2026 Asian Games: Day One Finals Live Recap

2026 ASIAN GAMES

• September twentieth – September twenty fifth (pool swimming)
• Prelims at 10am native (9pm earlier evening ET)/Finals at 5pm native (4am ET)
• Tokyo Aquatics Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Entries
• Live Results

We’re getting into the primary finals session of the 2026 Asian Games with the medal-contending motion going down on the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Several of the competitors’s most extremely anticipated stars might be within the water on each the boys’s and girls’s sides to set the stage and set up momentum for his or her nations because the week unfolds.

The girls’s 200m butterfly will see the youngest-ever World Championships medalist, Yu Zidi of China, make her Asian Games debut, hoping to take advantage of her first of three particular person occasion appearances.

Then we’ll see a doubtlessly quick and livid battle to the wall amongst high 200m IM contenders Wu Fang of China, Tomoyuki Matsushita and Yumeki Kojima of Japan, with the previous making an attempt to repeat as gold medalist from three years in the past.

Li Bingjie of China will tackle the likes of Ichika Kajimoto within the A-final of the ladies’s 1500m freestyle, with Singapore’s Ching Hwee Gan able to do her greatest and rain on their parade.

The marquee occasion of the evening comes within the males’s 100m freestyle, the place the reigning Asian Games champion, Olympic champion and World Record holder Pan Zhanle of China will attempt to method the monster 46.40 best-ever efficiency he established in Paris.

Additional stars to look at embody Tang Qianting (CHN) and Satomi Suzuki (JPN) within the girls’s 50m breaststroke, with Olympic medalist Xu Jiayu of China vying for a repeat title within the males’s 100m again.

The evening might be capped off with the ladies’s 4x100m free relay.

WOMEN’S 200 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

• World Record – 2:01.65, Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2026
• Asian Record – 2:01.81, Liu Zige (CHN), 2009
• Games Record – 2:05.57, Zhang Yufei (CHN), 2023
• 2023 Champion – Zhang Yufei (CHN), 2:05.57

GOLD – Yu Zidi (CHN) – 2:05.08 (ASIAN GAMES RECORD)
SILVER – Chang Mohan (CHN) – 2:08.44
BRONZE – Misa Okuzono (JPN) – 2:09.67

Our finals periods kicked off with a bang! China’s Yu Zidi earned gold within the girls’s 200 fly in Asian Games Record vogue, stopping the clock in 2:05.08. Just 13 years outdated, Yu Zidi cracked Zhang Yufei‘s Games Record of 2:05.57 with the swim. She took more than half-a-second off her career best of 2:05.71 as well. Additionally, she’s now the 14th-fastest swimmer of all-time within the occasion.

China made it a 1-2 punch, seeing Chang Mohan earn silver with a 2:08.44. Chang was off her profession greatest of two:07.16, which she swam in March on the China Open Swimming Championships.

Japan made it onto the medal stand as nicely, seeing Misa Okuzono swim a 2:09.67. She was a spark off her profession greatest of two:09.09. Patience paid off for Okuzono tonight, as 6 swimmers within the subject had been sooner than her on the opening 100m. Nonetheless, Okuzono managed to earn a medal via a constant again half, retaining her tempo up whereas the others had been fading.

MEN’S 200 IM – FINAL

• World Record – 1:52.69, Leon Marchand (FRA), 2025
• Asian Record – 1:54.52, Wang Shun (CHN), 2023
• Games Record – 1:54.62, Wang Shun (CHN), 2023
• 2023 Champion – Wang Shun (CHN), 1:54.62

GOLD – Tomoyuki Matsushita (JPN) – 1:55.30
SILVER – Yumeki Kojima (JPN) – 1:55.36 (WORLD JUNIOR RECORD)
BRONZE – Wang Shun (CHN) – 1:57.14

The males’s 200 IM changed into a unbelievable race between Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita and Yumeki Kojima. Matsushita received his hand on the wall 1st on the end, incomes gold, whereas Kojima was proper behind, incomes silver.

Matsushita received out to the early lead, splitting 25.14 on fly to Kojima’s 25.34. Kojima then cut up 29.27 on again to Matsushita’s 29.63, which gave Kojima a slight lead on the midway level of the race. On breaststroke, Kojima cut up 33.36, whereas Matsushita was 33.24, reducing into the lead, however Kojima nonetheless led on the 150m flip. Locked in a useless warmth, Matsushita simply narrowly received the higher of Kojima on freestyle, splitting 27.29 to Kojima’s 27.39.

For Matsushita, the efficiency marks a slight profession greatest, clipping 0.21 seconds off his earlier better of 1:55.51.

Kojima, who’s 17 years outdated, set a brand new World Junior Record together with his swim. The earlier document was 1:56.16, held by Mikhail Shcherbakov (Neutral Athletes B). Michael Phelps additionally held the place of the quickest junior of all-time with a 1:55.94 from 2003, however that document was by no means ratified. Either approach, Kojima was below each instances right now.

China’s Wang Shun rounded out the rostrum with a 1:57.14.

WOMEN’S 1500 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• World Record – 15:20.48, Katie Ledecky (USA), 2018
• Asian Record – 15:41.49, Wang Jianjiahe (CHN), 2021
• Games Record – 15:51.18, Li Bingjie (CHN), 2023
• 2023 Champion – Li Bingjie (CHN), 15:51.18

GOLD – Li Bingjie (CHN) – 15:53.52
SILVER – Ching Hwee Gan (SGP) – 16:00.45
BRONZE – Ichika Kajimoto (JPN) – 16:06.83

China discovered their approach again to the highest of the rostrum, seeing Li Bingjie win the ladies’s 1500 freestyle in 15:53.52. While that swim was good to win the race by 7 seconds, Li was 10 seconds off her profession better of 15:43.94, which she swam in May of 2025.

Singapore’s Ching Hwee Gan got here in 2nd with a 16:00.45. The efficiency marks a profession greatest for Gan, taking a second off her earlier better of 16:01.29. Additionally, Gan’s swim tonight marks a brand new nationwide document for Singapore.

Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto earned bronze tonight with a 16:06.83.

MEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL

GOLD – Pan Zhanle (CHN) – 47.61
SILVER – Kim Youngbeom (KOR) – 47.65
BRONZE – Hwang Sunwoo (KOR) – 47.79

China’s Pan Zhanle, the World Record holder on this occasion, received the boys’s 100 free tonight in a really shut race. Pan was locked in a race from begin to end with South Korea’s Kim Youngbeom and Hwang Sunwoo. Kim was out the quickest, splitting 22.81 on the opening 50, which put him simply forward of Pan (22.92) and Hwang (22.97). Pan had the quickest again half within the subject (24.69), which allowed him to get his hand on the wall 1st, simply 0.04 seconds forward of Kim.

For South Korea, this was an enormous occasion, marking their first medals of those Asian Games.

WOMEN’S 50 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL

• World Record – 29.16, Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 2023
• Asian Record – 29.44, Tang Qianting (CHN), 2026
• Games Record – 29.50, Tang Qianting (CHN), 2026
• 2023 Champion – Tang Qianting (CHN), 29.96

GOLD – Tang Qianting (CHN) – 29.45 (ASIAN GAMES RECORD)
SILVER – Satomi Suzuki (JPN) – 29.91
BRONZE – Yang Chang (CHN) – 30.24

China’s Tang Qianting dealer the Asian Games Record for the 2nd time right now, swimming a 29.45 tonight to earn gold. That swim got here in just below the 29.50 she posted this morning to interrupt the document initially. Additionally, Tang was simply 0.01 seconds off her personal Asian Record within the occasion (29.44), which she set earlier this 12 months.

35-year-old Satomi Suzuki (Japan) earned the silver medal tonight with the one different sub-:30 efficiency within the subject. Suzuki cracked 30 seconds for the first time in her profession, popping a 29.91. She took 0.19 seconds off her earlier profession better of 30.10, which additionally stood because the Japanese Record within the occasion. As such, Suzuki has set a brand new Japanese Record tonight, and have become the first Japanese girl below 30 seconds within the 50 breast.

China’s Yang Chang was third tonight with a 30.24.

MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE – FINAL

• World Record – 51.60, Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 2022
• Asian Record – 51.86, Xu Jiayu (CHN), 2017
• Games Record – 52.23, Xu Jiayu (CHN) 2023
• 2023 Champion – Xu Jiayu (CHN), 52.23

GOLD – Xu Jiayu (CHN) – 51.98 (ASIAN GAMES RECORD)
SILVER – Hidekazu Takehara (JPN) – 53.93
BRONZE – Lee Juho (KOR) – 53.94

Xu Jiayu received the boys’s 100 again ultimate tonight in dominant vogue. Xu clocked a 51.98, which was only a spark off his personal Asian Record of 51.86, however he did handle to take down his personal Asian Games Record of 52.23 from 2023. He was out in 25.13 and got here dwelling in 26.85 to convey the Games Record below 52 seconds for the first time.

Japana’s Hidekazu Takehara earned the silver medal tonight with a 53.93, touching out South Korea’s Lee Juho by only one one-hundredth of a second.

WOMEN’S 4×100 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINAL

• World Record – 3:27.96, Australia, 2023
• Asian Record – 3:30.30, China, 2024
• Games Record – 3:33.96, China, 2023
• 2023 Champion – China, 3:33.96

GOLD – China (Yu, Zhang, Cheng, Wu) – 3:33.10 (ASIAN GAMES RECORD)
SILVER – Hong Kong (Ma, Haughey, Li, Kan) – 3:36.59
BRONZE – Japan (Mizoguchi, Suzuki, Ikemoto, Matsumoto) – 3:39.09

China ended tonight’s session on a really excessive be aware, placing collectively a 3:33.10 to earn gold and set a brand new Asian Games Record. Yu Yiting (53.39), Zhang Yufei (52.99), Cheng Yujie (53.79), and Wu Qingfeng (52.93) mixed to take practically a second off the earlier document of three:33.96, which China held from the 2023 Games.

Hong Kong picked up their 1st medal of the meet on this occasion, incomes silver with a 3:36.59. Gilaine Ma (54.95), Siobhan Haughey (52.22), Sum Yiu Li (54.51), and Natalie Kan (54.91) teamed as much as make it occur.