Narushima Shakes Up 200 Fly World Rankings On Day Two Of Japanese Championships

102nd JAPAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, June 4th – Sunday, June 7th
• Tokyo Aquatics Centre
• LCM (50m)
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The 102nd Japan Swimming Championships saw day two unfold at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre with additional impressive performances as swimmers vie for potential remaining slots on the nation’s roster for this year’s Pan Pacific Championships.

Yesterday 20-year-old NCAA champion Yamato Okadome ripped a monster lifetime best of 59.11 to take the men’s 100m breaststroke and the Cal Bear followed up with another powerful performance, this time in the 50m sprint.

Competing in the heats of the 50m breast this morning, Okadome unleashed a top-seeded effort of 26.76 to become Japan’s #2 swimmer of all time.

He added slightly in the final but still earned the bronze. You can read more about the men’s 50m breaststroke here.

World Championships medalist Tatsuya Murasa led the charge in the men’s 200m free final, posting a solid effort of 1:45.65.

That got him to the wall nearly a second ahead of the next-closest competitor, Katsuhiro Matsumoto, who settled for silver in 1:46.43.

Raito Numata, who is just 17 years of age, rounded out the podium in 1:46.73 a day after ripping a lifetime best of 3:46.11 to win the 400m free.

Murasa and Matsumoto remain the only Japanese men in history to crack the 1:45 barrier, with the former owning the national record at 1:44.54 and the latter possessing a lifetime best of 1:44.65. Murasa currently ranks 5th in the world, courtesy of the 1:45.15 nabbed at the Japan Swim in March.

As for Numata, the teen’s outing here fell just .03 outside his career-swiftest result of 1:46.70 logged last year at the World Junior Championships to claim the bronze.

19-year-old Kazushi Imafuku turned in a time of 7:48.56 to take the decisive victory in the men’s 800m free.

The national record holder was the sole swimmer of the field to dip under the 7:50 threshold, as Kaito Tabuchi was next to the wall in 7:52.40. Asaki Nishikawa bagged the bronze this evening in 7:54.26.

It was at the aforementioned Japan Swim where Imafuku clocked the Japanese benchmark of 7:47.81, so his time tonight was less than a second outside of that performance.

Olympic champion Tomoru Honda dove in for the men’s 200m butterfly; however, his morning swim of 1:57.74 relegated him to 9th place and headed to the B-Final.

Come tonight, 24-year-old added slightly, registering 1:57.85 to earn the B-Final win.

As far as the A-final went, it was a tightly-contested battle which saw Yoshitoku Narushima come out on top.

21-year-old Narushima clocked a gold medal-worthy outing of 1:55.03, laying waste to his previous lifetime best of 1:58.65 notched in 2024. And, just like that, he rockets up the all-time Japanese performer rankings from slot #87 to become the 16th-best 200m fly swimmer from the nation.

Runner-up Hiroo Kawano also nabbed a new personal best, hitting 1:55.41 to slice just under half a second off his former PB of 1:55.87 put up at the 2025 Japanese Intercollegiate Championships.

Ei Kamikawabata also landed on the podium in 1:55.77, good enough for bronze. He’s been as quick as 1:54.86 already this year.

Japan owns three of the top five placeholders in the season’s world rankings, with Tomoyuki Matsushita ranked #2 (1:54.28), Honda ranked 4th (1:54.78) and Kamikawabata ranked 5th (1:54.86).

The women’s races were highlighted by Olympic medalist Satomi Suzuki in the 100m breaststroke.

The 34-year-old veteran delivered a time of 1:05.87 to get to the wall over two seconds ahead of the pack.

Mana Ishikawa,  just 17 years of age, followed in a time of 1:08.06, with Yuyumi Obatake earning 3rd place in 1:08.29.

Suzuki has been as fast as 1:05.53 to rank 3rd in the world at the moment.

At the 2024 Olympic Games, Suzuki finished 12th overall in this event (1:06.90), while she collected a 4th-place finish in the 200m breast (2:22.54). She has a trio of Olympic medals to her credit, having earned 200m breast silver, 100m breast bronze and women’s medley relay bronze at the 2012 Games in London.

Hiroko Makino turned in a season-best en route to winning the women’s 200m fly tonight.

The 26-year-old entered this meet with a time of 2:08.31 from November’s Japan Open but she managed to drop that down to 2:08.17 on the path to gold.

She’s been as swift as 2:06.92 in her career, a PB she established at the 2017 Kosuke Kitajima Cup.

16-year-old World Junior Championships bronze medalist Umi Ishizuka blasted a time of 2:08.45 to snag the silver.

That put her lifetime best of 2:08.16 on notice, with that quicker effort coming at last year’s World Juniors to rank the teen as Japan’s 16th-best performer of all time.

Chiho Mizuguchi notched 2:09.15 to round out the podium.

Finally, 16-year-old Mimi Gonda was the top women’s 1500m freestyle contestant, producing a winning time of 16:33.98.

That dipped under her former PB of 16:34.26 from the Japan Swim, bumping her up one slot to rank 23rd among the all-time Japanese performers in the event.

Haruka Taka earned the silver in 16:37.70 and Sachika Kajimoto‘s time of 16:40.63 was good enough for the bronze medal.

Additional Notes

• Rio Suzuki was the first to touch in the women’s 200m freestyle, hitting 1:59.13 for the gold. Ruka Takezawa snagged the silver in 1:59.63 and Waka Kobori posted 1:59.76 for the bronze.
• The women’s 50m back saw Miri Sasaki notch a winning result of 28.03, a time just over half a second off the national record. Yuara Sonobe turned in 28.45 for silver and Tomoko Takeba reached the wall in 28.48 for 3rd place.