2020 JAPAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, October 17th & Sunday, October 18th
- Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Centre
- SCM (25m)
- Entries (in Japanese)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Results
One of our top 5 races to watch at these Japan Short Course Swimming Championships did not disappoint, as Katsuhiro (Katsuo) Matsumoto unleashed a new national record in the men’s 200m freestyle.
After playing it cool in this morning’s heats, hitting an AM swim of 1:45.20 to claim the 5th seed, the 23-year-old World Championships silver medalist blasted a huge new lifetime best of 1:42.10 to stand atop the podium.
Splitting 49.44/52.66, Matsumoto’s 1:42.10 tonight overtook the previous Japanese standard of 1:42.41, which Matsumoto held himself from his performance at this same meet last year. Splits for that previous lifetime best included 49.60/52.81.
Matsumoto’s time here now bumps him up on the all-time performers’ list to land in slot #32, tying Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski, but ahead of the likes of British world champion James Guy and co-bronze medalist in the 200m free last year in Gwangju Martin Malyutin of Russia.
The swim is also significant as Matsumoto is racing back after a positive anti-doping test scare from just a couple of months ago. You can read our original report here, which relays how the freestyle ace tested positive for a then-unnamed substance, albeit with barely detectable traces noted. FINA ruled that his test was a result of contaminated meat eaten while at a high-altitude camp in Mexico. Matsumoto was issued a warning.
Of note, producing a time of 1:44.08 for runner-up in tonight’s 200m free final was the young gun Konosuke Yanagimoto. At just 16 years of age, Yanagimoto’s outing checks-in as a new Japanese National High School Record. Look for a separate post on this explosive swim.
Is he not in Budapest yet? He still has to quarantine so he needs to leave soon.
Most of the Japanese and Toronto teams are arriving later, since they don’t race until week 2.
With regards to Japan, I presume that this was not accidental – it was to allow them to compete at this weekend’s meet and then travel.