2025 JAPAN SWIM
- Thursday, March 20th – Sunday, March 23rd
- Tokyo Aquatics Centre
- LCM (50m)
- SwimSwam Preview #1
- SwimSwam Preview #2
- Meet Central
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
We saw day two of the 2025 Japan Swim unfold with the four-day competition representing the sole opportunity for the nation’s swimmers to add their names to this year’s World Championships roster.
Wasting no time making the most of his chance to bust into the senior ranks, 17-year-old Tatsuya Murasa unleashed a new Japanese National High School Record.
Racing in the men’s 200m freestyle final, Murasa crushed a lifetime best of 1:45.67, dipping under the 1:46 barrier for the third time in his young career.
After hitting a morning effort of 1:46.93 to claim the top seed, Murasa split 24.62/27.03/27.13/26.89 to beat the field in his best-ever performance.
His menacing 1:45.67 overtook his previous Japanese National High School Record of 1:45.72 notched at the Japan Open last November. He was within range of that with a consistent 1:45.84 at January’s Kosuke Kitajima Cup.
Reigning 400m IM Olympic silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita was next to the wall tonight in 1:46.96, his first-ever foray under the 1:47 barrier.
Entering this competition, versatile Matsushita’s lifetime best rested at the 1:47.57 notched at the aforementioned Japan Open.
Konosuke Yanagimoto rounded out tonight’s 2free podium in 1:47.12.
Murasa’s new 1:45.67 PB keeps him ranked as Japan’s 4th-best performer in history and Matsushita moves up to rank 13th.
Top 5 Japanese Men’s LCM 200 Free Performers All-Time
- Katsuhiro Matsumoto – 1:44.65, 2021
- Kosuke Hagino – 1:45.23, 2014
- Sho Uchida – 1:45.24, 2009
- Tatsuya Murasa – 1:45.67, 2025
- Takeshi Matsuda – 1:45.96, 2012
Looking at this season’s rankings, Murasa inserts himself into slot #2 behind Korean national champion and Olympic finalist Hwang Sunwoo. Matsushita checks in as the world’s 5th-best so far this season.
2024-2025 LCM Men 200 Free
Sunwoo
1:45.03
| 2 | MURASA TATSUYA | JPN | 1:45.67 | 03/21 |
| 3 | Lee Hongjun | KOR | 1:46.60 | 10/15 |
| 4 | Ji Xinjie | CHN | 1:46.76 | 03/20 |
| 5 | TOMOYUKI MATSUSHITA | JPN | 1:46.96 | 03/21 |
For additional perspective, Murasa’s time would become the National Age Group Record of the United States. His time beats the reigning U.S. 17-18-year-old boys’ NAG of 1:45.99 Olympic legend Michael Phelps posted in 2003.
Murasa’s and Matsushita’s performances are also fuel for the Japanese men’s 4x200m free relay which has suffered in recent history. After claiming bronze in the event at the 2016 Olympic Games, the relay missed the final in 2020 and settled for a 7th-place finish last year at the Paris Olympics.
Crazy to think a 17yo has been almost 3 seconds faster
I didn’t know the Japan high school swimming league kept 50 LCM records. I’m curious as to how many pools in Japan have Olympic pools.
Almost matching Kosuke Haagino’s lifetime best already! It will be interesting to see if he can drop into 1:44s this season. The Japanese often seem to peak around this time of the year for some reason. 200fr is a difficult event to improve in beyond 1:45. I wonder how many swimmers have gone sub 1:45 vs sub 1:46. Probably a huge drop off.
It might be different this year. Peaking typically happened around now because of the insane time standards JASF set. Now that they are using World Aquatics A cuts, swimmers don’t need to taper as hard or go all out to the point they can’t get another good result.