67th JAPANESE SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
While the initial stop of the 2025 World Aquatics World Cup is upon us, key Japanese athletes are gearing up for the 67th edition of their nation’s Short Course Championships.
The championships span just two days, October 18th and October 19th, with the action taking place at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, site of the 2020 Olympic Games.
This year’s entry list is a little lighter than in years past, but still contains some big names to set up some potentially record-breaking swims. Of note, this year’s Japanese Adult Swimming Championships are set for the first weekend in November and some swimmers have selected to only swim at that meet, while others are taking on both competitions.
As for these Short Course Championships, national record holder Katsuhiro Matsumoto is among the racers, entered in the 50m/100m free and 50m/100m fly. He’ll meet teammate So Ogata in the 100m fly, while 22-year-old Ogata will also be among the men’s 100m breast, 200m fly and 200m IM fields.
A notable men’s entry is Shoma Sato, the now-24-year-old breaststroke ace who has been quiet the past few years.
Sato was the breakthrough star in 2021 who ripped a new national record of 2:06.40 in the LCM 200 breast. He looked primed to do damage at the 2020 Olympic Games (postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) but finished just 10th and out of the final. He then missed making the Japanese squad for last year’s Games in Paris.
On the women’s side for these championships, three-time Olympian Rikako Ikee will stick to her bread-and-butter sprint events, entering the 50m/100m free and 50m/100m fly.
As a refresher, 25-year-old Ikee recently returned to Japan after having trained at Griffith University in Australia since 2023.
18-year-old University of Tennessee commit Mizuki Hirai is bypassing the freestyle events in favor of just the women’s 50m back and 100m fly.
Hirai recently raced at the Australian Short Course Championships, with her victory in the 50m back hitting a time of 26.39, a near lifetime best.
Ikee and Hirai are set to spar in the 100m fly, with the pair representing the top two Japanese performers of all time as well as the only women from the nation to have ever delved under the 56-second barrier.
Ikee owns the national record of 55.31 set as an 18-year-old 2018 and Hirai is right behind with a lifetime best of 55.61 notched at last year’s Short Course World Championships.
Key Men’s Entries
Riki Abe
Kazushi Imafuku
Junya Koga
Katsuhiro Matsumoto
Shuya Matsumoto
Kosuke Matsui
Juran Mizohata
Naoki Mizunuma
Katsumi Nakamura
So Ogata
Shoma Sato
Kaito Tabuchi
Hidekazu Takehara
Takumi Terada
Genki Terakado
Gomi Tomonobu
Women’s Entries
Suzuka Hasegawa
Mizuki Hirai
Rikako Ikee
Yume Kamino
Waka Kobori
Hiroko Makino
Shiho Matsumoto
Miyu Namba
Rio Shirai
6 7
67 lol