Seto Posts 1:56.62 200 IM, Mitsui 2:06.77 200 Fly On Day 3 Of Japan Swim

2023 JAPAN SWIM

• Tuesday, April 4th – Sunday, April 9th
• Prelims at 9:30 am local (8:30 pm previous night EDT)/A-Finals at ~5:00 pm local (4:00 am EDT)
• Tokyo Aquatics Center
• LCM (50m)
• Qualification Meet For World Championships, World Junior Championships, World University Games, Asian Games
• JPN Selection Criteria
• Entries (in Japanese)
• Day 1 Finals Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
• Live Results
• Livestream

Day three of the 2023 Japan Swim brought the heat, with a new national record going down in the men’s 100m freestyle.

Katsuhiro Matsumoto fired off a winning time of 47.85 to get under the 48-second threshold for the first time in his career. The 26-year-old’s time not only grabbed the gold but also dipped beneath the stiff Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF)-mandated standard of 48.34 needed to qualify for this summer’s World Championships.

• Katsuhiro Matsumoto Breaks Five-Year-Old Japanese Record

On the flip side, the women’s 200m freestyle saw Rio Shirai fall painstakingly short of the Fukuoka time standard. The 23-year-old logged a time of 1:57.44 to beat the field, with Nagisa Ikemoto and Chihiro Igarashi also landing on the podium.

Ikemoto snagged silver in 1:58.04 while Igarashi rounded out the top 3 in 1:58.70.

Shirai owns a lifetime best of 1:56.82 in this event, a time she registered at the 2019 World Championships. She needed at least 1:57.26 to earn a roster spot for this year’s edition.

The men’s 200m butterfly saw an impressive three swimmers get under the 1:55 threshold.

Short course World Record holder Tomoru Honda led the charge with a winning result of 1:53.34, clearing the field by over a second. Honda already ranks as the #1 swimmer in the world, courtesy of his 1:52.70 posted at December’s Japan Open.

Behind Honda tonight was 21-year-old Teppei Morimoto whose silver medal-worthy effort of 1:54.74 also dipped under the JASF minimum time standard of 1:55.78 required for the World Championships.

Morimoto’s outing now renders him 4th in the world in the season’s rankings while the bronze medalist, Takumi Terada‘s 1:54.81 inserts him into the 5th slot.

Daiya Seto was already the decisive 400m IM winner at this competition, putting up the fastest time in the world this season of 4:07.92. The 28-year-old wound up dropping the 200m fly from his morning session to focus on the 200m IM and the decision paid off.

Seto raced his way to gold in the 2IM, once again putting up his best result of the season. He stopped the clock in a blistering 1:56.62, easily getting under the JASF standard of 1:57.94 in the process.

Runner-up So Ogata also cleared the mark, posting 1:57.52 to snag silver.

As for Seto, he now ranks #2 in the world, sitting just .10 behind American rival Chase Kalisz who owns the top time in the world with his 1:56.52 from December’s U.S. Open. Ogata checks in as the 5th fastest performer on the season.

A big-time swim also took place in the women’s 200m butterfly at the hands of Airi Mitsui.

18-year-old Mitsui ripped a lifetime best of 2:06.77 to deny past national champion Hiroko Makino the gold. Makino claimed silver in 2:07.45 while Chiho Mizuguchi bagged bronze in 2:08.89.

Opening in 1:01.76 and closing in 1:05.01, Mitsui produced the first outing of her career under the 2:07 barrier. Entering this meet the teen’s personal best rested at the 2:07.82 logged en route to winning the 2fly event at the 2022 Pan Pacific Championships.

Mitsui is now just the 5th Japanese woman ever to have produced a time in the 2:06 zone.

A minimum standard of 2:08.43 was needed for Fukuoka meaning Mitsui most likely qualified for her first World Championships squad. Makino also made the grade.

Mitsui now ranks #2 in the world behind World Junior Record holder Summer McIntosh of Canada.

Additional Winners

• Yukimi Moriyama touched in a time of 16:18.24 to top the women’s 1500m freestyle podium.
• The women’s 50m back saw Miki Takahashi get it done for gold in 28.22.