101st JAPAN SWIM
- Thursday, March 19th – Sunday, March 22nd
- Tokyo Aquatics Center
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
We saw day two of the 101st Japan Swim unfold from the Tokyo Aquatics Center, where the nation’s athletes are seeking qualification for this year’s Pan Pacific Championships and Asian Games.
We reported how we saw two records go down this evening, with 18-year-old Kazushi Imafuku lowering his own 800m free national record and 17-year-old Shin Ohashi clocking a new Japanese National High School benchmark.
Additional swims on the men’s side include the 200m freestyle, which saw World Championships bronze medalist Tatsuya Murasa get to the wall first in a time of 1:45.14.
Murasa beat former national record holder Katsuhiro Matsumoto who settled for silver in 1:45.91 while Kazusa Kuroda rounded out the podium in 1:47.22.
Murasa’s time of 1:44.54 from Singapore established a new national record. Although he was well outside that here, his effort cleared the stiff Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) selection standard of 1:45.60 needed for the aforementioned prestigious international events.
Reigning 400m IM Olympic silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita tried the men’s 200m butterfly on for size, finding success in a new lifetime best of 1:54.28.
20-year-old Matsushita managed to shave .42 off his previous PB from 2025, dipping under the 1:54.62 QT in the process.
The 2020 Olympic Games silver medalist in this event, Tomoru Honda turned in a time of 1:54.78 for silver ahead of Ei Kamikawabata who bagged the bronze in 1:54.86.
Matsushita now ranks 2nd in the world at the moment, with Honda tying countryman Genki Terakado as the 3rd-best thus far this season.
2025-2026 LCM Men 200 FLY
Marchand
1:52.57
| 2 | Tomoyuki Matsushita | JPN | 1:54.28 | 03/20 |
| 3 | Fang Xu | CHN | 1:54.74 | 11/13 |
| 4 | Tomoru HONDA | JPN | 1:54.78 | 03/20 |
| 5 | Ei Suguru Kamikawabata | JPN | 1:54.86 | 03/20 |
35-year-old veteran Satomi Suzuki shows no signs of stopping, reaping the top spot in the women’s 200m breaststroke tonight.
The Olympic multi-medalist stopped the clock at 1:05.60 to defeat the pack in the sole outing under the 1:06 barrier.
Satomi opened in 30.64 and brought it home in 34.96 to produce a mark just outside her season-best of 1:05.53 from last September’s National Sports Festival.
Kotomi Kato, a two-time 2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships gold medalist, was next to the wall in 1:06.25 as a new personal best. The 20-year-old’s performance overtook her previous PB of 1:06.56 from 2024 to remain JPN’s 4th-quickest female of all time.
Yuyumi Obatake also landed on the podium this evening, logging 1:08.34 for the bronze.
The women’s 200m fly saw Chiho Mizuguchi bust out a result of 2:07.61 to hold over a one-second advantage over the field.
The next-closest competitor was represented by Misa Okuzono who reaped silver in 2:09.09 and former national champion Hiroko Makino captured 3rd place in 2:09.63.
Mizuguchi’s former PB was 2:08.22, set in 2022, so she managed to shave significant time off that benchmark, ranking her 10th in her nation in this event.
Additional Notes
- Open water champion at last year’s World Championships in the knockout sprint, Ichika Kajimoto put up a lifetime best for gold in the 1500m free. Kajimoto delivered a time of 15:58.59 to dominate the field in the only outing under the 16:30 barrier. She qualified for Pan Pacs and the Asian Games while her performance fell just .04 outside the longstanding JPN national record of 15:58.55 Ai Shibata put on the books in 2007.
- Ruka Takezawa got her hand on the wall first in the women’s 200m free, putting up 1:58.33. Nagisa Ikemoto posted 1:58.48 for runner-up status and Yui Fukuoka also landed on the podium in 1:59.33 for bronze.
