nation.

For the first time, a Japanese swimmer topped the men’s 200m butterfly World Championships podium, courtesy of Tomoru Honda.

22-year-old Honda hit the wall in a time of 1:53.88, beating out Italy’s Alberto Razzetti and Austria’s  Martin Espernberger. The former touched in 1:54.65 and the latter clocked 1:55.16.

Making Honda’s accomplishment even more impressive is the fact that the Olympic silver medalist is competing in Doha with a sprained ankle.

Before this evening, no Japanese male swimmer had ever earned World Championships gold in this 200m fly event. The closest the nation came was silver and on several occasions.

Japanese Men’s 200 Fly World Championships Medalists

  • 2003 Barcelona – Takashi Yamamoto, silver
  • 2005 Montreal – Takeshi Matsuda, silver
  • 2009 Rome – Takeshi Matsuda, bronze
  • 2011 Shanghai – Takeshi Matsuda, silver
  • 2017 Budapest – Daiya Seto, bronze
  • 2019 Gwangju – Daiya Seto, silver
  • 2022 Budapeset – Tomoru Honda, bronze
  • 2023 Fukuoka – Tomoru Honda, bronze

Honda earned silver at the 2020 Olympic Games on his home turf in a time of 1:53.73. Since then, he’s posted times of 1:52.70 (December 2022), 1:53.15 (September 2023) and 1:53.34 (April 2023) as a testament to his consistency.

The Japanese Olympic Trials are happening in March, a month earlier than the typical timeframe of April. That means Honda has about a month to repair his ankle but he’s already well beneath the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) mandated qualification time of 1:55.27 needed to punch a ticket to Paris.

National/Continental Records Through Day 4:

Medal Table (Asia) Through Day 4:

RANK NATION GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
1 China 2 2 1 5
2 South Korea 2 0 0 2
3 Hong Kong 1 0 1 2
4 Japan 1 0 0 1

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Jasmine
9 months ago

Great to see swimmers from China, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong all having success in Doha!!

Johnson Swim school
Reply to  Jasmine
9 months ago

Asian strength power

McIntosh McKeown McKeon McEvoy
Reply to  Jasmine
9 months ago

So happy that Honda finally won gold!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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