2024 JAPAN OPEN
- Friday, November 29th – Sunday, December 1st
- Tokyo Aquatic Centre, Tokyo, Japan
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview
- Entries
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
- Live Results
- Livestream
The 2024 Japan Open concluded tonight but not before Australian Olympic champion Cameron McEvoy made his mark on the competition.
30-year-old McEvoy took on the men’s 50m free in Tokyo, his sole event, where he stopped the clock in a super solid in-season swim of 21.70.
McEvoy turned in a prelims time of 22.22 to lead the pack before dropping over half a second to produce the sole sub-22-second effort of the field in the A-Final.
Former national record holder Katsumi Nakamura of the host nation settled for silver in 22.02 while teammate Juran Mizohata rounded out the podium in 22.26.
McEvoy became Olympic champion this summer in Paris in a 21.25 scorcher, just .05 ahead of Ben Proud of Great Britain who earned his first-ever Olympic medal in 21.30 for silver.
JAPAN OPEN 2024
半フリ決勝
Cameron McEvoy 21.70
いいものが見れた！ pic.twitter.com/HbaYlW668E— 鈴木 天理｜SUZUKI Takanori (@tenri_dn1208) December 1, 2024
The Australian women also showed up big in their edition of the 50m free, with Jaimie De Lutiis grabbing the gold.
After finishing behind fellow Aussie Abbey Webb in both the 100m and 200m free events, De Lutiis got to the wall first in the splash n’ dash, registering 25.06. That’s a new personal best, overtaking the 25.37 notched at last year’s Australian Age Championships.
As for Webb, she snagged silver in 25.14, just .02 outside her lifetime best of 25.12 from January’s South Australian State Championshps. Japan’s Yume Jinno bagged the bronze tonight in 25.55.
17-year-old Mizuki Hirai was the clear winner in the women’s 100m fly, with the Olympic finalist registering 57.76 as the only swimmer to break the 58-second threshold.
Hirai, committed to swim at the University of Tennessee, opened in a swift 26.42 and closed in 31.34 to get the job done ahead of Chiharu Iitsuka who was next to the wall in 58.40. Nagisa Ikemoto earned her 3rd bronze of the competition with 58.65.
Hirai is Japan’s #2 performer of all time in this women’s 100m fly, owning a lifetime best of 56.33 from this summer in Paris. That time was produced at a domestic meet in June. At the Games, Hirai finished 7th in 57.19 despite logging 56.71 in the heats.
Versatile Katsuhiro Matsumoto topped the men’s 100m fly podium in 51.30, just over half a second ahead of 200m fly victor here Genki Terakado.
Terakado secured silver in 51.84 and Yuya Sakamoto produced 52.38 for bronze.
Matsumoto ranks as the 2nd-fastest Japanese man ever in this event, with his 50.96 PB from last year sitting only behind national record holder Naoki Mizunuma‘s time of 50.81 from 2022.
Another teenager, 17-year-old Olympian Mio Narita, got on the board, winning the women’s 200m IM.
Narita cleared the pack in 2:12.15, holding a healthy advantage over runner-up Shuna Sasaki who touched in 2:13.645. Misuzu Nagaoka also landed on the podium in 2:13.84.
The men’s 200m IM saw a strong showing by Takumi Mori, with the Japanese swimmer dipping under the 1:58 barrier for the first time in his career.
Mori stopped the clock at 1:57.71 to beat his previous PB of 1:58.01 from this year’s Olympic Trials. His new career-best keeps him ranked 9th among all-time Japanese performers.
So Ogata, who missed making this year’s Olympic team in this event by a mere .01, snared silver in 1:58.50 and Tomoyuki Matsushita, Japan’s sole Olympic medalist this summer with his 400m IM silver, earned bronze in 1:58.55.
Finally, Ippei Watanabe upgraded his 3rd place performance in the 100m breast to shiny gold in the 200m breast tonight.
Watanabe posted a stellar in-season effort of 2:08.12 (1:02.08/1:06.04) as one of two 2:08 swimmers.
Joining him was Yamato Fukasawa who hit 2:08.92 while Shin Ohashi finished well back in 2:10.27.
Watanabe is a former World Record holder in this event, owning a PB of 2:06.67 from 2017. He raced the 2breast at the Games this summer after missing the 2020 Japanese Olympic team. In Paris, the 27-year-old placed 6th in 2:08.83. His time tonight would have placed 4th, just .22 off the bronze.
Additional Winners
- Miki Takahashi scored gold in the women’s 50m back in 28.16 while Riku Matsuyama hit 25.16 to win the men’s version of the event.
- The women’s 200m breast saw Yumeno Kusuda produce 2:25.74 as the gold medalist.
Immediately post race, Cam said he’s been more focused in the weight room than the pool since September and he’ll begin to focus more in the pool come January. He also said he was super happy with that swim.
Does anyone know who has the most sub 22 second swims in the 50? Cam has been on fire since transitioning to the 50’s, however it was late in his career, so maybe not him.
Pretty sure it’s Fratus.
I’m pretty sure it’s Fratus. He has been sub-22 100-110 times
fratus with 100.
this list counts sub-22s, but is 2 years out of date: https://swimswam.com/mens-50-freestyle-vs-100-meter-dash-breaking-magical-barriers/
the main changes are:
proud: +17, moves to #2 (88 total). could see him overtaking bruno in 2 years
manaudou: +14, moves to #3 (76 total)
andrew is +17 (62 total) and gkolomeev +13 (55 total), but I can’t be certain of their spots in this ranking.
mcevoy has 38 sub-22 swims, with 20 of those coming since may 2023. this moves him ahead of bousquet’s 30
Hey I’m just here to comment about the suit I wore but saw this and wanted to add I’m at 25 sub 22s swims since May 2023 after this Tokyo swim!
Bruno Ben and flo are beasts with their total sub 22s swims. It’s crazy. Also I think Ben has the most sub 21.50 swims. Elite elite
Very impressive man. May have been topping the leader board if it was a focus from the start of your career. 47.04 in the 100m was worth the focus on that event. Olympic champion for life, thanks for the journey.
Pretty impressed with his start – he did ~7-8 fast dolphin kicks and broke out with a sizable lead, which is great considering he usually isn’t the fastest starter
Don’t he usually do less dolphin kicks?
I’m normally 4-5 depending on my entry angle
He needed that fast start
Okay katsumi nakamura hasn’t been 22.0 in a long time yo yo yo?
Cam in a Mizuno 😍😍
Finis sponsorship must have ended he may be exploring new options before he decides to either renew a contract or sign with a different sponsor. Either way he’d be able to get any brand he wants now
I hope he switch to mizuno or speedo
Just here to comment – I’ve been doing only gym training since finishing my break late September/early October and I’m up 5-6kg with 5-7 gym/mobility sessions per week. I’ve probably only done like 15-16 “swim” sessions that were just sub max technique work since Paris 😅. I only brought 1 finis suit (that I wore in heats) which was a regular training suit I’ve worn for months many times (durability is incredible). But it ripped before the final because of the extra weight I’m carrying so I borrowed another suit that was around because I had no other. Just wanted to clarify!
What were your thoughts on it? Pros and Cons?
Can’t wait for Dressel to go all in for the 50 but solid swim by Cameron
Cameron tends to stay around 21.8-21.87 in season so this is a better than average swim for my favorite 50 freestyler ever
Go Cameron
Favorite 50 freestyler ever? Bro you were calling him Chokevoy for like 5 months
And yet he will still never be able to outtroll relay names guy.
Relay names guy and swimmer dad are the worst
Absolutely.
And anyway, RealCrocker5040 is actually funny, I don’t mind them.
I think only now it’s because he won Olympic gold otherwise it prolly wouldn’t be the case.
I reserve the right to change my opinion!
You absolutely rubbished him many times. Now you have calmly changed your mind? Lol
Troll is trolling
This guy gets it
Is crazy how some people can get so high on the water without supersuits…