Watch Rikako Ikee’s 24.33 50 Free World Junior Record Race Video

72ND NATIONAL SPORTS FESTIVAL OF JAPAN

Yesterday while competing at the 72nd National Sports Festival of Japan, young Olympian Rikako Ikee lowered her own national record and World Junior Record in the women’s 50m freestyle. Producing a super quick time of 24.33, Ikee took gold by almost a solid second and added the victory to her 100m free win from day 1.

We reported how this annual meet is typically a 3-day affair, but was reduced to just 2 days this year due to monsoon. Note in the race video below how the competitors are battling wind and rain, yet Ikee persevered and took her 50 free to new heights.

 

As originally reported:

While competing at this weekend’s National Sports Festival of Japan, 17-year-old sprinter Rikako Ikee lowered her own national record and World Junior Record in the 50m freestyle.

Entering the 72nd edition of this Festival, Ikee’s personal best and national record stood at the 24.48 she produced at the Konami Open earlier this year. At the time, that mark represented the World Junior Record, but Ikee hacked another .15 off of that outing to win the 50m free event tonight in a monster 24.33, the only sub-25 mark of the field.

At just 17 years of age, Ikee holds the Japanese national LCM records across the 50m/100m/200m freestyle and 50m/100m butterfly events. Her most recent international competitions include both the Senior and Junior World Championships this past summer. At the former, Ikee was able to score a sub-25 outing in the 50m free semi-finals with a mark of 24.94 to finish 16th in the event. Her highest finish in Budapest came in the form of her 100m butterfly time of 57.08 that rendered her in 6th place in that race final.

In Indy, Japan’s golden girl nabbed 3 individual World Junior titles, taking the top prize in the 50m fly (25.46), 100m butterfly (57.25) and the 50m freestyle in 24.59.

With the Tokyo Olympics now just over 1000 days away, Ikee’s trajectory has the teen on a path towards host country glory come 2020.

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Springbrook
6 years ago

Interesting that even in an all-Japanese competition, the starter says “Take your mark” in English.

RETTA
Reply to  Springbrook
6 years ago

Yes, it’s something the JPN swimming fed implemented as of this past April – https://swimswam.com/japanese-federation-changes-english-starting-block-cue-words/

Lone star
Reply to  Springbrook
6 years ago

I love the fact the Japanese swimmers bow to the officials (and timers) before and after their race.

marklewis
6 years ago

How high a profile does Olympic swimming have in Japan? How does it rank among all the Olympic sports?

It looks like she got out of the water and the TV interviewer was right there to get her reaction to the 24.33 time.

Steve Swims
6 years ago

Truly unbelievable! That beats most of the guy’s times.

NEWTOSWIMSWAM
Reply to  Steve Swims
6 years ago

Very fast for a lady and younger boys, but faster than “most” guys?? Even for 18u boys, at least 300 were faster in the USA SWIM database alone in the past season.

Just sayin
Reply to  NEWTOSWIMSWAM
6 years ago

That’s a jr nats cut in the 50 free for men I would confidently say it is faster than most guys.

NEWTOSWIMSWAM
Reply to  NEWTOSWIMSWAM
6 years ago

It was NOT boys’ jrnat cut (24:09). Do you know how many 18u US boys swam between 24.09 and 24.33 just this past season? 130!! One needs to define the group of “guys” clearly – competive swimmers? age group? which country? guys with similar age who have been trained like her? … One has to prepare apples to apples. If not, one could say an average 14 yr old competive female swimmer would be faster than most guys (swimmers or not), but would NOT be faster than most 14yr old competitive male swimmers.

NEWTOSWIMSWAM
Reply to  NEWTOSWIMSWAM
6 years ago

Typo – *compare* apples to apples…

Speaking of fair comparison, in the same meet, Ikee’s male counterparts’ (Junior Group A) 50m FR top 8 times were: 23.01/06/44/57/77/80/89, and 24.11.

sven
6 years ago

We’ll see how she progresses over the next three years, but she’s looking like a likely candidate for the podium in Tokyo. Gonna be a real feat for her to get a gold, though, seeing as she shares her events with Sjostrom, but a lot can happen in three years.

Murica
Reply to  sven
6 years ago

200 Free if Ledecky keeps slowing down and Ruck and the Aussies keeps choking and Ikee works more on endurance??

Dee
Reply to  Murica
6 years ago

Lots of “ifs”, buts and maybe’s in that scenario. Ledecky had a lacklustre post-Olympic season, which coincided with her first year at University 2000mi away from home. I think she handled herself hugely impressively this year and expect her back to her best soon enough, maybe not 2018 as it takes some longer than others to adapt. Ruck is nowhere near where the action is over 200fr yet, and her freestyle hasn’t showed the same big drops as her backstroke, so a bit premature to put her name in the hat. McKeon is the only Aussie contender, and I don’t think we can say she choked, she got into a scrap with Ledecky and Pellegrini outraced them all (Again).

Murica
Reply to  Dee
6 years ago

Worlds isn’t Lympics, and I reckon Ruck will have huge times dropped in multiple events by Tokyo… just don’t know if we’ll see them at the games.

Lone star
6 years ago

I did not realize she could only swim in the age restricted races…this final was for high school 11-12th graders. They seem to devide into three age groups- B (9-10th graders), A (11-12 graders) and College and up. Even though it is a national competition that the states compete among another( each state send their representatives), Ikee swam in the junior national setting with this time. Wow!

aquajosh
6 years ago

Outdoor pool, in the rain, swimming against the wind. Impressive.

Wallaby
6 years ago

Wow. She did it in a outdoor pool while it was raining. Pretty impressive. Is this the pool where Akihiro Yamaguchi went 2:07.01?

Lone star
Reply to  Wallaby
6 years ago

No. I believe that was Gifu- it seems Japan has so many outdoor/indoor 50 m pools. I heard even most of elementary schools have 25m pool on campus for their PE.

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Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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