JAPAN SWIM 2017 (JAPANESE NATIONALS)
- Thursday, April 13th – Sunday, April 16th, 2017
- NGK Arena, Nagoya, Japan
- Qualification Meet for 2017 World Championships, World University Games and World Junior Championships
- Prelims at 9:30am local/8:30pm (night before) EDT; Finals at 6pm local/5am EDT
- Meet Information
- Entry List (in Japanese)
- Live Stream
- Live Results
The 17-strong Japanese roster for the 2017 World Championships has been announced, with a stacked line-up of 8 men and 9 women set to compete in Budapest as a possible preview for what’s to come in Tokyo 2020.
Leading the men’s squad are the dynamic duo of Daiya Seto and Kosuke Hagino, the Japanese partners in crime across the 200m and 400m IM events. Breaststroking powerhouses Yasuhiro Koseki, who won both the 100m and 200m at nationals, and the world record holder Ippei Watanabe will be a formidable force in Budapest.
The women are led by 16-year-old Rikako Ikee, the first Japanese woman to ever win 5 national titles at a Japanese Championships. On-fire 400m IMer Yi Ohhashi is also ready to rock, as is the tope 100m breaststroker in the world right now, Reona Aoki.
Japanese Roster for Budapest 2017:
Men: Katsumi Nakamura, Shinri Shioura, Ryosuke Irie, Kosuke Hagino, Yasuhiro Koseki, Ippei Watanabe, Masato Sakai, Daiya Seto
Women: Rikako Ikee, Chihiro Igarashi, Reona Aoki, Satomi Suzuki, Suzuka Hasegawa, Hiroko Makino, Yui Ohhashi, Runa Imai, Sakiko Shimizu
Why no women’s medley relay team?
It used to be that Japanese youngsters were extreme fast as kids but fell off due to the mega school demands & hyper competitive race for university spots .
Now demographics have changed & with fewer numbers coming through , spots are easier to win . Universities are needing to compete to attract students eg offering sport continuation . Policymakers do not look to immigration or visa led influxes unlike the population declining west – they just stick to their culture & get more efficient .
I have a feeling that Yu Ohhashi is just getting started, and she’ll be considerably faster by Tokyo 2020.
It’s quite interesting to see that the biggest weakness on both sides is backstroke and free, women’s back being clearly their weakest discipline. On the men’s side they could still make the final at 50 free, 200/400 free (Hagino) and 100/200 back (Irie), on the women’s side they could/should make the final at 50/100/200 free (Ikee). In those events any medal would be great. I honestly don’t see Hagino focusing on free for 2020, but Ikee could be a medal contender at 50/100/200 free by 2020.
Japan will win 1-2 medals in women’s breast in Budapest and probably also in 2020, the same is true for women’s IM and women’s fly.
On the men’s side they will win… Read more »
Great team !!!
How many more were under the FINA A-cut but not on the team since Japan have faster cut times?