2016 Japanese Olympic Trials Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

2016 JAPAN SWIM (JAPANESE OLYMPIC TRIALS)

• Monday, April 4th – Sunday, April 10th
• Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center
• Prelims at 10am local/9pm EDT previous night; Finals at 6:30pm local/5:30am EDT
• Japanese Olympic Qualifying Times (Japanese)
• Psych Sheets (Japanese)
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Live Stream
• Results (when available)

MEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS

• Japanese National Record – 1:45.23, Kosuke Hagino (2014)
• JPN Olympic Standard – 1:46.10

Kosuke Hagino, last night’s dominant winner in the 400m IM, got the job done this morning with a swift 200 freestyle mark of 1:47.16 to claim the top seed. Hagino was the only swimmer to dip beneath the 1:48 threshold in prelims, and his stroke looked smooth and controlled the entire way. A key part of his swim were his underwaters, which looked sharp and effective off each wall. Splits for the Tokyo University swimmer were 52.07/55.09.

Hagino’s time sits as the 16th-fastest in the world, but look for the 21-year-old to take things to an entirely different level come finals, as he’s already produced a mighty 1:46.14 earlier this year at the Konami Open.

Right behind Hagino was Yuuki Kobori who notched a mark just a second back in 1:48.17, while veteran swimmer Takeshi Matsuda mustered up a solid 1:48.29 to claim the 3rd seed. For 31-year-old Matsuda, he’s no doubt gearing up for his pet event, the 200m butterfly. But he finds himself just about 2 seconds off of the Japanese Olympic qualifying standard of 1:46.10 in this 200 free event and has a shot at a roster spot if he can turn things up tonight.

Top 8:

1. Hagino 1:47.16
2. Kobori 1:48.17
3. Matsuda 1:48.29
4. Komatsu 1:48.79
5. Ehara 1:48.8
6. Yoshida 1:49.06
7. Matsumoto 1:49.11
8. Hidaka 1:49.29

WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS

• Japanese National Record – 1:57.37, Haruka Ueda (2011)
• JPN Olympic Standard – 1:56.82

Overall, the women’s 200 freestyle field was generally on the weaker end of the speed spectrum, as just one morning swimmer stopped the clock faster than 2 minutes. 21-year-old Chihiro Igarashi, yesterday’s winner in the 400m freestyle event, topped the field today with her time of 1:59.90. She’ll need to drop almost 3 seconds in the final race to have a shot at an Olympic spot, with the Japanese Rio-qualification time sitting at 1:56.82. This is just prelims, however, so the athletes have 2 more races to step things up.

Teen phenom Rikako Ikee, who rocked a new National Record in the women’s 100m butterfly last night, tried her hand at this longer sprint freestyle event, resulting in a 3rd seed. She registered a time of 2:00.65 for her efforts and looked right at home leading her lane.

Top 8:

1. Igarashi, 1:59.90
2. Takano, 2:00.35
3. Ikee, 2:00.65
4. Mochida, 2:00.66
5. Aoki, 2:00.82
6. Miyamoto, 2:01.10
7. Oomoto, 2:01.15
8. Hasegawa, 2:01.29

WOMEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – PRELIMS

• Japanese National Record – 1:05.88, Kanako Watanabe (2014)
• JPN Olympic Standard – 1:06.87

Rie Kaneto raced to the top seed in the sprint breaststroke event this morning, registering as the only swimmer to delve into the 1:06-territory. Kaneto clocked an impressive 1:06.91 to hold over a half second lead over the next fastest swimmer, that of Reona Aoki‘s 1:07.62.

At 27 years old, veteran Kaneto is having a heck of a year, and it’s only early April. In February while competing at the Aquatic Super Series in Perth, Kaneto rocked a brand new All Comers Record, Asian Record and Japanese National Record in the 200m breaststroke event. She was 1:06.58 in the 10om event at that meet, a time which still sits as the 7th-fastest in the world behind teammate Kanako Watanabe.

Watanabe’s best time this season is 1:06.49 she scored at the Japanese Intercollegiate Championships last fall, but held back this morning and settled for the 3rd seed, touching in 1:07.79.

Top 8:

1. Rie Kaneto, 1:06.91
2. Reona Aoki, 1:07.62
3. Runa Imai, 1:07.79
4. Kanako Watanabe 1:07.79 (tied)
5. Suzuki Satomi, 1:08.03
6. Miku Kanasashi, 1:08.03
7. Misaki Sekiguchi, 1:08.18
8. Mina Matsuchima, 1:08.67

MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE – PRELIMS

• Japanese National Record – 52.24, Ryosuke Irie (2009)
• JPN Olympic Standard – 53.49

Japanese Olympian Ryosuke Irie led the sprint backstroke pack this morning, earning the top seed with his time of 53.90. An easy-looking split break-down of 26.17/27.73 rendered Irie at the wall, barely breathing hard after his morning swim.

Irie is already on the world ranking board with the 53.27 he scored at the World Cup in Tokyo last fall. Look for him to drop the 4 tenths need to clock a Japanese Olympic standard no problem tonight in the semi-final.

Lurking as the 3rd seed is Club Wolverine Elite Junya Koga, whose best time this season is a 53.97. He’ll be in the mix for an Olympic spot come finals, so look for the 28-year-old to only improve on his standing as this event progresses.

Top 8:

1. Ryosuke Irie, 53.90
2. Takeshi Kawamoto, 53.93
3. Junya Koga, 54.12
4. Junya Hasegawa, 54.29
5. Masaki Kaneko, 54.69
6. Hayate Matsubara, 54.70
7. Yuki Shirai, 54.74
8. Keita Sunama, 54.76

The finals session begins at 6:30pm local/5:30am EDT and will consist of semi-finals of the men’s and women’s 200m freestyle, women’s 100m breaststroke and men’s 100m backstroke, with finals of the women’s 100m butterfly and men’s 100m breaststroke.