Japanese swimmer Daiya Seto took the bronze medal in the men's 400-meter individual medley on the final day of the world aquatics championships Sunday.
Japan finished with just two medals from the swimming program contested by only 12 of its athletes in Doha after several prominent names — including Rikako Ikee, Yui Ohashi and Ryosuke Irie — opted to stay home to prepare for March's Olympic team selection meet in Tokyo.
Tomoru Honda was the other Japanese medalist in the Qatari capital, winning the men's 200-meter butterfly gold last Wednesday.
Seto was a distant third in 4 minutes, 12.51 seconds. New Zealand's Lewis Clareburt won the gold in 4:09.72, and Britain's Max Litchfield was 0.68 behind for the silver in the absence of France's Leon Marchand, who won the event at the 2023 championships with a world record time.
Seto was unhappy with his time but indicated the race had revealed areas he needed to improve.
"Can I get a medal with 4 minutes, 12 seconds?" he said. "The way I swam wasn't good at all. I probably wasted my energy in the first half of the race, so I couldn't finish well. My issues became clear."
Seto will resume training soon in Australia, which has been his base since last autumn.
"I'll just have to rewrite my personal best and then see what color of medal I can get (in Paris)," the 29-year-old said.
Seto has reached the podium in all of his seven trips to the world championships since his debut in 2013.
In the 400 individual medley, his signature event, Seto claimed the bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and has collected three gold and three bronze at the world championships.