2023 JAPAN SWIM
- Tuesday, April 4th – Sunday, April 9th
- Prelims at 9:30 am local (8:30 pm previous night EDT)/A-Finals at ~5:00 pm local (4:00 am EDT)
- Tokyo Aquatics Center
- LCM (50m)
- Qualification Meet For World Championships, World Junior Championships, World University Games, Asian Games
- JPN Selection Criteria
- Entries (in Japanese)
- Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
- Live Results
- Livestream
Day two of the 2023 Japan Swim saw one of Japan’s Olympic icons in the pool as 33-year-old Ryosuke Irie dove in for the men’s 100m back.
Irie put up a solid heats swim of 53.99 to lead the field, already within striking distance of the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF)-mandated qualification time of 53.74 needed for the World Championships.
Irie has already been as quick as 52.93 from the Kosuke Kitajima Cup this past January, a time which situates the mainstay 3rd in the world this season.
The women’s 100m back saw Rio Shirai take control with a top-seeded swim of 1:00.81. That got the edge over 2nd-seeded Miki Takahashi who clocked 1:00.86 as the only other swimmer under 1:01 this morning.
The women will be chasing a qualification standard of 59.99, a mark Shirai’s lifetime best of 59.43 from 2019 has surpassed.
Reona Aoki landed lane four in the women’s 100m breast, registering a morning result of 1:06.82. That’s less than a second off her season-best of 1:06.11, a time which rendered Aoki #1 in the world for several months.
She’ll be hunted by the likes of Satomi Suzuki, Kanako Watanabe and Runa Imai in tonight’s final as the women pursue the QT of 1:06.79.
Freestyle ace Katsuhiro Matsumoto topped the men’s 200m free heats with a swift AM outing of 1:46.94. The 26-year-old’s best time of the season rests at the 1:45.88 produced last November and he’ll need to be closer to that mark to score a spot on the World Championships roster.
Of note, yesterday’s 400m IM king Daiya Seto also made it into the men’s 200m free final, posting a heats swim of 1:48.86.
According to the World Aquatics database, 28-year-old Seto carries a lifetime best of 1:47.71 from way back in 2015. Here, he’s most likely vying for a slot on the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay should he finish among the top 4.
Finally, Hayato Watanabe was the top men’s 50m breaststroker, logging a prelim mark of 27.22. Yuki Matsumura was next in 27.26 while Taishi Takada is also in the mix with a heats swim of 27.28.
