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/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap
- Results
While NCAA conference action was well underway in the United States, several elite meets were taking place around the world, including in Japan. The nation held its initial selection meet for this summer’s most competitive events, including the Budapest World Championships, Asian Games and World University Games.
In case you missed any of the intensity that transpired at Tatsumi Internationa Swimming Centre, you can review the daily recaps in the links above and also check out our top swims from the meet.
Top Swims from the 202 Japanese Selection Meet
Reona Aoki, 1:05.19 100m Breaststroke
On the very first day of competition,27-year-old Aoki busted out the fastest performance of her life, hitting the wall in a super swift 1:05.19. That not only demolished the field, with the next closest swimmer coming in at 1:06.97, but Aoki’s result easily dipped under the 1:06.64 threshold needed for Budapest.
Aoki’s 1:05.19 also established a shiny new Japanese national record in the women’s 100m breast event, overtaking the previous mark of 1:05.88 Olympian Kanako Watanabe put on the books way back in 2014 at the Japan Open.
Aoki’s splits for tonight’s powerful outing included 30.54/34.65 to make history, as well as smash her own previous lifetime best of 1:05.90 from nearly 4 years ago.
On a continental level, Aoki’s monster swim here also checks in as a new Asian Record. The previous standard stood at the 1:05.32 Ji Liping put up during the supersuit era of 2009.
Worldwide, Aoki’s time here now checks her in as the 10th fastest performer of all-time, with her mark here having beaten what it took to snag silver at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Mio Narita, 4:36.71 400m IM
Although the mark has since been overtaken by Canadian 15-year-old Summer McInstoch, 15-year-old Narita established a new World Junior Record in the women’s 400m IM.
Stopping the clock in a big-time result of 4:36.71 for silver, Narita’s performance here represented the first time she’s ever been under 4:40 in the event.
Narita has already been wreaking havoc in the women’s 400m IM. Just last month Narita logged a mark of 4:40.86 to establish a new National Junior High School Record. That sliced .02 off of the 4:40.88 Narita put up at the 2021 Japan Open last June.
As such, within a span of one year, Narita has figured out a way to drop over 4 seconds from her prime event.
Naoki Mizunuma, 50.86 100m Fly
Mizunuma became the first-ever man from the nation to dip under the 51-second barrier in the 100m butterfly.
The 25-year-old ripped a big-time 50.86 to take gold, break the barrier and establish a new Japanese national record. His 50.86 swim was comprised of splits of 23.95/26.91 to wreck his previous PB of 51.03 he logged in April of last year.
Mizunuma just sneaked into the final, taking up the 7th seed with a morning effort of 52.33 before he swam lights out.
The Tokyo Frog King’s effort here slashed .14 off of the previous Japanese standard of 51.00 Kohei Kawamoto first put on the books in 2009 before Takeshi Kawamoto matched it last year.
Worldwide, Mizunuma now ranks as the 20th fastest man in history in this event while he inserts himself onto the all-time Asian performers at #2. Only Singapore’s Olympic champion Joseph Schooling has been faster, owning the continental record at 50.39.
Yu Hanaguruma’s 2:07.99 200m Breaststroke
22-year-old Hanaguruma ripped a new lifetime best of 2:07.99 to take gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke.
En route, Hanaguruma beat out the likes of Olympians Ryuya Mura and Shoma Sato, who settled for silver and bronze with respective efforts of 2:08.11 and 2:08.26.
Splitting 1:02.66/1:05.33, Hanaguruma crushed his previous lifetime best of 2:08.95, a mark he put up in June of 2021.
In doing so, Hanaguruma now becomes the 7th man from Japan to have broken the 2:08 barrier in this 200m breast event, one in which three different Japanese men have owned the World Record in recent history.
