101st JAPAN STUDENT SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, September 4th – Sunday, September 7th
- Tokyo Aquatics Centre
- LCM (50m)
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
- Results
The penultimate night of racing at the 101st Japan Student Swimming Championships unfolded from the Tokyo Aquatics Centre with multiple World Championships athletes taking to the pool.
Following up on her 800m free victory from last night, 21-year-old open water ace Ichika Kajimoto topped the women’s 400m free podium.
Kajimoto stopped the clock at a rapid mark of 4:06.81 to establish a new meet record.
Her effort erased the former benchmark of 4:07.27 en route to beating the field by nearly 3 seconds. Runner-up status went to Rin Matsuzaki who touched in 4:09.63 followed by Yoshion Nagao who logged 4:09.87.
Kajimoto’s 4:06.81 outing now renders her Japan’s 4th-swiftest 400m freestyle performer in history.
Top 5 Japanese Women’s LCM 400 Freestyle Performers All-Time
- Ai Shibata – 4:05.19, 2007
- Miyu Namba – 4:05.25, 2022
- Waka Kobori – 4:05.57, 2020
- Ichika Kajimoto – 4:06.81, 2025
- Sachiko Yamada – 4:07.23, 2022
As a refresher, in Singapore, Kajimoto won gold for Japan in the 3k knockout sprints and also earned bronze in the women’s 5k race.
The men’s 200m IM saw Olympic Games and World Championships silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsuhita get it done for gold in a stellar result of 1:56.58.
The 20-year-old spit 25.31/30.50/33.95/26.82 as he registered a time just off his lifetime best of 1:56.35. That slightly quicker result was put on the books at this year’s World Championships Trials.
In Singapore, Matsushita settled for 6th place in the 2IM with a mark of 1:57.52.
This evening So Ogata produced a still-speedy 1:57.28 as runner-up and Kosuke Makino rounded out the podium in 1:57.48. Makino’s time obliterated the 1:59.25 he put up for 8th place in the World Championships final.
Additional Winners
- Narumi Nagaoka took the women’s 100m backstroke gold in a time of 1:00.45.
- The men’s 100m back saw Hidekazu Takehara post 53.76 as the victor.
- Asaki Nishikawa logged an outing of 3:48.28 to win the men’s 400m free in the only sub-3:50 result of the race.
Sachiko Yamada??? 2022? I swam with sachiko at Mission Viejo back in 2005-6. Doubt she was still competing and swimming a 4.07 in 2022, but maybe?
Imagine only 4 seconds from the world record
Every now and then I’m reminded that the 200IM World Record is now 1:52.6
Absolutely no shade to Tomoyuki, this is a great swim, but it makes me realize this is the ‘distance-from-WR’ equivalent to someone swimming a 1:46.00 200FR and getting a dedicated article title for it (and that’s a supersuited WR…)
The 200 free field is much much deeper than the 200IM field.
This, but additionally, even if you’re a genetic freak for strokes like Fly, back and free but didn’t win the lottery to be great in breaststroke you’ll never really contend for 1:52.
I mean there is this very article from yesterday. Proportionate to the world record, it’s the equivalent of a 1:56.71 200 IM
https://swimswam.com/murasa-posts-145-62-200free-meet-record-at-jpn-studen-championships/
26.8 coming home???
Think that’s the fastest ever last 50m in a 200im. Cant think of anyone else that’s gone sub-27 on the free split
Maximus Williamson 27.26 in 2023
27.26 is not sub 27
Only in Murica is a 27.26 under a 27
I think so. Tom Dean was 27.1 something in Fukuoka. That’s the fastest one I can remember.
27.12
michael andrew in his dreams
Destin Lasco was 26.84 in semifinals and Maurer was 26.93 in prelims of the 200 IM at trials last year
Strong times