is a Japanese professional swimmer who specializes in individual medley, butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle events. He holds the world record in the short course 400-metre individual medley and formerly held the world record in the short course 200-metre butterfly. He won the gold medal in the 400-metre individual medley at the 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2022 world short course championships, as well as at the 2013, 2015, and 2019 world long course championships.
Swimming career Seto took up swimming at the age of five.Binner, Andrew (27 August 2020). "How Seto Daiya Came Out From The Shadows To Become Japan's Champion In The Water". Olympics.com. Retrieved 12 October 2021. He narrowly missed the 2012 Japan Olympic Team when he finished third in both the 200-metre and 400-metre individual medley events at the national selection meet. He improved his times at the 2012 FINA Swimming World Cup, where he competed at all stops of the World Cup circuit and achieved a fourth-place finish across all stops. He concluded the year's short course season at the 2012 World Short Course Championships. Here Seto won the first international medals of his career. He first competed in the 400-metre individual medley, where he won his first world title in a new Asian record of 3:59.12, over a second and a half faster than second-place finisher László Cseh. He then competed in the 200-metre individual medley, where he was able to sprint past Cseh for the silver medal in a time of 1:52.80.
2013 World Championships Seto was still coming into the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain, relatively unknown. He swam both individual medley events. In the 200-metre, his first event, he swam a personal best in the semifinals with a time of 1:58.03, and then finished a touch slower in the final the next night to finish seventh overall. In his best event of the Championships, the 400-metre individual medley, Seto qualified first for the final and then won his first long course world title by finishing first in a time of 4:08.69, about half a second ahead of second-place finisher Chase Kalisz of the United States. Seto became the second-fastest Asian performer in the event, behind Hagino, with his time.
2014 Pan Pacific Championships During the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships Seto won a gold medal.
2015 World Championships Seto successfully defended his world title in the 400-metre individual medley on the last day of the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia. Earlier in the meet, he did not live up to the expectations of others in the 200-metre butterfly and 200-metre individual medley, events in which he was ranked second in the world before leading up to the Championships.
2016 Summer Olympics
Seto earned a bronze medal in the 400-metre individual medley on 6 August, with a time of 4:09.71 in the final of the event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also finished fifth in the 200-metre butterfly.
2018 Pan Pacific Championships In 2018 he won a gold medal at the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.
2018 World Short Course Championships At the 2018 World Swimming Championships conducted in short course metres in Hangzhou, China in December, Seto won the gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly with a time of 1:48.24 that set a new world record in the event.FINA (11 December 2018). "14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Hangzhou (CHN): Men's 200m Butterfly Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 October 2021.Race, Retta (11 December 2018). "Watch The Seto Vs. Le Clos Battle That Produced A 200 Fly World Record". SwimSwam. Retrieved 12 October 2021.Ross, Andy (11 December 2018). "Daiya Seto Takes Down Chad Le Clos and his World Record in the 200 Fly at Short Course World Championships". Swimming World. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
Seto was named "Male Asian Swimmer of the Year" by SwimSwam for the 2018 year.
2019 International Swimming League In the autumn of 2019, he was a member of the inaugural season of the International Swimming League, swimming for the Energy Standard Swim Club. His club won the team title in Las Vegas, United States, in December. At the final match in Las Vegas, Seto set a new world record in the 400-metre individual medley with a time of 3:54.81, breaking the former record set by Ryan Lochte of the United States.Hart, Torrey (20 December 2019). "Daiya Seto Takes Down 9-Year-Old 400 IM (SCM) World Record In ISL Debut". SwimSwam. Retrieved 12 October 2021.Lord, Craig (20 December 2019). "Daiya Seto Downs Ryan Lochte's 2010 World Record In 3:54 At ISL Final". Swimming World. Retrieved 12 October 2021. Also in Las Vegas, he won the 200-metre butterfly over teammate Chad le Clos of South Africa, and the 200-metre individual medley.
2020 FINA Champions Swim Series At the Beijing, China stop of the 2020 FINA Champions Swim Series in January, Seto set a new Asian record and Japan national record in the long course 200-metre butterfly with a time of 1:52.53, which put him only behind the world record holder in the event, Kristóf Milák of Hungary, and a former world record holder in the event, Michael Phelps of the United States, in terms of global rankings up to that point in time.FINA (18 January 2020). "FINA Champions Swim Series 2020 Beijing (CHN): Men's 200m Butterfly Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 October 2021.Ferrari Kehoe, Lydia (18 January 2020). "Daiya Seto Sets New Asian Record In 200 Butterfly". SwimSwam. Retrieved 12 October 2021."Daiya Seto breaks 11-year-old Japan 200-meter butterfly record". The Japan Times. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
2020 Summer Olympics
He competed in his second Olympic Games at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He finished in fourth place in the 200-metre individual medley final, and did not qualify for 400-metre individual medley final.Evans, Simon (24 July 2021). "Swimming-Japan gold medal hope Seto misses 400 medley final". Reuters. Retrieved 12 October 2021.Goodman, Eric (24 July 2021). "Seto Daiya, world champion in the 400m IM, misses final in shocking upset". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
2021 FINA Swimming World Cup At the 2021 FINA Swimming World Cup stop in Doha, Qatar, Seto won the highest-scoring overall male award and prize money for the stop with his gold medal wins in the 200-metre breaststroke and 400-metre individual medley on the third and final day of competition in Doha contributing to his overall high score."Seto and Toussaint final winners in Doha". FINA. 23 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021. The same day Seto was announced overall male winner for the Doha stop, SwimSwam revealed he had officially become a professional swimmer.Race, Retta (23 October 2021). "Daiya Seto To Train In The United States, Officially Turns Pro". SwimSwam. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
Stop 4: Kazan
On the first day of competition, 28 October, at the fourth and final stop of the World Cup circuit, held in the Palace of Water Sports in Kazan, Russia, Seto set new Asian and Japanese records in the 100-metre individual medley with a time 51.29 seconds.FINA (28 October 2021). "FINA Swimming World Cup 2021 Kazan (RUS): Men's 100m Individual Medley Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 28 October 2021.Race, Retta (28 October 2021). "Daiya Seto Slices 0.01 Off Hagino's Japanese, Asian 100 IM Record". SwimSwam. Retrieved 28 October 2021. His swim in the final improved upon his time of 51.64 seconds from the morning prelims heats.FINA (28 October 2021). "FINA Swimming World Cup 2021 Kazan (RUS): Men's 100m Individual Medley Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 28 October 2021. The next day, Seto swam a 1:54.03 in the prelims heats of the 200-metre individual medley, ranking first by over one full second ahead of the next fastest competitor for the heats, Matthew Sates of South Africa who swam a 1:55.37.FINA (29 October 2021). "FINA Swimming World Cup 2021 Kazan (RUS): Men's 200m Individual Medley Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 29 October 2021. In the final, Seto finished first and won the gold medal with a World Cup record and personal best time of 1:50.66.FINA (29 October 2021). "FINA Swimming World Cup 2021 Kazan (RUS): Men's 200m Individual Medley Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 29 October 2021.Sutherland, James (29 October 2021). "2021 FINA World Cup – Kazan: Day 2 Finals Live Recap". SwimSwam. Retrieved 29 October 2021. Seto snuck into the final of the 200-metre breaststroke on the last day of competition of the 2021 World Cup circuit, ranking fifth overall with a time of 2:05.83 in the prelims heats.FINA (30 October 2021). "FINA Swimming World Cup 2021 Kazan (RUS): Men's 200m Breaststroke Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 30 October 2021. In the evening finals session, he started off by winning the gold medal in the 400-metre individual medley with a time of 3:57.85.FINA (30 October 2021). "FINA Swimming World Cup 2021 Kazan (RUS): Men's 400m Individual Medley Fastest Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 30 October 2021.Race, Retta (30 October 2021). "2021 FINA World Cup Kazan: Day 3 Finals Live Recap". SwimSwam. Retrieved 30 October 2021. For the 200-metre breaststroke final, Seto won the gold medal with a time of 2:01.49.FINA (30 October 2021). "FINA Swimming World Cup 2021 Kazan (RUS): Men's 200m Breaststroke Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 30 October 2021. His swims for the Kazan stop earned him 58.9 points, which was the highest total score by any competitor for a single stop of the World Cup circuit with the next highest scoring competitors being female swimmers Emma McKeon of Australia, who earned 58.3 points at two stops, and Kira Toussaint of the Netherlands, who earned 58.3 points at one stop."FINA Swimming World Cup: Men Individual Ranking 2021 – Rankings". FINA. 30 October 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021. He also ranked ninth for total number of medals won by a male competitor across the circuit, winning only gold medals, that is all eight of his medals were gold medals.Takata, Daniel (1 November 2021). "The Swimmers With The Most Medals At The 2021 FINA World Cup". SwimSwam. Retrieved 1 November 2021. The moment when Seto set a new World Cup record in the 200-metre individual medley was ranked as the number seven moment from the 2021 Swimming World Cup by FINA."Swimming World Cup: Top 10 Moments". FINA. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
2021 World Short Course Championships