18th TOKYO METROPOLITAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, June 26th – Sunday, June 28th
- Tokyo Aquatics Center
- LCM (50m)
- Results
Multiple notable Japanese swimmers dove in for some tune-up racing this past weekend, competing at the 18th Tokyo Metropolitan Swimming Championships.
The three-day affair represented an opportunity for racers to continue honing their craft ahead of the prestigious Asian Games, slated for September in Nagoya, Japan.
Among the competitors was Olympic silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita, with the versatile 20-year-old putting up some impressive in-season results in the men’s 200m IM and 400m IM events.
In the shorter contest, Matsushita ripped a time of 1:56.63 in the morning heats to capture the top seed. That checked in as the 5th-best time of his career, one which boasts a lifetime best of 1:55.60 from the Japan Open last November to rank as the 3rd-fastest Japanese man of all time.
Flash forward to the final and Matsushita nearly matched his AM effort, producing a wining result of 1:56.78.
That got him to the wall with a healthy advantage over Kosuke Makino who secured silver in 1:58.12, while Nishikawa Gasaki rounded out the podium in 1:59.25.
As far as the 400m IM went, Matsushita was the decisive leader once again, first notching 4:10.77 in the morning heats, followed by a slightly quicker 4:10.42.
The ace’s lifetime best in this longer distance checks in at the 4:06.93 he nabbed at the Japan Swim this past March to currently rank #2 in the world, sitting only behind French World Record holder and Olympic champion Leon Marchand.
Additional winners on the men’s side at these championships included World Championships medalist Tatsuya Murasa taking on his bread-and-butter 100m and 200m freestyle events.
In the former, the 19-year-old registered a gold medal-worthy time of 48.69 while in the latter he posted 1:45.37.
The 2free result he produced fell only .22 outside his season-best of 1:45.15 notched at the Japan Swim to rank 6th in the world on the season.
The women’s side of the house was highlighted by Olympian Nagisa Ikemoto delivering a time of 54.73 in the 100m free heats to claim the top seed. She added slightly in the final, hitting 55.21, still good enough for the gold.
Olympian and World Championships silver medalist Mio Narita proved too quick to catch in both IMs, turning in a time of 2:12.46 in the 200m and 4:41.09 in the 400m.
The 19-year-old’s season bests remain at the 2:10.14 and 4:35.16 established earlier this year to rank 15th and 7th, respectively, in the world at the moment.
