Ippei Watanabe Is Back, Hits 2:07.73 200 Breast On Day 4 Of 2023 Japan Swim

2023 JAPAN SWIM

• Tuesday, April 4th – Sunday, April 9th
• Prelims at 9:30 am local (8:30 pm previous night EDT)/A-Finals at ~5:00 pm local (4:00 am EDT)
• Tokyo Aquatics Center
• LCM (50m)
• Qualification Meet For World Championships, World Junior Championships, World University Games, Asian Games
• JPN Selection Criteria
• Entries (in Japanese)
• Day 1 Finals Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap/Day 3 Finals
• Live Results
• Livestream

Additional swimmers made the grade for this summer’s World Championships roster on day four of the 2023 Japan Swim, including former World Record holder Ippei Watanabe.

Competing in his best event of the men’s 200m breaststroke, 26-year-old Watanabe scored the victory in a time of 2:07.73.

Opening in 1:01.14 and closing in 1:06.59, Watanabe led a foursome of finishers who all dipped under the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF)-mandated qualification time of 2:09.68 needed for Fukuoka.

Olympian Shoma Sato punched a silver medal-worthy result of 2:08.21 while tonight’s bronze medalist Yu Hanaguruma also got under the standard with 2:08.72. Yamato Fukasawa was another racer to make the cut but fell short of the podium in 2:08.92 for 4th place.

For Watanabe, his 2:07.73 sits just outside the Toyota swimmer’s list of top 10 personal performances. His lifetime best of 2:06.67 from the 2017 Japan Championships represented the World Record for two and a half years.

Entering this Japan Swim, Watanabe’s season-best checked in at the 2:08.55 he produced in January at the Kosuke Kitajima Cup. His winning effort here keeps him slotted as the #2 performer in the world, with China’s Qin Haiyang still leading the pack with his time of 2:07.60 from last month’s Chinese Spring Championships.

Sato’s runner-up time of 2:08.21 beat his previous season-best of 2:08.55 when he tied Watanabe and he is now the world’s 3rd fastest man this season.

Hanaguruma was the World Championships silver medalist last year in Budapest so the 23-year-old will not get a chance to repeat as a medalist this summer.

The men’s 200m backstroke also saw its top-tier finishers race their way to World Championships-worthy results.

Hidekazu Takehara got it done for gold in a time of 1:56.93, the best outing of his career. Takehara’s previous career-best rested at the 1:57.00 notched en route to winning this event at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

This evening, Takehara split 56.67/1:00.26 to delve under the 1:57 barrier for the first time. He also beat out the JASF time standard of 1:57.50 needed for Fukuoka to remain Japan’s 8th fastest performer of all time.

Daiki Tanagawa also cleared the World Championships standard with his runner-up result of 1:57.39. Tanagawa sneaked into the wall just .04 ahead of Kodai Nishiono who rounded out the top 3 in 1:57.43.

Of note, 33-year-old Ryosuke Irie was entered in the 2back event but wound up dropping out of the heats. Irie recently raced his first 200m back in nearly a year this past February, posting a time of 1:56.81. That would have taken the gold tonight.

Irie has already qualified for the World Championships in the 100m back.

On the women’s side, the 200m breaststroke saw 22-year-old Runa Imai run away with the gold, beating the competition by over 2 seconds.

Imai punched a time of 2:22.98 to establish a new personal best and get under 2:23 for the first time ever. Entering this competition, Imai’s PB stood at the 2:23.43 produced over 7 years ago.

Her outing here qualifies her for the World Championships, clearing the 2:23.91 time standard. Imai was the only woman to do so, as Reona Aoki settled for silver in 2:25.19 while Kanako Watanabe bagged bronze in 2:25.33.

Imai’s 2:22.98 would have captured silver at the 2022 World Championships and ranks her 2nd in the world this season.

Leukemia survivor Rikako Ikee took her 2nd title at these Championships, securing gold in the women’s 100m free.

The 22-year-old topped the podium in a mark of 54.17, getting the edge over Nagisa Ikemoto who touched in 54.31. Rio Shirai logged a time of 54.51 for 3rd place.

Ikee, who took the latter half of 2022 off racing to focus on her training, already claimed the 100m fly victory earlier in the competition.

Her 100m free tonight is within striking distance of her best comeback result of 53.83, a time she posted at this same meet last year.

A standard of 53.61 was set by the JASF for the World Championships, so Ikee fell short of that marker. However, she did make the grade in the 1fly, therefore, Ikee may be granted this event since she’s already qualified for Fukuoka. We will have to see how the roster shakes out after these championships conclude.

Additional Winners

• Kaito Tabuchi snagged the men’s 800m free, posting a result of 7:54.08 and beating the field by over 5 seconds.