In an adrenalin fuelled charge, Japanese sensation Kosuke Hagino won his fourth swimming gold medal of the Asian Games in the men’s 400 metres individual medley on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old, already being tipped to win medley gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, roared back on the final leg of freestyle to touch in four minutes, 7.75 seconds, taking his medals tally to six in South Korea.
“That was hard work, I felt like I could be in a bit of bother,” Hagino told reporters. “I didn’t expect to feel that tired but I kept it together somehow. Obviously the freestyle did bail me out.”
However, China stretched their lead over Japan in the gold medal standings to 15-8 after winning four of the seven titles on offer on day four, with their female swimmers storming to three individual titles and the men winning the 4x100m freestyle relay.
Kazakhstan and tiny Singapore upset the established order with a gold medal each in the men’s races.
Surprise package Dmitriy Balandin, who has exploded onto the scene in Incheon, punched the water in delight after winning the 100m breaststroke in a new Games best of 59.92, adding to the gold he won in Tuesday’s 200m.
“I didn’t expect to win two gold medals,” he admitted with a smile. “My expectation was to win some bronze. I won two gold medals — the first time my country has won gold. I am very proud to come from Kazakhstan and to see the flag of Kazakstan rise here.”
Singapore’s Joseph Schooling won the city state’s first men’s Asian Games swimming gold since 1982, taking the 100m butterfly in a meet best 51.76, despite hardly being able to train for the past month.
— Exhausting schedule —
“I’ve just enrolled as a freshman at the University of Texas,” he said. “I’m just happy to be sitting here. I’ve only been training one day, for the last four weeks. I’ve not really been doing much to be honest. It’s a huge step.”
Hagino’s exertions at these Games looked to have taken their toll on Japan’s team leader after an exhausting schedule including two tooth-and-nail scraps with Chinese Olympic gold medallist Sun Yang in the 200m and 400m freestyle.
But after stunning Sun in the 200m last weekend and pushing him hard in Tuesday’s 400m to claim silver, Hagino dug in and blew past China’s Yang Zhixian and team-mate Daiya Seta to win by 2.43 seconds for a new meet record.
“I kept it together and pulled it out even though I wasn’t quite feeling it tonight,” said Hagino, who also scored a sensational win over Michael Phelps at last month’s Pan Pacific championships.
“But if I want to go to the Olympics and win a gold medal there I will need to do a lot better than that and be more aggressive over the first half of the race.
“I’m looking long-term beyond Rio to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” he added. “The goal is to continue to swim well and win gold medals in Tokyo too.”
Shen Duo added the women’s 200m freestyle title to her gold in the 100m, Jiao Liuyang defended her 200m butterfly crown and Fu Yuanhui won the women’s 100m backstroke in another impressive display of girl power from the powerhouse Chinese.
Sun swam a powerful third leg for China as they upset Japan to win the 4x100m freestyle relay, clocking an Asian record of 3:13.47.