The Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) has revealed its 17-strong lineup for the 2022 FINA World Championships and there are a few curveballs revealed with the roster.
Although mainstays to the tune of backstroking extraordinaire Ryosuke Irie and IM world champion Daiya Seto made the cut, there are some glaring absences from the selected swimmers on both the men’s and women’s sides.
For the men, Shoma Sato, who owns three of the top ten men’s 200m breaststroke performances of all-time worldwide, is one notable name who missed out on Budapest based n his performances in Tokyo last weekend.
In his signature event, 21-year-old Sato placed 3rd with a time of 2:08.26, while Yu Hanaguruma and Ryuya Mura qualified ahead of him.
Another head-turning absence is that of both sprinting veterans Shinri Shioura and Katsumi Nakamura, neither of whom were able to sneak under the JASF-mandated time standards to book a ticket to Budapest.
Shioura took the men’s 50m free in 21.91 while Nakamura topped the 100m free podium in 48.57, which are solid efforts, but not enough to etch their name onto the lineup.
The fact there are no sprinters headed to Budapest is a step in the wrong direction for a country that once was on the right track to field a handful of speedsters. In fact, in 2019 it was Shioura himself who became Japan’s first 50m freestyle finalist at World Championships since 2001.
For the women, leukemia survivor Rikako Ikee is missing, which is also a result of the sprinter being unable to make the stiff Japanese qualifying standards in the individual free and fly events.
She did meet the minimum time standard for the medley relay in the 100m free, however, swimmers in the other disciplines did not make the grade, ergo, no relay going to Budapest.
The only relay that did qualify is the women’s 4x200m free, with Miyu Namba, Waka Kobori, Aoi Masuda and Momoka Yoshi combining to enter the event in Budapest.
Of note, 15-year-old Mio Narita who clocked a temporary World Junior Record in the women’s 400m IM had her spot in that event superseded by Olympic champion Yui Ohashi.
It was Ageha Tanigawa who actually topped the 4IM podium, with Narita in second place and Ohashi in third. However, with Ohashi’s Tokyo gold, she earned the spot on the Worlds roster.
Japanese Roster for the 2022 FINA World Championships
Katsuhiro Matsumoto
Ryosuke Irie
Ryuya Mura
Yu Hanaguruma
Naoki Mizunuma
Tomoru Honda
Takumi Terada
Daiya Seto
Reona Aoki
Hayashi Kina
Chiho Mizuguchi
Rika Omoto
Relays – Aoi Masuda, Momoka Yoshi
I read that as Japan taking no spinsters.
The world champs will probably end up a slightly better version of the disastrous fina World Cup attendance
rikako ikee sweetie i am sorry i am SO sorry than an ugly government like the JSF would do that
It’s actually the most annoying thing to see. Like she’s making this miraculous comeback and JSF would rather her not represent her country and possibly final like what is the logic 💀.
With more spots available due to the lack of sprinters, why did Tanigawa and Narita not get a 4IM spot? I assume they were under the cut.
There’s always been the 2 athletes per event per country rule for FINA World Champs even if 100 athletes make the A cut…
wow…okay…
hopefully these new and upcoming swimmers will do well and carry the momentum to WC next year in Japan.
For Asian games – is there a separate selection meet? Hope the sprinters can qualify and shine.
Look for post shortly on this.
Is there any word on when Milak and Popovici will be back in action?
Milak swam today at a local meet in Szeged the 200 fly (1:56.4), 800 free (8:05.3) and the 100 free (49.7).
Tomorrow he‘s entered in the 100 fly and 200 free.
I saw chlorine daddy at a local meet last weekend ( he was tagged on some photos on his Instagram), but no clue how to get the results.
Sunwoo will begin his campaign on the 24th of March. (Korean trials : 24th—>28th March)
Thanks 👍
A couple of strong sprinters are needed as the back bone of the relays – there are seven now. Strange decision with the Olympic Games just 2 years away and relay qualification less than 2 years.
The Japanese federation is strangling the sport to death in their country.
Don’t let their athletes access full sponsorships, don’t take swimmers with strong histories of success, what’s Japan’s goal??
The Aussies made the cuts very fast for the Olympics..it didn’t matter if you placed 1/2 in trials..Japan may be doing the same thing