McEvoy Blasts 21.38 50 Free, 16-Yr-Old Ohashi Rips 2:06.96 200 Breast At Japan Open

2025 JAPAN OPEN

• Friday, November 28th – Sunday, November 30th
• Tokyo Aquatics Center
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Live Results
• Livestream

The 2025 Japan Open concluded tonight from the Tokyo Aquatics Center with the nation of Australia stealing the spotlight in multiple events.

Olympic champion Cameron McEvoy was the top performer in the men’s 50m freestyle, putting up a powerful performance of 21.38 to claim the gold.

31-year-old McEvoy led a trio of foreign swimmers to the podium, with countryman Flynn Southam snagging silver in 21.85 followed by Canadian Ruslan Gaziev who bagged the bronze in 21.93. The fastest Japanese athlete was represented by Shuya Matsumoto who touched in 22.18 for 4th place.

McEvoy’s outing was just a hair off the time of 21.25 he produced for gold in Paris and was just .24 off the 21.14 he logged to top this year’s World Championships podium.

As for Southam, the 20-year-old’s silver medal-worthy outing of 21.85 marked a big-time personal best, with the Olympic ace dipping under the 22-second barrier for the first time in his young career.

According to the Swimming Australia results database, Southam’s former PB checked in at the 22.22 he posted both in May and June of this year. His shiny new career-fastest outing now renders him Australia’s 11th-best performer in history.

But Gaziev’s performance tonight also checked in as a new personal best and his first-ever foray under the 22-second threshold.

Gaziev entered this competition with a PB of 22.21 from this year’s World Championship Trials but he dropped that down significantly to hit his 21.93 and now rank as Canada’s 3rd-best performer of all time.

Top 5 Canadian Men’s LCM 50 Freestyle Performers All-Time

1. Josh Liendo – 21.48, 2024
2. Brent Hayden – 21.73, 2009
3. Ruslan Gaziev – 21.93, 2025
4. Yuri Kisil – 22.01, 2024
5. Ilya Kharun – 22.06, 2025

McEvoy, Southam and Gaziev all enter the world rankings on the season in slots #1, #3 and #4, respectively.

26-year-old Matt Temple also put on a show for Australia, capturing gold in the men’s 100m butterfly in a rapid effort of 50.92.

Opening in 23.67 and closing in 27.25, Temple led a 1-2 Aussie punch, with teammate Ben Armbruster capturing silver in 51.22.

Japan’s Tomonobu Gomi rounded out the podium this evening in 51.58.

Temple’s lifetime best and Australian national record remains at the 50.25 he logged at the 2023 edition of this competition, although this 50.92 effort here was still inside his list of the top 10 performances of his career.

Last year in Paris, Temple clocked 51.10 to place 7th, while this year in Singapore he posted 50.57 for 5th overall.

Armbruster’s silver medal-worthy time of 51.22 this evening was within striking distance of his PB of 50.91 from this summer’s U.S. Championships.

Temple is now the #1 men’s 100m butterfly swimmer in the world at the moment.

Japan got on the board, however, courtesy of Tomoyuki Matsushita‘s head-turning result of 1:55.60 in the men’s 200m IM.

That represented a monster new personal best for the 400m IM Olympic silver medalist and now ranks him as his nation’s 3rd-best performer in history. You can read more about Matsushita’s swim here.

Olympic finalist Mizuki Hirai also gave the host nation a gold, with the University of Tennessee swimmer topping the women’s 100m fly podium.

Doubling up on her 50m fly gold from last night, the 18-year-old posted a winning effort of 57.27 (26.68/30.59) to get the job done by a comfortable margin.

Hiroko Makino was next to the wall in 58.09 to tie Brittany Castelluzzo of Australia who touched simultaneously to reap runner-up honors. Three-time Olympian Rikako Ikee hit 58.35 as the 4th-place finisher.

Hirai has already been as fast as 56.70 to lead the world rankings this season. That performance was established at the Japanese National Sports Festival in September.

Finally, 16-year-old Shin Ohashi proved his stunning 2:06.91 World Junior Record from earlier this year in the men’s 200m breaststroke was anything but a fluke.

The teen ripped an eye-popping effort of 2:06.96 tonight to come within .05 of that WJR set at the Kinki High School Swimming Championships this past July.

In tonight’s race, Ohashi split 28.46/32.55 (1:01.01)/32.92/33.03 to beat the field by nearly two seconds en route to victory.

Kosuke Makino, opting for this 2breast over the 2IM, clocked a respectable 2:08.69 as the silver medalist while Yu Hanaguruma also landed on the podium with 2:09.23, good enough for bronze. Former world record holder and Olympic finalist Ippei Watanabe settled for 4th place in 2:09.93.

Shin remains the #1 swimmer in the world, even beating out world champion Qin Haiyang of China who hasn’t yet dipped under the 2:07 barrier this season.

Additional Notes

• Canada’s national record holder Taylor Ruck turned in a time of 25.03 to lead the women’s 50m freestyle final. Korea’s Hur Yeonkyung, also a national record holder, secured silver in 25.18 and Aussie Abbey Webb collected bronze in 25.24.
• Already the women’s 200m free and 400m IM victor here, 22-year-old Jenna Forrester of Australia concluded her successful campaign with gold in the 200m IM. Forrester punched a time of 2:11.27 in a tight three-way battle with Shiho Matsumoto and Mio Narita. The former settled for silver in 2:11.46 while the latter logged 2:11.52 for bronze, despite having led at the halfway point.
• Ingrid Wilm of Canada doubled up on her 100m back gold from earlier in the meet with another top finish in the 50m back sprint. The 27-year-old posted 27.57 to hold a narrow advantage over Aussie Iona Anderson, the 2024 World Championships silver medalist in this event, who touched in 27.71. Miri Sasaki was the quickest swimmer from the host nation, bagging bronze in 27.91. Ruck was also in this event before the 50m free, hitting 28.41 for 4th place.
• The men’s 50m backstroke saw Chuang Mu-Lun of Taipei slice .04 off his own national record en route to gold. Chuang turned in a time of 25.32 to overtake his previous PB of 25.36 nabbed at the 2023 National Games. Rikuya Kawabata was next to the wall a fingernail behind in 25.33 and Bradley Woodward of Australia rounded out the podium in 25.36.
• 34-year-old Satomi Suzuki continued to impress, wrapping up a successful sweep of the women’s breaststroke discipline. She completed her trifecta of victories with a time of 2:25.55 in the 200m breast this evening. That edged out the field by a second, with Junior Pan Pacific Championships multi-medalist Kotomi Kato securing silver in 2:26.55, only .05 ahead of Sophie Angus. The Canadian’s effort of 2:26.60 garnered her the bronze medal.