CANET-EN-ROUSSILLON, FRANCE – Rio Olympic gold medal hopeful Kosuke Hagino collected his third title in two days on Europe’s Mare Nostrum tour with victory in the men’s 200 meters individual medley on Thursday.
Hagino, winner of the 400 IM and 200 backstroke on Wednesday, clocked 1 minute, 57.63 seconds to easily beat Portugal’s Alexis Manacas Santos.
Santos timed 2:00.53 and Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches placed third in 2:01.29.
Hagino earned a runner-up finish in the men’s 200 butterfly, touching the wall in 1:58.69 behind South Africa’s London Olympic champion Chad Le Clos (1:54.82).
In women’s races, Kanako Watanabe placed third in the 200 breaststroke in 2:25.33, with rival Rikke Moller Pedersen of Denmark wining in 2:24.06. Natsumi Hoshi finished third in 2:08.54 in the 200 butterfly and 14-year-old Nastumi Sakai was second in the 100 backstroke in 1:00.94.
