2024 JAPANESE OLYMPIC TRIALS
The second of eight preliminary periods on the 2024 Japanese Olympic Trials has formally wrapped up. Heats of the lads’s 200 freestyle, males’s 400 IM, ladies’s 100 breaststroke, males’s 100 backstroke, ladies’s 200 freestyle, and males’s 50 butterfly have been all on the schedule, with finals motion coming in only a few hours time.
Excessive schooler Tatsuya Murasa, who just lately popped a greatest time of 1:47.49 on the age of 16, led the lads’s 200 free heats. He touched the wall just a few tenths off his greatest in 1:47.76, however cut up the race fairly evenly. He opened the primary 100 in 53.14 earlier than closing in 55.62, highlighted by a scorching 26.89 last 50 cut up.
Murasa’s private greatest would rank him the USA’ #2 15-16-year-old in historical past, simply behind Maximus Williamson‘s 1:47.29 from final 12 months.
27-year-old veteran Katsuhiro Matsumoto (1:48.49) was the closest competitor to Murasa this morning. Matsumoto owns the Japanese nationwide report within the occasion together with his 1:44.65 from the 2021 Japanese Championships. He earned a silver medal on this occasion on the 2019 World Championships, the place he completed with a time of 1:45.22.
Murasa and Matsumoto would be the class of the sector in tonight’s semifinals, and must goal the 1:45.84 qualification normal throughout Tuesday’s last, assuming they each safely qualify later immediately.
Daiya Seto was the quickest 400IMer in prelims, hitting the wall in 4:13.03 to clear the sector by over a full second. The 13-time World Champion just lately snagged bronze at February’s World Championships, and in addition claimed the identical medal colour on the 2023 Fukuoka Worlds.
Tomoru Honda, who gained the 2024 200 butterfly world title, completed tenth this morning. Lacking the ultimate was a shock, as he owns a greatest time of 4:09.98 from December. Honda battled a sprained ankle at February’s World Championship meet, earlier than pulling out of the meet totally after his gold medal-winning 200 fly.
The ladies’s 100 breast noticed two opponents within the 1:06-realm, the place Satomi Suzuki (1:06.21) outpaced Asian report holder Reona Aoki (1:06.76). Suzuki has showcased a profession resurgence over the previous 12 months, highlighted by seventh (50 breast) and eighth (100 breast) finishes on the 2023 World Championships. Suzuki went on to assert double silver in those self same breast distances at September’s Asian Video games.
Suzuki was a two-time medalist on the 2012 London Olympics, the place she claimed bronze within the 100 breast (1:06.46) earlier than upgrading to silver within the 200m (2:20.92) distance. Her time this morning was notably quicker than she went to win the Olympic bronze medal over a decade in the past, and simply 0.01 outdoors her greatest time from 2023.
Aoki’s morning effort of 1:06.76 is effectively off her 1:05.19 greatest time, nevertheless it was a terrific morning swim with semifinals (and presumably finals) nonetheless to come back. She’s proper on observe to problem the Japanese Swimming Federation’s qualification time of 1:06.47, which Suzuki undercut throughout prelims.
Yusuke Sato was the one man to interrupt 54 seconds within the males’s 100 again heats, checking-in at 53.96. Sato wrangled up bronze throughout Sunday’s 50 again last and is within the hunt to contend for his second podium look.
Riku Matsuyama (54.21) and Ryosuke Irie (54.22) are each in shut pursuit heading into Monday’s semifinals, however must drop considerably to succeed in the 53.21 qualification time. Matsuyama just lately posted a greatest time of 53.84, eclipsing Japan’s greatest-ever backstroker Ryosuke Irie on the latest Kosuke Kitajima Cup. 34-year-old Irie holds the nationwide report in each the 100 (52.21) and 200 (1:52.54) backstrokes, markers he threw down again in 2009.
Regardless of no ladies breaking 2:00 within the 200 free this morning, Nagisa Ikemoto‘s 2:00.02 clocking was quickest sufficient for prime seed standing. Rio Shirai (2:00.17) and Miyu Namba (2:00.19) rounded out the highest three qualifiers, with 1:56.55 being the qualifying goal time for Tuesday evening. Namba claimed particular person glory on Sunday, the place she snagged 400 free gold in 4:06.10, simply outdoors the 4:05.34 qualifying normal. Shirai has the quickest greatest time of these three swimmers, as she logged 1:56.82 again in 2019.
Eight swimmers broke 24 seconds within the males’s 50 fly, with Kota Akabane main the best way together with his 23.59 time. Prime seeded Takeshi Kawamoto, who has been as swift as 23.13, opted to drop the occasion. Kawamoto owns a greatest time of 51.00 within the 100m distance, which is 0.43 underneath Japan’s qualifying time.
