Three-Time Olympian Rikako Ikee Rips 25.70 50 Fly At 2026 Konami Open

2026 KONAMI OPEN

• Saturday, February 14th & Sunday, February 15th
• Tokyo Aquatics Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap
• Live Results

The 2026 Konami Open is taking place this weekend at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, site of swimming action at the 2020 Olympic Games.

This is the third of three ‘K’ meets, after the Kosuke Kitajima Cup happened in January and the Kirara Cup concluded earlier this month.

Three-time Olympian Rikako Ikee added to her medal haul, reaping a decisive gold in the women’s 50m butterfly final.

25-year-old Ikee stopped the clock at a speedy mark of 25.70, defeating the field by over a second.

Shimizu Hanamine was next to the wall in 26.77 followed by Kimura Hisaki who captured bronze in 26.97.

As for Ikee, her mark tonight crushed her former season-best effort of 26.30 logged last month. As a result, Ikee rockets herself up the season’s world rankings to insert herself into slot #3. Her lifetime best remains at the 25.11 national record she set during the 2018 Mare Nostrum Tour, about six months before that year’s first-ever female Asian Games MVP was diagnosed with leukemia.

Ikee was also among the women’s 100m freestyle field, but settled for silver behind winner Nagisa Ikemoto.

Ikemoto got to the wall first in 54.87 for the gold, splitting 26.72/28.15 in the process.

Ikee wrangled up runner-up status in 55.55 and Yume Kamino rounded out the podium in 55.75.

Ikemoto’s time was about a second outside her lifetime best of 53.92, a time she turned in at a domestic meet in 2023 to rank as the nation’s #3 performer in history.

Also on the women’s side, 35-year-old Olympic medalist Satomi Suzuki showed no signs of slowing down, delivering a super solid in-season performance of 1:06.92 in the women’s 100m breaststroke.

The veteran split 31.21/35.71 to get the job done, with Yuyumi Obata the next in line well over a second back in 1:08.41. Yuna Okada also landed on the podium in 1:10.15.

Suzuki already ranks #2 in the world on the season in this event after she punched an effort of 1:05.53 at Japan’s National Sports Festival.

On the men’s side, Ryo Kuratsuka delivered a nice performance in the 200m fly, putting up 1:56.98 for the gold.

That kept runner-up Shinkai Seiya at bay, with Seiya settling for silver in 1:57.06. Takumi Terada was next to the wall in 1:57.94, good enough for bronze.

Additional Notes

• The women’s 400m free saw 25-year-old Waka Kobori get the gold by over three seconds, turning in a time of 4:09.93.
• Olympic finalist Mio Narita snagged another medal, courtesy of her winning effort of 2:10.87 in the women’s 200m IM. Shiho Matsumoto finished just under a second behind in 2:11.85 and Kizu Kichika bagged the bronze in 2:14.72.
• The men’s 200m IM saw two meet records go down in the age group categories. Yumeki Kojima was the fastest athlete, registering 1:58.67 to earn a new meet mark for 17-year-olds. He was followed by Yuta Watanabe‘s time of 1:59.46, a time which narrowly grabbed thesilver ahead of 15-year-old Yu Hirayama. Hirayama clocked a new age meet record of 1:59.64 to earn bronze.
• Hirohiro Tanaka was too quick to catch in the men’s 50m fly, posting 23.70 as the gold medalist. Yuya Tanaka secured silver in 23.88, only a hair ahead of Kota Ichikawa whose time of 23.89 relegated him to 3rd place.
• Two men dipped under the minute barrier in the 100m breast, led by Yu Hanaguruma‘s time of 59.82. Hayato Watanabe was immediately behind in 59.93 and Yamato Fukasawa also landed on the podium in 1:00.90.
• Finally, the men’s 400m freestyle saw winner Numata Yorihito establish a new meet record for 17-year-olds with his gold medal-worthy result of 3:50.49. Masaki Kiriyama was next to the wall in 3:52.87 and Kotaro Hyodo rounded out the podium in 3:53.11, good enough for bronze.