16th FINA World Championships

July 24 - August 9, 2015

DAIYA SETO: I COMPETED TODAY WITH A FIGHTING SPIRIT

10.08.2015, 09:32 Daiya Seto defended his 400m individual medley world champion crown. The SPORT athlete’s debut on the national team of Japan was two years ago in Barcelona, where he claimed gold. Today he finished the race with a time of 4:08.50, improving his previous result. As for the Japanese swimmer’s other achievements in this distance, the athlete took gold at the FINA World Championships (25m) in Istanbul three years ago and bronze at the last year.

“The competitions were very hard in all the disciplines at these Worlds. It was very hard. I’m very delighted to have won gold today. I wasn’t nervous or frightened before the race. I knew I could do this. My next target is the Rio Olympics. I failed to compete against in the 200m, that’s why I wanted to show as much as possible in this swim,” the athlete said after the finish.

“It’s been a tough morning today but I came out on a deck with the feeling like I was already a winner This fighting spirit helped me to show my best and grab gold. Yes, I am shorter than my opponents in this event but I am inclined to believe that usually it’s those who swim faster that become winners rather than those who are taller. I believed that I was the best swimmer in this event, I guess the psychological strength also helped me win,” said Daiya Seto at the press conference.

Grabbing gold twice in the same event but at different World Championships (Barcelona 2013 and Kazan 2015) with two-year difference was quite hard. He felt the pressure considering that he hadn’t been training properly for the past two years.

“First of all I wanted to defend my title,” the world champion commented.

The athlete also admitted to being insecure a bit at the beginning of the Championships. According to him, backstroke is one of his weak points. During the freestyle event, he lacked stamina that’s why he changed breathing technique and started to stretch his hands out further during the swim. It looks like his strategy paid off.

Daiya Seto’s first rivals at the FINA Worlds 2015 were David Verraszto of Hungary and of the USA. All three of them are about to compete at Rio 2016. Apart from them, Daiya Seto really hopes to compete against his compatriot, a Japanese swimmer who couldn’t come to Kazan due to his injury.

Press Office of Organising Committee for 16th FINA World Championships

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