Izumi Katou conquers Women’s 200m IM semi-finals - Tatsumi International Pool, Tokyo
Izumi Katou conquered the semi-finals of Women’s 200m Individual Medley (IM) on day three of the Tatsumi International Pool in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday, April 4.
Katou, who qualified into the second round as top qualifying swimmer, lived up to the hopes of her supporters by continuing her effort in the semi-finals. With her relentless efforts, she made a significant improvement in her timing and cemented her place in the final round as the strongest swimmer.
Katou remained prominently ahead of her challengers from the start of the race. With her quickest response to the start, she gained a comfortable lead over her challenges and completed her first lap of the race in a time of 28.85 seconds.
Her alluring effort was chased by Emu Higuchi, who remained second fastest swimmer in the initial lap of the race and hit the wall with the timing of 29.20 seconds.
Their efforts continued in the second lap, where Katou kept serving notice of her talent and concluded her first half of the race by reporting a time of 1 minute and 03.25 seconds.
Her scintillating effort remained 0.33 seconds ahead of Higuchi, who covered the same distance by hitting the wall with an effort of 1 minute and 03.58 seconds.
Katou continued her smothering efforts in the third lap of the race, where she strengthened her place for top finish by producing a time of 1 minute and 41.07 seconds. In contrast, Higuchi stayed nearly 1.50 seconds slower and hit the wall with the timing of 1 minute and 42.54 seconds.
With her immaculate effort, Katou dictated terms to her challengers in the final lap as she posted 2 minutes and 13.21 seconds for first position. Her effort remained 0.19 seconds ahead of Higuchi, who tapped the wall with an effort of 2 minutes and 13.40 seconds.
Higuchi was followed by Miho Takahashi, who claimed third finest qualification spot of the race by hitting the wall with the timing of 2 minutes and 13.86 seconds.
The session completed after the event while the arena appreciated ruthless efforts of all participants in their exclusive events.
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