Kosuke Makino Rips 1:55.85 200 IM At JPN National Sports Festival

79th NATIONAL SPORTS FESTIVAL (JPN)

• Saturday, September 13th – Monday, September 15th
• Shiga/Infronia Kusatsu Aquatics Center
• LCM (50m)
• Results

The 79th National Sports Festival, also known as the WataSHIGA Shining National Sports competition, kicked off yesterday in Japan with multiple domestic stars taking to the long course pool.

With one day remaining, we’ve already seen some impressive performances as a follow-up to this year’s World Championships, where the nation of Japan collected just four medals.

Making her presence known across multiple events this weekend was University of Tennessee commit Mizuki Hirai.

18-year-old Hirai took on the women’s 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle events, finding success in both.

In the former, Hirai stopped the clock at a speedy mark of 56.70 to establish a new meet record and beat the field by nearly a second.

Splitting 26.67/30.03 overtook the former competition benchmark of 56.97 en route to hitting the sole time of the pack under 57 seconds.

Hiroko Makino was the silver medalist in 57.66 while Kanon Hironaka wrangled up bronze in 58.62.

Hirai’s 56.70 outing here beat the 56.83 she put up to place 7th in the event at this year’s World Championships.

On day two of this competition, Hirai topped the women’s 100m free podium in a mark of 54.87.

That was enough to hold off Shiho Matsumoto, who clinched silver in 54.97 as Yume Kamino rounded out the podium in 55.23.

Hirai’s performance was within striking distance of her best-ever performance of 54.60, a time she posted at last year’s edition of this sports festival.

In other women’s events, Shihi Takayama nailed a new meet record as she got to the wall first in the 400m IM.

She registered a result of 4:38.08 as the only racer under 4:40. Mana Ishikawa was next in 4:41.24 and Nagaoka Kairyo also landed on the podium in 4:42.64.

Additionally, 34-year-old Olympic veteran Satomi Suzuki was too quick to catch in the women’s 100m breaststroke, producing a blistering 1:05.53 for the gold.

Suzuki opened in a feisty 30.44 before bringing it home in 35.09 for a new meet record by over half a second.

Junior Pan Pacs champion Kotomi Kato was also solid with a silver medal-worthy time of 1:07.04 and Olympian Reona Aoki bagged the bronze in 1:07.58.

Remarkably, Suzuki’s effort here marks a lifetime best. It erased the seasoned swimmer’s former PB of 1:05.78 notched for 4th place at this year’s World Championships. She remains Japan’s #2 performer of all time in this event and is now the #1 performer in the world on the season.

The men’s side of the house also saw some head-turning performances, including the 200m IM on day one of the festival.

World Championships finalist Kosuke Makino put on a show, crushing a monster lifetime best of 1:55.85 en route to gold.

Makino split 25.11/30.18/32.93/27.63 to get the job done, clearing his competitors by well over 2 seconds.

Runner-up status went to Gasaki Nishikawa, who hit 1:58.45 followed by Genki Terakado and his result of 1:58.98.

Entering this meet, Makino’s best-ever performance was represented by the 1:56.80 turned in at this year’s World Championships Trials. He was unable to match that effort in Singapore, finishing 8th in the 2IM final in a time of 1:59.25. His 1:55.85 time here would have rendered him the 4th place finisher at Worlds.

As consolation, Makino is now Japan’s 3rd-fastest men’s 200m IM performer in history and the 18th-fastest man worldwide of all time. He takes over the world’s #1 slot in the rankings on the season.

Of note, Olympic medalist Daiya Seto placed a disappointing 12th in the 2IM, posting 2:04.72 to miss the final. He said after the race that he had pulled a muscle in his back leading up to the meet.

Newly minted World Junior Record holder Shin Ohashi was another top performer, registering a time of 2:07.53 to take the men’s 200m breast by over 3 seconds.

Ohashi split 28.14/32.87/33.06/33.36 to become festival champion and slice .03 off the 2:07.56 he notched for silver at this year’s world Junior Championships.

His career-best and WJR remain at the 2:06.91 produced this past July.

Additional Notes

• Yumeki Kojima clocked a time of 1:56.70 as the men’s 200m back gold medalist, turning in the sole time of the pack under 2:01.
• Gomi Tomonobu touched in 51.35 to win the men’s 100m butterfly ahead of national record holder Katsuhiro Matsumoto. Matsumoto settled for silver in 51.97 and Naoki Mizunuma rounded out the top 3 in 52.13.
• The men’s 400m IM saw Yumeki Komija earn the victory in 4:11.16 to beat the field by over 7 seconds.
• Reigning World Championshps bronze medalist Tatsuya Murasa nabbed gold in the men’s 100m free, touching in 48.43 in a new meet record. Shuya Matsumoto clinched silver in 48.45 and Katsuhiro Matsumoto bagged the bronze in 48.94.
• In the boys’ 100m free, 18-year-old Issa Kuroda logged 48.87 to earn the sole time of the final under 49 seconds as the gold medalist.
• Taku Taniguchi topped the men’s 100m breast field with an outing of 1:00.01. That got him to the wall only a hair ahead of Yamato Fukasawa , who settled for silver by the slimmest of margins in 1:00.02. Yu Hanaguruma put up a mark of 1:00.14 as the bronze medalist.

We’ll report on the final day of the meet after it unfolds on Monday, September 15th in the Shiga Prefecture.