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Hagino had only qualified third fastest for the final but caught fellow Japanese Daiya Seto at the end of the first lap of backstroke before accelerating away to clinch the gold. Reuters photo
If you saw Japan’s Kosuke Hagino swim the 400M individual medley on an early Sunday morning, you could easily make out what this 21-year-old is made of.
Hagino had only qualified third fastest for the final but caught fellow Japanese Daiya Seto at the end of the first lap of backstroke before accelerating away to clinch the gold.
In the process, the Tochigi Prefecture native, who pipped Michael Phelps to take bronze at the 2012 London Games, became the first non-American to win the event since Hungary’s Tamas Darnyi in 1992.
Hagino trains under Norimasa Hirai, the former coach to Japan’s legendary swimmer Kosuke Kitajima.
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