17-Yr-Old Murasa Clocks 1:46.16 200 Free, Fukasawa Rips 2:07.24 200 Breast At Konami Open

2025 KONAMI OPEN

• Saturday, February 15th & Sunday, February 16th
• Tokyo Aquatics Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Results
• Livestream

The 2025 Konami Open kicked off today from the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, site of swimming events at the 2020 Olympic Games. The competition marks an important stepping stone along the path to April’s World Championships Trials, allowing swimmers to fine-tune their craft ahead of that all-important competition.

17-year-old Tatsuya Murasa made the most of his 200m freestyle appearance, ripping a speedy result of 1:46.16 to establish a new meet record.

Murasa opened in 51.42 and closed in 54.74 to dominate the field, getting to the wall over a second ahead of the pack. Kazusa Kuroda snagged silver in 1:47.56 while Taikan Tanaka bagged bronze in 1:47.89.

Murasa has been remarkably consistent in this pet event, already notching impressive outings of 1:45.84 at last month’s Kosuke Kitajima Cup and an even quicker 1:45.72 at last November’s Japan Open. That latter result established a new Japanese National High School record.

18-year-old Olympian Mio Narita topped the women’s 400m IM podium, reaching the wall in a time of 4:38.73, a new season-best.

Her effort overtook her previous quickest mark this year of 4:40.38 turned in at last month’s South Australian State Open Championships. She now ranks #1 in the world.

Previous world #1 Waka Kobori registered a near-season best of 4:40.26 for silver, within range of the 4:39.71 logged at last month’s Kosuke Kitajima Cup. Rio Sato rounded out the podium this evening in 4:43.01.

24-year-old Kobori dove in again for the women’s 200m free, upgrading to gold in a time of 2:00.28.

The women’s 100m fly saw 22-year-old Shiho Matsumoto get it done for gold, putting up a time of 58.62.

That sneaked Matsumoto into the wall just .06 ahead of Hiroko Makino who settled for silver as Uran Noda posted 59.43 for bronze.

Japan already owns the top two slots in the season’s world rankings, with University of Tennessee commit Mizuki Hirai currently wearing the crown with her season-best of 56.99 followed by 3-time Olympian Rikako Ikee‘s time of 57.91.

On the men’s side this evening, Yamato Fukasawa unleashed a big-time result of 2:07.24 to win the men’s 200m breaststroke.

24-year-old Fukasawa crushed a 1:00.93 opener to lead the pack before former world record holder Ippei Watanabe chased him down and made it a battle to the wall on the back half.

Watanabe clocked a speedy 2:07.53 to collect silver in the dual, as Asahi Kawashima finished well back in 2:11.96 as the bronze medalist.

Fukasawa’s time this evening was just shy of his 2:07.07 lifetime best turned in from last year’s edition of this competition while Watanabe’s PB remains at the former WR mark of 2:06.67 put up in 2017.

Watanabe and Fukasawa had a head-to-head race already this season at the 2024 Japan Open in December. There, Watanabe got the edge, producing 2:08.12 to Fukasawa’s 2:08.92.

The pair’s sub-2:08 results tonight now flip the word ranking order, with Fuakasawa #1 to Watanabe #2.

Additional Notes

• 33-year-old Olympic finalist Satomi Suzuki logged a time of 31.04 to top the women’s 50m breast podium.
• The men’s 50m breast saw Hayato Watanabe beat the field with a time of 27.41. Taku Taniguchi was right behind in 27.49.
• Riru Kubota was too quick to catch in the women’s 50m free, hitting 25.68 for gold.
• Veteran Olympian Shinri Shioura nabbed men’s 50m free gold in 22.46.
• National record holder Naoki Mizunuma was just off his season-best 52.17 in the men’s 100m fly tonight, producing 52.38 for the gold. That held Olympic medalist Tomoru Honda at bay, with Honda settling for silver in 52.81. Third-place finisher Kota Akabane was also under the 53-second barrier in 52.96.
• Kotomi Kato topped the women’s 200m breast podium in 2:25.52, nearly a second ahead of the field.