Japanese Trials Prelims: Rikako Ikee Tops 100 Free With Season-Best Time, 54.30

2021 JAPAN SWIM (OLYMPIC TRIALS)

20-year-old Rikako Ikee clocked a season-best 100 freestyle time of 54.30, ranking herself #23 in the world this season during the prelims session of day 5 of the Japan Swim Olympic Trials

There was also an incredibly tight race in the women’s 200 breaststroke where 1st through 4th place were separated by .07. This was immediately following the 200 backstroke, an event that Olympic medalist Ryosuke Irie made a not-so-close race for 1st place.

To end the prelims session, World Championships gold medalist Daiya Seto beat National Record-holder Kosuke Hagino in the 200 IM with a season-best time of 1:59.14.

Women’s 100 Freestyle

Top 3 Qualifiers:

  1. Rikako Ikee – 54.30
  2. Chihiro Igarashi – 55.24
  3. Natsumi Sakai – 55.27

The 100 free was a phenomenal race for National Record-holder Rikako Ikee. She won the prelims race with a season-best time of 54.30, ranking her #23 in the world this year. Her National Record still stands at 52.79 from 2018, before her 10-month-long battle with leukemia in 2019.

Natsumi Sakai took out the first-half in 26.57, just .10 behind Ikee and .20 ahead of Chihiro Igarashi. Ikee then took charge, finishing with a lead of nearly one second. Igarashi made up that .20 on the last 50 meters, ultimately out touching Sakai by .03.

2020-2021 LCM Women 100 Free

EmmaAUS
McKeon
07/30
51.96
2Siobhan
Haughey
HKG52.2707/30
3Cate
Campbell
AUS52.4304/15
4Penny
Oleksiak
CAN52.5907/30
5Sarah
Sjostrom
SWE52.6207/25
6Anna
Hopkin
GBR52.7507/28
7Madi
Wilson
AUS52.7606/16
8Femke
Heemskerk
NED52.7907/30
9Zhang
Yufei
CHN52.9009/27
10Meg
Harris
AUS52.9206/16
11Pernille
Blume
DEN52.9607/28
12Abbey
Weitzeil
USA52.9907/28
13Bronte
Campbell
AUS53.0107/25
14Yang
Junxuan
CHN53.0207/28
15Mollie
O'Callaghan
AUS53.0807/24
16Marie
Wattel
FRA53.1207/29
16Kayla
Sanchez
CAN53.1207/28
18Ranomi
Kromowidjojo
NED53.1304/10
19Simone
Manuel
USA53.3411/21
20Freya
Anderson
GBR53.4004/17
20Beryl
Gastaldello
FRA53.4012/10
22Torri
Huske
USA53.4604/09
23Erika
Brown
USA53.5107/28
24Michelle
Coleman
SWE53.5307/28
25Signe
Bro
DEN53.5407/28
View Top 26»

Men’s 200 Backstroke

Top 3 Qualifiers:

  1. Ryosuke Irie – 1:58.41
  2. Kaito Yamada – 1:59.33
  3. Kodai Nishiono – 1:59.71

National Record-holder Ryosuke Irie held a commanding lead throughout the race. Irie’s season-best time, 1:55.55, is from the 2020 Japan Swim and ranked him as the 2nd fastest 200 backstroker in the world this season. His National Record is 1:52.51 from 2009 World Champs. Kosuke Hagino is ranked 3rd on that list but DNS’d the race this morning, potentially to focus on his 200 IM.

Kaito Yamada took the 2nd spot going into the semifinals with a time of 1:59.33 with Kodai Nishiono close behind in 3rd place. Keita Sunama, #6 in the world this year, finished in 9th with a time of 2:00.08.

2020-2021 LCM Men 200 Back

EvgenyRUS
Rylov
04/08
1:53.23
2Ryan
Murphy
USA1:54.1507/30
3Mitch
Larkin
AUS1:54.3804/16
4Luke
Greenbank
GBR1:54.4305/22
5Bryce
Mefford
USA1:54.7906/18
6Xu
Jiayu
CHN1:55.2609/27
View Top 27»

Women’s 200 Breaststroke

Top 3 Qualifiers:

  1. Satomi Suzuki – 2:26.51
  2. Kanako Watanabe – 2:26.54
  3. Nana Sogabe – 2:26.55

This race was incredibly close, with .04 separating 1st through 3rd place even though they were separated by a full second after the 1st 50 meters. Satomi Suzuki claimed 1st with a time of 2:26.51, but it was 2nd place finisher Kanako Watanabe who was in 1st at the 50 meter mark. Watanabe took out the first 50 in 32.99 compared to Suzuki’s 33.09. Nana Sogabe took 3rd place with a time of 2:26.55. Watanabe’ s season-best time of 2:23.15 from the 2020 Japan Swim ranks her #7 in the world this year.

Japan holds 6 of the top-25 spots on the list of fastest 200 breaststrokers this season, and they all raced this morning. Asaba Shiori, #15 in the world this season, finished 4th with a time of 2:26.58, just .03 after Sogabe. Sakiko Shimizu, #16, finished 5th (2:26.77). Haruna Ogata, #24, finished 6th with a time of 2:26. 80. Yukino Miyasaka, #19, placed 7th (2:26.91), and Reona Aoki, #14, finished 8th (2:27.50).

2020-2021 LCM Women 200 Breast

2Lilly
King
USA2:19.9207/30
3Evgeniia
Chikunova
RUS2:20.5707/29
4Annie
Lazor
USA2:20.8407/30
5Molly
Renshaw
GBR2:20.8904/15
6Abbie
Wood
GBR2:21.6904/15
7Yulia
Efimova
RUS2:21.8606/06
8Lisa
Mamie
SUI2:22.0505/21
9Kaylene
Corbett
RSA2:22.0607/30
10Emily
Escobedo
USA2:22.6406/18
11Maria
Temnikova
RUS2:22.7604/08
12Bethany
Galat
USA2:22.8106/18
13Kanako
Watanabe
JPN2:23.0404/08
14Francesca
Fangio
ITA2:23.0606/27
15Jenna
Strauch
AUS2:23.1206/16
16Yu
Jingyao
CHN2:23.1707/28
17Jessica
Vall
ESP2:23.2503/28
18Fanny
Lecluyse
BEL2:23.3006/27
19Kelsey
Wog
CAN2:23.4006/22
20Abbey
Harkin
AUS2:23.5906/16
21Sophie
Hansson
SWE2:23.8207/28
22Daria
Chikunova
RUS2:23.8810/03
23Martina
Carraro
ITA2:24.2406/27
24Marina
Garcia
ESP2:24.2505/20
View Top 26»

Men’s 200 Individual Medley

Top 3 Qualifiers:

  1. Daiya Seto – 1:59.14
  2. Kosuke Hagino – 1:59.60
  3. Takumi Uchiyama – 2:00.18

Daiya Seto took off on that last 50, finishing with nearly a half-a-second lead and a new season-best time of 1:59.14, ranking himself #17 in the world this season. Notably, Seto is pre-qualified for the Olympics in this event after he won gold at the 2019 World Championships

2016 Olympic silver medalist Kosuke Hagino actually passed Seto on the breaststroke leg, turning into the freestyle leg at 1:29.36 compared to Seto at 1:29.45. Hagino set the current Japanese National Record at 1:55.07 during the 2016 Japanese Champs. Takumi Uchiyama claimed the 3rd semifinals spot half-a-second behind Hagino with a time of 2:00.18

2020-2021 LCM Men 200 IM

WangCHN
Shun
07/01
1:55.00
2Michael
Andrew
USA1:55.2606/17
3Duncan
Scott
GBR1:55.2807/30
4Jeremy
Desplanches
SUI1:56.1705/19
5Daiya
Seto
JPN1:56.2207/30
6Mitch
Larkin
AUS1:56.2906/16
7Hugo
Gonzalez
ESP1:56.3106/06
8Phillip
Heintz
GER1:56.4212/30
9Chase
Kalisz
USA1:56.9706/18
10Hubert
Kos
HUN1:56.9905/19
11Alberto
Razzetti
ITA1:57.1304/03
12Carson
Foster
USA1:57.2007/25
13Kieran
Smith
USA1:57.2306/18
14Lewis
Clareburt
NZL1:57.2704/09
15Kosuke
Hagino
JPN1:57.3907/28
16Andrey
Zhilkin
RUS1:57.5004/08
17Laszlo
Cseh
HUN1:57.5105/20
18Matt
Sates
RSA1:57.6005/28
19Tomoe
Hvas
NOR1:57.6407/28
20Joe
Litchfield
GBR1:57.7404/14
21Keita
Sunama
JPN1:57.8106/05
22Trenton
Julian
USA1:57.8608/07
View Top 26»

In This Story

2
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

2 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Gheko
2 years ago

Actually Ikee’s PB and Japan record for the 100m free is 52.79

Landen Hashimura
2 years ago

Ikee is about to be the first woman to go sub 50 in the 100 free only to not make the individual because the Japanese swimming federation set the requirement as a 47

About Annika Johnson

Annika Johnson

Annika came into the sport competitively at age eight, following in the footsteps of her twin sister and older brother. The sibling rivalry was further fueled when all three began focusing on distance freestyle, forcing the family to buy two lap counters. Annika is a three-time Futures finalist in the 200 …

Read More »