2021 JAPAN OPEN
- Thursday, February 4th – Sunday, February 7th
- Tokyo Aquatics Centre
- LCM (50m)
- Entry List (in Japanese)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Finals/Day 2 Finals/Day 3 Finals
- Results
In addition to Shoma Sato‘s 2:06.74 scorcher in the men’s 200m breaststroke, a quiet milestone was achieved in the women’s 50m freestyle tonight at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Competing in the final session of the Japan Open, leukemia survivor Rikako Ikee clocked a time of 24.91 to take silver behind winner Rika Omoto in the women’s 50m freestyle.
Although Omoto topped the podium in a quicker 24.75 this evening, the significance of Ikee’s swim is that her 24.91 represents her first outing under the 25-second barrier since her inspiring comeback.
After more than 594 days away from competition, Ikee returned to racing at the Tokyo Special Swimming Tournament last August, where she logged a 50m freestyle time of 26.32. The multi-national record holder followed that up with an even quicker 25.62 at Japan’s Student Swimming Championships the first weekend of October.
Flash forward to tonight and Ikee is now already hitting this sold 24.91, within realistic striking distance of the 24.46 minimum Olympic time standard set by the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF).
Speaking to Yahoo! Japan post-race, Ikee said, “I was happy to achieve my goal of getting under 25-seconds.”
Ikee spoke to the fact she is still not up to her ‘fighting weight’ since beating leukemia, something she said impacts her momentum and explosiveness off the blocks. “Weight is the cause of my being separated in the first 15 meters of the race.
“In training camp, I’ve focused on getting my weight back. I originally dropped a little over 15 kilos (33 pounds) but now I’m only about 5 kilos (11 pounds)off my previous weight.”
Ikee continued, “The more weight you gain, the more you can move forward off the blocks.”
Ikee said of the prospect of competing at a home Games, “I can’t say I’m aiming for the Tokyo Olympics this year without overdoing it, so I think it’s good to grow little by little. I want to do it without rushing there. I don’t think we’re at that stage yet.”
Although Ikee is downplaying any ambition of competing at this year’s postponed Olympic Games, the fact that she is approaching the standard needed to qualify is simply encouraging in and of itself.
This is amazing. I didn’t think it was possible to come back to this level this quick after such a serious illness and gruelling treatment.
How wtf
That would be a national record or close to national record in several countries…
What an amazing story. When she makes the Tokyo Olympics (I’m saying when because this woman is tough as nails and I really don’t think it’s IF anymore) I hope they make her the final torchbearer that gets to light the cauldron. The 50 free is usually on the last day of swimming anyway, and after the past year the world has had, I can’t think of a more fitting way to start the Games.
Wow! She is improving so quickly and coming back so strong. Rooting for her for the next few months!
Her Leukemia diagnosis was exactly two years ago. Then hospitalized for 10 months. Returned to the pool in late March. She has lost a lot of weight. She has to re-learn butterfly but now at Tokyo Open in two weeks, she will swim 50/100 fly. She is an inspiration.
Beast
After leukemia. Powerful