Abbey Webb Continues Impressive Japan Open Run With 100 Free Personal Best

2024 JAPAN OPEN

• Friday, November 29th – Sunday, December 2nd
• Tokyo Aquatic Centre, Tokyo, Japan
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We entered day two of the 2024 Japan Open in Tokyo with Aussie swimmers continuing to make their marks on this three-day competition.

The men’s 400m free saw Matthew Galea get it done for gold, posting the sole time of the field under the 3:50 barrier.

Galea hit a time of 3:49.05 to get the job done, with yesterday’s newly-minted Japanese High School Record holder in the 200m free, Tatsuya Murasa, settling for silver in 3:49.27. Kazushi Imafuku rounded out the podium in 3:50.86.

Galea has been as quick as 3:47.54 in his career, a time registered at last year’s U.S. Open Championships.

Murasa, just 17 years of age, clocked a new personal best with his result, overtaking his previous PB of 3:50.42. For perspective, the teen’s new PB would rank him as the 16th-best American 17-18-year-old boy ever.

Abbey Webb, also of Australia, doubled up on her 200m free victory from day one with a gold in the 100m free tonight.

23-year-old Webb, formerly of Auburn and NC State in the NCAA, clocked 54.06 to hold a healthy advantage over teammate Jaimie De Lutiis who held on for silver in 54.60.

Japanese Olympian Nagisa Ikemoto bagged bronze in a result of 54.63. That was the exact same podium as the 200m free yesterday.

Once again, Webb’s outing represents a new lifetime best for the Cruiz swimmer, with her 54.06 surpassing her previous career-quickest outing of 54.44 from 2021. She now checks in as Australia’s 20th-best performer of all time in this women’s 100m free.

De Lutiis also scored a new PB, with her 54.60 marking just the 2nd time she’s been under the 55-second barrier. Her previous career-quickest stood at 54.71 produced at last year’s Australian Age Championships.

For Japan, reigning Olympic silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita earned gold in his pet event of the men’s 400m IM.

The 19-year-old punched a time of 4:11.63 to hold his teammate Asaki Nishikawa at bay. Nishikawa touched in 4:12.28 and Riku Yamaguchi collected bronze in 4:12.81.

Matsushita was Japan’s sole Olympic medalist at this year’s Games in Paris. He produced a time of 4:08.62 to take 4IM silver behind winner Leon Marchand of France who blasted an Olympic Record of 4:02.95 en route to gold.

33-year-old Olympian Satomi Suzuki showed her stuff in the 50m breast, taking the event in a time of 30.94. Visiting Aussie teenager Sienna Toohey snagged silver in 31.26 and Yuyumi Obatake took bronze in 31.36.

Suzuki placed an impressive 4th in the women’s 200m breast in Paris this summer.

Additional Winners

• National record holder Katsuhiro Matsumoto stopped the clock at 48.46 to take the men’s 100m free by more than a second. Tomonobu Gomi was next to the wall in 49.48 while Aussie teen Marcus Da Silva rounded out the podium in 49.55.
• Japanese Olympian Mio Narita, just 17, tried the women’s 200m back on for size, producing a time of 2:09.92 for the decisive gold. Nanami Ito represented the next closest swimmer, touching about 2 and a half seconds back in 2:12.41. Aimi Nagaoka clocked 2:13.10 for bronze.
  • As for Narita, her time tonight was within striking distance of the 2:09.67 personal best notched at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships. We’ll keep an eye on this event for her to see if she’ll be regularly adding it to her lineup as a possible elite meet event moving forward.
• Hidekazu Takehara topped the men’s 200m back podium in 1:56.92.
• The women’s 400m IM, void of Narita, saw Waka Kobori take gold in 4:40.00, beating the field by nearly 3 seconds.
• Natsuki Hiroshita won the women’s 50m fly in 26.37 to lead the pack.
• Yuya Tanaka was the men’s 50m fly winner in 23.38.
• Hayato Watanabe earned his 2nd gold this evening. After topping the men’s 100m breast last night, he doubled up with a 50m breast victory in 27.29.
• The women’s 400m free saw Olympian Miyu Namba stop the clock at 4:10.54 to beat the field by over a second en route to gold. Of note, Kobori took on a tough 400m IM/400m free double, winding up 4th in this race.