2023 JAPAN OPEN
- Thursday, November 30th – Sunday, December 3rd
- Tokyo Aquatics Center
- LCM (50m)
- Entries (in Japanese)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
We entered day two heats of the 2023 Japan Open with domestic athletes battling against visiting competitors from Australia, Germany and beyond.
Aussie Sam Williamson made his presence known already here in Tokyo, winning the men’s 100m breaststroke B-Final on night one in a big-time personal best of 59.26.
25-year-old Williamson has already carried that momentum into day two, topping the men’s 50m breaststroke prelims in a big-time career-quickest of 26.51.
That not only sliced .25 off his previous PB of 26.76 from 2023 Worlds but it also established a new Australian National Record.
The previous Ausie standard stood at the 26.74 Olympian Christian Sprenger put on the books nearly a decade ago at the 2014 Australian Championships.
With the final yet to come tonight in Tokyo, Williamson now ranks as the 8th-fastest 50m breaststroke performer in history and the Melbourne Vicentre athlete ranks #2 in the world on the season.
Top 10 Men’s LCM 50 Breaststroke Performers All-Time
- Adam Peaty (GBR) – 25.95, 2017
- Qin Haiyang (CHN) – 26.20, 2023
- Ily Shymanovich (BLR) – 26.28, 2023
- Felipe Lima (BRA) – 26.33, 2019 *tie
- Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA) – 26.33, 2022 *tie
- Joao Gomes Junior (BRA) – 26.42 2019
- Nic Fink (USA) – 26.45, 2022
- Samuel Williamson (AUS) – 26.51, 2023
- Michael Andrew (USA) – 26.52, 2022
- Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA) – 26.54, 2017
2023-2024 LCM Men 50 Breast
QIN
26.25
| 2 | Sam WILLIAMSON | AUS | 26.32 | 02/14 |
| 3 | Nicolo MARTINENGHI | ITA | 26.39 | 02/14 |
| 4 | Nic FINK | USA | 26.49 | 02/14 |
| 5 | Simone CERASUOLO | ITA | 26.53 | 03/09 |
Williamson couldn’t better his morning swim but Buckingham lowered his PB to 27.39 (-0.14) in the final .
Thank the lord we have another option for our medley boys.
Hopefully more 100m improvement to come.
This is great news. We saw Sam had the speed in the 50m in Fukuoka, but he didn’t race in the 100m individually.
Hopefully this was his speed building year and in 2024 he’ll bring that speed to the 100.
Would be nice to see another PB in the final but I suspect this is one of those cases where we got the best in the heat
After his horrible swim in the 100 heats, I’ll bet coach told him to pull out all stops in the 50.
26.77 in the final.
I like to think that it being so early in the season that he’ll improve more by the time Paris arrives. He’s usually quite slow in season so he must have had quite a bit of rest before this meet.
just realised that if williamson replaces zsc on the breast leg, australia’s men’s medley relay will be completely non-qld:
woodward (nsw)
williamson (vic)
temple (sa, originally vic)
chalmers (sa)
on the other hand, brisbane is hosting olympic trials
That’s really strange when you consider the composition of teams in recent years.
yeah all the relays in 1956 were non qld, and one in 1960 and 1964. but qld only overtook nsw as the swimming superpower in the 80s, and australia only started seriously targeting relays in the 90s. since then, I cannot think of a single example.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a Queenslander on the backstroke leg.
Namely ??
Larkin has been “out to lunch” dince 2016 and his recent World Cup outings suggest that he’s not coming back to any semblance of intl relevance.
Cooper………. gives off very strong vibes of having psyched himself out of the 100back and is instead all-in for 50free as his ticket to Paris.
Whilst I don’t think Woodward has much more to give than his 53.3 split from Fukuoka; it’s a major step up from what others have put up on thst relay in recent times.
Not seeing anyone else beating him if he swims around that level at Trials and he has to be hoghly favoured to make the team for 200.
Yep everyone concentrated on Breaststroke being weak, when we actually had 2 weak strokes since Larkin’s decline. Was hoping Cooper, but while improving in free, has done nothing in back.
Even before Larkin’s decline he rarely delivered better than a 53 low in the medley relay.
His last (and probably only) REALLY bigtime “deliver” on a relay was 2015 Worlds.
Cooper will be there in the 100m back, he’s also pushing for the 100m free spot. He’s got the speed now, just needs to maintain it for 2 laps.
cooper said that he only swims the 100 back because he needs it to qualify, and vomits each time after he races it. he said that he would only swim 50s if he could.
he said all that before worlds. since he went 21.65 and came 4th in the 50 free final, the 50 free is now a viable way for him to make teams moving forward. as for the 100 free, he hasn’t swum it since april and he needs a 2 sec pb to contend, and conflicts with his preference for 50s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6blAb9qn-4U
Crazy when you think the women’s 4×200 WR is not just all QLD but all St Peter’s Western
Sam Likes Jam!