Japanese leukemia survivor Rikako Ikee and her teammates failed to reach the final in the women's 4x100 freestyle relay at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, when Daiya Seto a gold medal favorite in the men's 400 individual medley suffered a shock defeat in his heat.
The 21-year-old Ikee, who was diagnosed with the disease in February 2019, swam the second leg as her team came ninth in 3 minutes, 36.20 seconds at Tokyo Aquatics Center, narrowly missing out on the eight-team final.
"(Leadoff swimmer Chihiro Igarashi) was having a really good race so I wanted to continue that, but I let the rivals open the gap after the turn," said Ikee, who was followed by Natsumi Sakai with Rika Omoto swimming the final leg. "It's also disappointing we could not achieve our aim of breaking the national record. ... But it was fun to take part with this team."