Ippei Watanabe Nails 2:08.51 200 Breast On Journey To World Championship Trials

2023 KIRARA CUP

  • Saturday, February 11th & Sunday, February 12th
  • Kirara Expo Park, Yamaguchi, Japan
  • LCM
  • Day 1 Recap
  • Results

Yesterday former World Record holder Ippei Watanabe approached his lifetime best in the men’s 100m breaststroke and he produced another strong result on day two of the 2023 Kirara Cup.

Taking on the 200m breaststroke event, 25-year-old Watanabe put up a time of 2:08.51, dominating the field by well over 4 seconds in the process.

Although splits are not yet available, we know that Watanabe’s effort in Yamaguchi checks in as a season-best, slicing .04 off of the 2:08.55 he logged last month at the Kosuke Kitajima Cup. There he tied Shoma Sato to take the gold, but Watanabe’s 2:08.51 now renders him the sole wearer of the season’s world rankings crown.

2022-2023 LCM Men 200 Breast

Qin CHN
Haiyang
07/28
WR 2:05.48
2Zac
Stubblety-Cook
AUS2:06.4007/28
3Leon
Marchand
FRA2:06.5906/11
4Kirill
Prigoda
RUS2:07.4704/19
5 IPPEI
WATANABE
JPN2:07.5506/03
View Top 26»

Historically the 200m breast has been Watanabe’s much stronger event, with the Toyota swimmer having once owned the WR in his lifetime best of 2:06.67 from 2017.

Watanabe missed out on the 2020 Olympic Games by finishing 3rd at his nation’s trials in this 2breast race, despite entering the meet ranked #3 in the world. It was Sato who claimed the top spot at those trials, posting a new national and Asian record of 2:06.40. Ryuya Mura was next in 2:07.58 while Watanabe posted a time of 2:08.30 to be shut out of a spot to represent Japan at a home Games.

Watanabe does have a chance for redemption of sorts, with this year’s World Championships being hosted in his home nation once again, in the city of Fukuoka. The fact that he has raced his way to strong results this early in the season bodes well for his potential return to Japanese representation on the elite international meet stage.

Of note, another strong swim on day two of this Kirara Cup was rendered by 19-year-old Sou Ogata. The teen already reaped gold in the 200m back and 200m fly events yesterday, but he followed up with a solid time of 4:14.16 to top the men’s 400m IM podium.

Ogata already ranks 5th in the world in the event, courtesy of his lifetime best of 4:12.24 he posted at last December’s Japan Open.

The Japan Championships, slated for April, represents the sole qualification opportunity for Japanese swimmers to make the squad for the Fukuoka World Championships.

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Kabes
1 year ago

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