Larkin, Seebohm make own luck in Tokyo

Not bad for someone who thought he was cursed.

Dual world champion backstroker Mitch Larkin claimed to have set the "benchmark" ahead of the Rio Olympics after he and Emily Seebohm dominated the two-day Tokyo World Cup's opening night.

But Larkin admitted he had begun to worry that his stellar run may end at the Tokyo World Cup meet - his first since dominating August's world titles in Russia.

Larkin and teammates including Seebohm visited a Tokyo Buddhist temple ahead of the meet where they received traditional "fortune papers".

And Larkin said they all indicated a strong case of bad luck in Japan.

"We got the bad luck fortune paper there, then I lost a pair of fins this morning, and I thought it was coming true," Larkin laughed.

Instead, Larkin sounded an ominous warning of his own to Rio rivals.

On World Cup debut, Larkin fell 0.11 of a second outside his national and Commonwealth record set at Kazan when he clocked 52.48 second to claim 100m backstroke gold.

It was a remarkable return to the pool after Larkin became the first man in 10 years to claim the 100m-200m backstroke world titles double in Kazan.

"I picked up quite quickly from where I left off in Kazan," Larkin said.

"It sets a benchmark for where I am now and hopefully I'll move on from that in the next six months for the Rio Olympics."

Fellow dual world champion Seebohm also stood tall, claiming 50m and 200m backstroke gold as Australia nabbed a total of seven medals on the opening night.

She clocked 27.49 - just 0.02 of a second outside the Australian and Commonwealth record - to hold out Beijing Olympic champ Natalie Coughlin (28.25) of the US in the 50m backstroke final.

In the 200m final, Seebohm (two minutes, 08.08 seconds) was two seconds ahead of closest rival Katinka Hosszu of Hungary.

Former Australian retiree Belinda Hocking was fourth (2:12.37) in her return to the world stage.

Seebohm takes her World Cup gold medal tally to 10 from six meets, with the 100m backstroke still to come at Tokyo.

"It's good coming to these meetings because I have no coach, there's no team ... it's all about doing it on your own," said Seebohm.

"When you can produce times like that, it really gives you more confidence."

Australia's Melanie Wright (nee Schlanger) won 50m freestyle gold.

Blake Jones (100m freestyle), Leah Neale (200m freestyle) and Leiston Pickett (100m breaststroke) won bronze for Australia.