2021 JAPAN SWIM (OLYMPIC TRIALS)
- Saturday, April 3rd – Saturday, April 10th
- Tokyo Olympic Aquatics Centre
- LCM (50m)
- Japan’s Sole Olympic-Qualifying Opportunity
- JASF Olympic Selection Policy
- Entries
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Live Results
- Live Stream (Prelims Only)
More speedy performances came out of the Japan Swim tonight in Tokyo, the meet which stands as the nation’s sole Olympic-qualifying opportunity. There were only 4 finals tonight but the races produced 4 additional Olympic qualifiers through 3 days of this Trials meet.
31-year-old Olympic medalist Ryosuke Irie got it done for gold in the men’s 100m backstroke, with his winning result of 53.13 snagging a spot on his 3rd Games roster. He’ll also race the backstroke leg on Japan’s men’s medley relay with his victory here.
Two women got under the Olympic-qualification standard in the 100m breast, led by 2016 Olympian Kanako Watanabe. Watanabe cleared the threshold in 1:06.51 while Reona Aoki was a fingernail behind in 1:06.56.
Finally, Katsuo Matsumoto put on a show in the men’s 200m free event to kick-off the action. Matsumoto got into the 1:44-zone for the first time in his career, joining the exclusive club with a new national record of 1:44.65. The men’s 800m free relay is in doubt, however, as no other man got under the relay standard of 1:47.08 set forth by the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF).
Unofficial Japanese Olympic Roster:
- Yuki Ikari – men’s 400m IM
- Yui Ohashi – women’s 400m IM
- Daiya Seto – men’s 200m IM/400m IM (officially pre-qualified)
- Ageha Tanigawa – women’s 400m IM
- Waka Kobori – women’s 400m free
- Miyu Namba – women’s 400m free
- Rikako Ikee – women’s medley relay (fly)
- Shoma Sato – men’s medley relay (breast)
- Katsuo Matsumoto – men’s 200m free
- Kanako Watanabe – women’s 100m breast, medley relay
- Reona Aoki – women’s 100m breast
- Ryosuke Irie – men’s 100m back, medley relay
- Konosuke Yanagimoto – men’s 800m free relay
- Kosuke Hagino – men’s 800m free relay
- Takahashi Kotaro – men’s 800m free relay
Could someone shed light on the Japanese olympic qualifying process for me? Or point me to an article.
The qualifying standards are pretty quick, and it seems like Japan would want to send swimmers in every event to their home olympics. At risk of being ignorant, why not do a top 2 situation like the U.S?
Either they’re afraid that they’ll have any swimmers present that don’t make finals which will somehow embarrass them so they keep the team small to pad their percentages, or if they don’t have to pay the swimmers for making the team the bureaucrats get to keep the money themselves. These are the only reasons I can think of. Any way you slice it it’s disgraceful for Japan not to have a representative in the men’s 100 breaststroke, not to mention a rapidly improving teenager. And if Ikee doesn’t get to swim I hope their higher ups start asking questions.
Agreed, especially disgraceful considering the history that goes with breaststroke swimming in japan.