Hirai, Matsushita & Murasa Among 2026 Kosuke Kitajima Cup Entries

2026 KOSUKE KITAJIMA CUP

• Friday, January 23rd – Sunday, January 25th
• Tokyo Aquatics Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central

On Friday, the 2026 Kosuke Kitajima Cup is set to kick-off from the Tokyo Aquatics Center, site of swimming action at the 2020 Olympic Games. The 3-day competition represents one of three annual ‘K’ meets, with both the annual Konami Open and Kirara Cup taking place next month.

This year’s edition of the annual elite competition is an important stepping stone on the way to the Japanese Championships in March, with that later meet representing a qualification opportunity for the 2026 Asian Games.

New as of last year for the Kosuke Kitajima Cup is the fact that 50m distances of each discipline will be held as a three-round knockout competition with 10 competitors narrowed down to 4 and then finally a head-to-head final battle.

Several key Japanese athletes are set to compete, with multiple already ranking among the world’s best thus far this 2025-26 long course season. Among them are Olympic medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita, 34-year-old mainstay Satomi Suzuki, World Championships medalist Tatsuya Murasa and University of Tennessee’s World Junior Record holder Mizuki Hirai.

Although we’re waiting on official entries, we know the following competitors are expected to appear:

Women

Suzuka Hasegawa
Mizuki Hirai
Rikako Ikee
Nagisa Ikemoto
Ichika Kajimoto
Waka Kobori
Hiroko Makino
Myu Namba
Mio Narita
Satomi Suzuki

Men

Yamato Fukasawa
Kosuke Makino
Katsuhiro Matsumoto
Tomoyuki Matsushita
Naoki Mizunuma
Tatsuya Murasa
So Ogata
Hidekazu Takezawa
Taku Taniguchi
Genki Terakado
Ippei Watanabe