17-Yr-Old Yumeki Kojima Nears WJR, Rips 1:55.62 200 Backstroke Lifetime Best In Japan

102nd JAPAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, June 4th – Sunday, June 7th
• Tokyo Aquatics Centre
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Meet Central
• Entries
• Live Results

The 102nd Japan Swimming Championships saw day three transpire at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre with swimmers vying for any potential remaining slots on the nation’s roster for this year’s Pan Pacific Championships.

17-year-old Shin Ohashi put on a clinic en route to winning the men’s 200m breaststroke event, ripping a speedy in-season time of 2:07.31.

Ohashi split 28.72/33.05 (1:01.77)/32.42/33.12 to notch the 5th-swiftest effort of his young career.

17-Yr-Old Shin Ohashi‘s Top 5 LCM 200 Breaststroke Performances

1. 2:06.59 – 2026 Japan Swim
2. 2:06.91 – 2025 All Kinki High School Swimming Championships
3. 2:06.96 – 2025 Japan Open
4. 2:07.27 – 2025 All Osaka High School Swimming Championships
5. 2:07.31 – 2026 Japanese Swimming Championships

He owns the World Junior record in this event, courtesy of the 2:06.59 he put up at the Japan Swim in March to become the 7th-fastest man in history. Ohashi also owns the WJR in the 100m breast as a result of the 58.67 he scorched at that same competition.

Tonight it was Yu Hanaguruma, the 2022 World Championships silver medalist in this event, who earned runner-up status, although he touched over two seconds back in 2:09.71.

Shunya Kimura rounded out the podium in 2:10.29. Of note, three-time World Championships medalist Ippei Watanabe settled for 10th out of the heats in 2:11.79. He ultimately added some time to finish in 4th place out of the B-final in a mark of 2:12.12.

Olympic silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita dove in for the final of the men’s 200m IM, where he found success in a time of 1:57.28.

He narrowly held off Kosuke Makino, who touched a hair behind in 1:57.32, while Yuta Watanabe was also right there in the mix, bagging the bronze in 1:57.84 to continue the nation’s storied history in this event.

With the Asian Games on the horizon, Japan owns four of the slots among the top ten performers in the world at the moment.

Behind Hungarian dynamo Hubert Kos‘ time of 1:55.60, Matsushita ranks #2 with his season-best of 1:55.60. Makino is 3rd in 1:55.85, and newly minted World Junior record holder Yumeki Kojima is slotted 6th in 1:56.53. So Ogata is ranked 9th in 1:57.28.

Speaking of Kojima, the versatile 17-year-old opted for the 200m back over the 200m IM this evening, where he put up a blistering outing of 1:55.62 to establish a monster personal best.

Splitting 27.25/29.08 (56.33)/29.59/29.70, the 5-time World Junior Championships medalist laid waste to his former career-quickest of 1:56.70 notched at last September’s Japan Games. That means he hacked nearly a second off that former outing to clear the 1:56 barrier for the first time.

Hidekazu Takehara was next to the wall, hitting the timepad just .18 later in 1:55.80. Kodai Nishiono also landed on the podium in 1:57.06, good enough for bronze.

22-year-old Takehara entered this meet already ranked 6th in the world from logging 1:55.50 last September.

Kojima now checks in as the 7th most rapid man on the planet, with his time putting the longstanding World Junior record on notice. That benchmark of 1:55.14 that Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov put on the books in 2017 is very much within reach for Kojima.

Additionally, at just 17, Kojima now ranks as Japan’s 5th-fastest performer in history.

Top 5 Japanese Men’s LCM 200 Backstroke Performers All-Time

1. Ryosuke Irie – 1:52.51, 2009
2. Kosuke Hagino – 1:54.23, 2014
3. Hidekazu Takehara – 1:55.50, 2025
4. Keita Sunama – 1:55.54, 2018
5. Yumeki Kojima – 1:55.62, 2026

35-year-old Olympic medalist Satomi Suzuki continues to defy age, clocking a time of 2:24.79 to add the women’s 200m breast win to her victory in the 100m sprint last night.

Suzuki held off Pan Pacific Junior Championships multi-medalist Kotomi Kato, who settled for silver in 2:26.41, just ahead of 17-year-old Mana Ishikawa. Ishikawa, who earned 100m breast bronze last night, added another piece of hardware with a mark of 2:26.67.

At the 2024 Olympic Games, Suzuki finished 12th overall in this event (1:06.90), while she collected a 4th-place finish in the 200m breast (2:22.54). She has a trio of Olympic medals to her credit, having earned 200m breast silver, 100m breast bronze and women’s medley relay bronze at the 2012 Games in London.

World Championships silver medalist Mio Narita topped the women’s 200m back podium, hitting a mark of 2:09.82 as the sole competitor to delve under the 2:10 threshold.

The versatile 19-year-old was within striking distance of her best-ever performance in this event, a time of 2:09.54 from the 2025 Kosuke Kitajima Cup.

Kyoka Sawa delivered a performance of 2:11.17 as the runner-up, and Rio Shirai bagged the bronze in 2:11.38 tonight.

Additional Notes

• Katsuhiro Matsumoto proved too quick to catch in the men’s 100m free, putting up a time of 48.55 to get to the wall first. World Championships bronze medalist Tatsuya Murasa was immediately behind in 48.60, although he was 48.59 in the heats. Takaki Hara rounded out the podium in 48.83.
• Japan’s 2nd-best 1500m free performer Kazushi Imafuku got it done for gold, posting 15:05.28 in what was essentially a two-man race. Kaito Tabuchi, the reigning national record holder, touched in 15:05.53 while Daichi Yamamoto secured the bronze in 15:16.44. Tabuchi’s Japanese standard rests at the 14:45.47 he notched just this past March. Imafuku’s PB checks in at the 14:50.18 earned last year.
• The women’s 100m free saw 23-year-old Olympian Nagisa Ikemoto turn in a mark of 54.79, the sole outing of the field under the 55-second barrier. Behind her was Rio Suzuki , who reached the wall in 55.05, followed by Ayu Mizoguchi, who claimed bronze in 55.40.
• Three-time Olympian Rikako Ikee grabbed gold in the women’s 50m fly, posting 25.85 for the victory. She remains ranked 5th in the world on the season due to the 25.55 notched at March’s Japan Swim. Tonight, Ai Soma snagged the silver in 25.97, and University of Tennessee standout Mizuki Hirai wrapped up 3rd place in 26.28.
• Finally, the women’s 800m free had Waka Kobori do her thing for gold, putting up an effort of 8:41.27 for a healthy advantage over the pack. Rin Mitsuzagi nabbed silver in 8:43.18, as Ruka Takezawa‘s outing of 8:43.85 earned her the bronze.