2018 JAPAN SWIM (JAPANESE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS)
- Tuesday, April 3rd – Sunday, April 8th
- Tatsumi International Swim Centre, Tokyo, Japan
- LCM
- Selection meet for Asian Games, Pan Pacific Championships, Jr. Pan Pacific Championships & Youth Olympics
- Meet Site
- Start Lists
- Live Results
With the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships selection on the line, look for Japan’s biggest stars to take to the Tatsumi International Swim Centre this week with guns blazing. After a brief competition respite after the Konami Open, Kirara Cup and Kosuke Kitajima Cup that all transpired earlier this year, Japanese swimmers are ready to put down their season-best performances in a bid to land on the aforementioned Pan Pacs roster, but also the Asian Games line-up. Younger athletes will be vying for a Junior Pan Pacific Championships and Youth Olympics qualification.
On the men’s side, top weapons Kosuke Hagino and Daiya Seto will be out in full force, with Hagino taking on the men’s 200m free, 400m free and both IM events. Seto will also be contesting the IMs, as well as his pet event, the 200m butterfly, where he’ll meet up with Olympic silver medalist Masato Sakai. Top rivals in the men’s IM events include 200m breaststroke world record holder Ippei Watanabe, who will also be contesting the 100m breast, as well as Takeharu Fujimori.
Both Junya Koga and Ryosuke Irie will be battling it out in the men’s backstroke, while the breast will see Watanabe try to improve his standing as the man to beat against Hiromasa Fujimori and the recently-returned Yasuhiro Koseki. The 26-year-old just completed a team suspension due to an altercation with a teemmate at a training camp late last year.
Last year saw teen phenom Rikako Ikee captured a history-making 5 individual titles, but the versatile Olympian has scaled that schedule down to just 4 this time around. Opting out of the 200m freestyle, Ikee will keep to her bread-and-butter sprint events, including the 50m/100m free and 50m/100m butterfly. She has said publicly she is going after her own national records, so we’ll see just how far she’s willing to raise her own bar as the meet goes on.
With Olympic gold medalist Rie Kaneto having announced her official retirement, Japan is looking for its next breaststroke standout. Kanako Watanabe, Reona Aoki, Satomi Suzuki and Runa Imai will try to prove they’re up tor the challenge. World-ranked Yui Ohashi will set out to keep her 200m IM and 400m IM crown, but will face Imai, as well as the rising Sakiko Shimizu.
Action begins tomorrow, April 3rd and runs through Sunday, April 8th.
Ehara made the Pan Pac, dominating in 400 free. Hagino placing second but could not qualify due to his time a bit off the qualification standard. His injury/surgery probably affecting.
Can you still enter any event you want at Pan Pacs if you qualify for the team?
Not sure on Japanese rules, but probably ABSOLUTELY NOT!!?!!??! You need to literally make the team in an event to swim it, you can’t just DO the 1500 if you make the 100 breast
You can swim multiple events you didn’t qualify for at Pan Pacs once you have made the team. It’s just that only the top 2 swimmers from any one country can make the final. This is how Ian Crocker discovered he was good at the 100 fly. He made the team in the 100/200 free and didn’t do well in them but swam the 100 fly for fun and placed 5th in the final. The rest is history.
I do believe that there is no such thing as a ‘pet’ event, typo perhaps?
Nah, I’ve seen that phrase used on this site multiple times. It just refers to the event that swimmer is best at/known for/swims frequently.