JAPAN OPEN 2017
- Thursday, May 18th (official training); Friday, May 19th – Sunday, May 21st (competition)
- Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo, Japan
- LCM
- Prelims at 9:30am local (8:30pm EDT)/Finals at 4pm local (3am EDT)
- Meet Central
- Entry Lists (in Japanese)
- Live Stream
- Entry Lists/Live Results (English)
This year’s version of the Japan Open is set to see a battle between stacked Japanese and British talent, as the latter’s World Championships squad is using the competition as a training meet of sorts en route to Budapest. Just coming off of a camp in Thailand, British stars such as James Guy, Adam Peaty and Hannah Miley are ready to put their in-season swims to the test against the host nation’s mega powers such as Daiya Seto, Kosuke Hagino and the most recent world record setter Ippei Watanabe.
Last year the Japan Open saw the likes of Australians James Magnussen and Cameron McEvoy take to the Tatsumi International pool as a pre-Olympics escapade, so having a mix of foreign talent among the events has historically been the standard. In fact, youngster Brayden McCarthy is listed on the entries across several events, including the men’s 100m butterfly.
Junya Koga will race against Brit Christopher Walker-Hebborn in backstroke, while Seto and Hagino will have their hands full against on-the-rise Max Litchfield in the IM events. 200m freestyle world champion from 2015, Guy, will no doubt duel with fellow Olympic finalist Hagino, while Ben Proud and Duncan Scott will work their sprint freestyle strokes against the Japanese dynamic duo of Katsumi Nakamura and Shinri Shioura. Guy is also set to race in his newest event, the 200m butterfly, against current world rankings king Masato Sakai.
The women’s side of the competition will be equally as fierce, with newly-minted world leader Yui Ohhashi taking on Hannah Miley and Olympic silver medalist Siobhan-Marie O’Connor in the 200m IM. Teen phenom Rikako Ikee will look to continue her speeding bullet train across the freestyle and butterfly sprints, while Britain’s newest national record holder, Jocelyn Ulyett, will try to repeat her electrifying 200m breaststroke performance from the British National Championships.
