Rikako Ikee Lowers Asian Games Record To Win Women’s 50 Fly

SWIMMING AT THE 2018 ASIAN GAMES

• August 19th-24th, 2018
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Schedule & Results

Rikako Ikee broke the Asian Games Record to win gold in the women’s 50 fly in Jakarta, posting a time of 25.55 to remove China’s Lu Ying‘s 2014 mark of 25.83 from the books. Ikee had grazed the mark in the prelims with a morning swim of 25.91.

Though it was a Games Record, Ikee was well off her personal best of 25.11, set in June at the Monaco stop of Mare Nostrum Tour. That swim currently stands as the Asian Record, but with a heavy program here, gold medals are certainly more important than times. The 18-year-old now has two, having won the 400 free relay on night 1, and will seek a third later in the session as she swims the 100 freestyle. It was only a week ago that Ikee was wrapping up her impressive one gold, four-medal performance at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo.

China’s Wang Yichun won the silver in 26.03, and her teammate Lin Xintong snagged the bronze in 26.39. Wang lowered her season-best of 26.24 by two-tenths of a second, while Lin’s swim was just .03 off her personal best set earlier this year. Wang moves into a tie for 14th in the world rankings.