2026 Kosuke Kitajima Cup: Murasa Makes His Presence Known On Day One

2026 KOSUKE KITAJIMA CUP

• Friday, January 23rd – Sunday, January 25th
• Tokyo Aquatics Centre
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Results

The 2026 Kosuke Kitajima Cup kicked off today from the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, site of swimming action at the 2020 Olympic Games. The three-day competition represents one of three annual ‘K’ meets, with both the annual Konami Open and Kirara Cup taking place next month.

This year’s edition of the annual elite competition is an important stepping stone on the way to the Japanese Championships in March, with that later meet representing a qualification opportunity for the 2026 Asian Games.

World Championships medalist Tatsuya Murasa made himself known right off the bat, with the 18-year-old reaping gold inthe men’s 200m freestyle event.

Murasa stopped the clock at a solid 1:46.57 as the sole swimmer of the field to delve under the 1:47 barrier.

Konosuke Yanagimoto settled for silver just over half a second behind in 1:47.08 while Yorito Numata also landed on the podium, hitting 1:47.75 for the bronze.

As for teenager Murasa, the ace has already been as fast as 1:45.62 this season, the time he registered at the Intercollegiate Swimming Championships last September. His lifetime best remains at the 1:44.54 national record he produced for bronze in Singapore at last year’s World Championships.

World Junior Record holder Shin Ohashi dove in for the men’s 100m breaststroke where the 16-year-old put up a performance of 59.85 for the gold.

Ohashi was the only racer in the field to delve under the minute barrier. Yamato Fukazawa was next to the wall in 1:00.45 followed by Hayato Watanabe who rounded out the podium in 1:00.75.

Ohashi currently ranks #2 in the world in this 1breast sprint, courtesy of the 59.38 he turned in during the Japan Open last November. His lifetime best checks in at the 58.94 WJR he put on the books last July at the Kinki High School Swimming Championships to become Japan’s #3 performer of all time.

World Junior Championships medalist and national record holder Kazushi Imafuku made his presence known in the men’s 800m free and 1500m free today in Tokyo.

The 18-year-old pool and open water competitor clocked a time of 7:51.24 in the shorter event to handily defeat the 800m free field, hitting the sole outing of the pack under the 8:00 barrier.

Imafuku’s outing wasn’t too terribly off the 7:48.34 national record he set en route to snagging silver in this event at the 2025 World Junior Championships.

Imafuku also found success in the 1500m free, with the teen touching in a mark of 15:03.79. He defeated his competitors by well over ten seconds, with Kenta Ozaki next to the wall in 15:14.30.

The teen represents Japan’s fastest man ever in this 1500m free event, owning a lifetime best and national record of 15:03.79 logged at the 2025 Japanese Nationals, the meet which represented Japan’s World Championships Trials. In Singapore, Imafuku didn’t live up to that caliber of swim, settling for a 15th place fininsh with a much slower 15:24.98 at the 2025 World Championships.

The sole Japanese individual medalist at the 2024 Olympic Games, Tomoyuki Matsushita, registered a time of 4:12.51 to grab the gold in the men’s 400m IM by over four seconds.

20-year-old Matsushita was stellar once again, with his effort this evening a solid follow-up to the 4:07.21 personal best he produced at last September’s Japanese Intercollegiate Championships. That prior effort rendered the Olympic medalist the third-swiftest Japanese performer of all time. He sits only behind national record holder Kosuke Hagino‘s national record of 4:06.05 from the 2016 Olympic Games and Daiya Seto‘s impressive 4:06.09 from the 2020 edition ofthis Kosuke Kitajima Cup.

Additional Notes

• Olympian Rio Shirai captured the women’s 200m backstroke win in a time of 2:10.82.
• The women’s 200m free saw Nagisa Ikemoto secure the gold in a time of 1:58.83, one of two performances among the field under the 2:00 threshold. Itoman’s Yui Fukuoka snagged silver in 1:59.75 and Miyu Namba bagged the bronze in 2:00.08.
• 34-year-old Olympic finalist Satomi Suzuki shows no signs of slowing down, with the veteran producing a time of 1:07.17 to reap gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke. The Miki House athlete topped the podium by nearly two solid seconds, with Yumi Kobatake representing the next-fastest performer in 1:09.14 this evening.
• The women’s 400m IM saw Waka Kobori clock the quickest effort, topping the podium in 4:42.22. That held a healthy advantage over Ayami Suzuki whgo touched in 4:43.68 followed by Kanagawa University’s Reira Yamamoto‘s time of 4:44.53.
• The men’s and women’s 50m fly skins took place tonight, with multiple rapid-fire rounds unfolding throughout the night. When all was said and done, three-time Olympian Rikako Ikee was the top women’s performer, with the final round of the skins seeing the 25-year-old ace firing off a time of 26.30 to defeat Hiroko Makino‘s result of 27.32.
• On the men’s side of the 50m fly skins, Naoki Mizunuma got it done for gold in 24.33, ahead of Tomonobu Gomi‘s performance of 24.96. Earlier, however, Daihiro Tanaka hit a new meet record of 23.34 and Gomi also dipped under the previous mark in 23.37 on his way to making the final.
• Open water ace Ichika Kajimoto was too quick to catch in the women’s 800m freestyle, hitting 8:26.81 as the gold medalist by well over seven seconds. Her effort this evening was just a hair off her best-ever outing of 8:26.02 from last year’s World Championships Trials. She now ranks 4th in the world at the moment.