16-Year-Old Yanagimoto Crushes 49.41 100 Free JPN High School Record (Video)

TOKYO SPECIAL SWIMMING TOURNEY – HIGH SCHOOL

• Saturday, September 19th – Tuesday, September 22nd
• Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center
• LCM (50m)
• Recap #1
• Results (in Japanese)

Yesterday we reported on a big swim out of Tokyo in the form of 16-year-old Konosuke Yanagimoto‘s 200m freestyle.

While competing at the 2020 Tokyo Special Swimming Tournament high school edition, the Nichidai Buzan High School sophomore blasted a huge personal best of 1:47.85. That hacked nearly 2 seconds off of his own previous PB and set him atop the podium and in the conversation of emerging freestyle talent from the Asian continent. You can read more about his 200m free swim here.

But Yanagimoto wasn’t finished. The teenager took on the 100m free on the final day of competition at Tatsumi International Swimming Center and hit another lifetime best, this time 49.41.

Splitting 23.77/25.64, Yanagimoto’s 49.41 not only topped the podium by nearly 2 seconds, but his outing also established a new Japanese High School Record. His time here shaved .08 off the longstanding JPN HS record of 49.49 Kenta Hirai put on the books at the 2012 JOC.

Last year at the 2019 Japan Swim, Yanagimoto placed 39th in this 100m free event, with the then-15-year-old hitting a time of 51.83. More recently at the Tokyo Open last November, Yanagimoto struck a mark of 51.62.

For perspective, 16-year-old Yanagimoto’s new 49.41 PB time here would rank him as the 3rd fastest 15-16-year-old all-time in the United States, sitting ohly behind Caeleb Dressel’s 49.28 and Destin Lasco’s 49.40.

You can view video of Yanagimoto’s race below, where the swimmer out of lane 4 crushed the field and made Japanese high school swimming history.