2022 JAPANESE SELECTION MEET
- Wednesday, March 2nd – Saturday, March 5th
- Tatsumi International Swimming Centre, Tokyo, Japan
- LCM (50m)
- Selection Meet for 2022 Budapest World Championships, 2022 Asian Games, World University Games
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
- Results
Although no major records were broken on day 3 of the 2022 Japanese Selection Meet, key players continued to make their marks on this 4-day affair in Tokyo.
Among them was the reigning 200m fly Olympic silver medalist Tomoru Honda, with the 20-year-old taking on his bread-and-butter event. And he indeed shined brightly, taking the 2fly here in a super quick time of 1:54.04.
Splitting 54.35/59.69, Honda was the only swimmer to get under 1:55, with teammate Terada Takumi next in line with a solid 1:55.21. Of note, Honda’s time in Tokyo for silver came in at 1:53.73, so the man was less than half a second off of that performance at this domestic meet.
Surprisingly, Suzuka Hasegawa dropped the 200m fly for the women; we’re trying to find out what the reasoning is.
In her stead, it was Kina Hayashi who grabbed the gold, producing a time of 2:06.41.
Opening in 1:00.67 and bringing it home in 1:05.74, Hayashi’s time here checks in as a new lifetime best, hacking half a second off of the 2:06.91 she produced at the 2021 Japan Inter-Collegiate Championships.
She now hops over Yuko Nakanishi to become the 3rd fastest women’s 200m flyer ever stemming from Japan. For additional perspective, Hayashi’s time here would have rendered her as the 4th place finisher at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Top 5 Japanese Women’s LCM 200 Butterfly Performers, All Time
- Natsumi Hoshi, 2:04.69 (2012)
- Suzuka Hasegawa, 2:06.29 (2017)
- Kina Hayashi, 2:06.41 (2022)
- Yuko Nakanishi, 2:06.52 (2006)
- Hiroko Makino, 2:06.92 (2017)
Megastar Daiya Seto was also in the water tonight, handily winning the men’s 200m IM with a dependable effort of 1:57.09. That represents the fastest time in the world for 2022.
Rikako Ikee also did some damage, clocking a time of 54.02 to beat out Rio Shirai in the women’s 100m free. Shirai settled for silver in 54.67 with both women just missing the 53.96 mark needed to qualify for the individual event for Budapest. Ikee did make the grade for the medley relay, however.
Additional Winners:
- The 400m free winner here, Miyu Namba, doubled up with a win in the 800m free in 8:29.07.
- Miki Takahashi reaped gold in the women’s 50 back in 28.09 while mainstay Ryosuke Irie stopped the clock in 24.83 to earn the only sub-25 second time of the men’s 50m back field.
- Teh men’s 400m free saw Naito Ehara earn the win in 3:47.74.
- Rika Omoto and Yui Ohashi finished 1-2 in the women’s 200m IM, with the former topping the podium in 2:11.66 to the latter’s 2:11.72. Both women qualify for Budapest in this event.
Suzuka Hasegawa 2:05.62 Tokyo 2020
Yuko Nakanishi 2:06.38 Tokyo 2008
Natsuki Akiyama 2:06.62 Kawaguchi 2008
Yui Miyamoto 2:06.73 Nagaoka 2009
Many times on FINA lists are missing
Is that 2:06.4 world #1 right now?
Why do the Japanese always seem to swim fast when it doesn’t count? They peak early in the year, swim well in meets, but there is nothing left in major international competition. Is my observation incorrect?
Recently it has seemed that way for some of the bigger names, but I feel like in general they swim at least as fast at big meets as they do during qualifying periods
Not always, I think your observation is heavily influenced by our performance at the olympics. Our overall performance was shocking overall, however, when you consider all the previous years or just the short course seasons, we are doing pretty good
Seto often swims slower at WC and OGs than he does in-season. Hagino also had the same trend. Same with Watanabe, Matsumoto, and even the great Kitajima. I think this is a very valid question to ask, at least for their male swimmers.
Matsuda and Irie were probably the exceptions, as they always seemed to go their season bests at the big stage.
Kitajima and Koseki always turned up for the prime time swims.
Ippei and watanabe are pretty good in season though. Matsumoto didn’t perform well at the olympics but performed great at the worlds in 2019. Watanabe didn’t make the team for the olympics but also performed really well at worlds. He didn’t win but the time he put up was great. 2021 season was a bit of a rollercoaster for the mens, but all the other years, they’ve been pretty consistent, obviously excluding anomalies
But I kind of agree with seto, the time he put up to win the 2019 worlds was fast, but underwhelming. But the performance he put up at short course worlds was phenomenal.
This is a selection meet where the QTs are very tough. They have to swim fast. Winning isn’t enough to qualify.