JAKARTA -- Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee grabbed her fourth gold medal of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta on Tuesday with a victory in the women's 100-meter butterfly in a meet record.
Japan also got gold medals from Yasuhiro Koseki in men's 200 breaststroke and Yui Ohashi in women's 400 individual medley.
"I have been constantly posting good times in recent races, so I feel like there has been a great improvement [in my swimming]," Ikee said.
Ikee said that she conserved her energy slightly over the first half of the race, then turned it on over the last 25 meters to finish in an Asian Games record of 56.30 seconds, 1.1 seconds ahead of Chinese silver medalist Zhang Yufei.
"I could swim exactly as I planned," Ikee said.
Earlier, Koseki finished a hotly contested 200 breaststroke in 2:07.81, just edging compatriot and world record-holder Ippei Watanabe by 0.01 seconds.
Koseki said that he swam at full strength from the beginning of the race, very much aware that he would be exhausted down the stretch. "In the last 20 meters I thought I might not be able to survive," Koseki said. "I went into the race with the feeling that I was the challenger."
Ohashi won the 400-meter individual medley in 4:34.58, with Sakiko Shimizu taking the bronze medal in 4:39.10.
"Since I am aiming to win the gold medal [at the Tokyo Olympics] two years from now, [winning here] was a matter of course," Ohashi said.
In the women's 4x200 freestyle relay, China won a duel with rival Japan for the gold medal, clocking 7:48.61 to finish 5.22 seconds ahead of Japan and prevent Ikee from grabbing a fifth gold medal.
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