2024 KONAMI OPEN
- Saturday, February 17th & Sunday, February 18th
- International Swimming Center, Chiba Prefecture
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview
- Results
The 2024 Konami Open kicked off in Japan today with the two-day affair taking place at the International Swimming Center within the Chiba Prefecture. The meet represents the last of three annual ‘K’ meets in Japan, with the Kosuke Kitajima Cup having taken place in January while last week the Kirara Cup concluded.
As in the past, the Konami Open has attracted some of the nation’s top talent, with Olympians and World Championships swimmers flocking to a chance for additional tune-ups ahead of the Japanese Swimming Championships. That meet, which is taking place in March as opposed to its usual month of April, represents the nation’s sole qualifying opportunity for swimmers to etch their names onto the roster for this summer’s Olympic Games.
Rising breaststroking star Yamato Fukasawa put on another show in the 200m distance, firing off a time that would have won gold at the World Championships taking place simultaneously in Doha.
Fukasawa stopped the clock in a head-turning result of 2:07.07 to get to the wall first.
That beat out former world record holder Ippei Watanabe who settled for silver over a second behind in 2:08.25. The pair represented the sole competitors in the race to get under 2:12.
Fukasawa opened in 1:01.89 and closed in 1:05.18 to establish the fastest time of his career. It was just last month at the Kosuke Kitajima Cup that this World University Games bronze medalist put up a personal best of 2:07.98. That marked his first-ever foray under the 2:08 barrier, destroying his previous PB of 2:08.92 in the process.
Comparing Fukasawa’s two recent outings, the ace attacked the first half much more aggressively, knocking well over half a second from that portion.
| New Personal Best – 2:07.07 | Old Personal Best – 2:07.98 |
| 1:01.89 | 1:02.61 |
| 1:05.18 | 1:05.37 |
Just like that, Fukasawa’s 2:07.07 rockets him up the Japanese all-time performers list to now rank 4th.
Top 5 Japanese Men’s LCM 200 Breaststroke Performers All-Time
- Shoma Sato – 2:06.40, 2021
- Ippei Watanabe – 2:06.67, 2017
- Akihiro Yamaguchi – 2:07.01, 2012
- Yamato Fukasawa – 2:07.07, 2024
- Yasuhiro Koseki – 2:07.18, 2017
Fukasawa is also now the 10th-best performer in history worldwide. Remarkably, Japanese men now represent 4 of the top 10 performers ever in this 2breast.
Top 10 Men’s LCM 200 Breaststroke Performers All-Time
- Qin Haiyang (CHN) – 2:05.48, 2023
- Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS) – 2:05.95, 2022
- Anton Chupkov (RUS) – 2:06.12, 2019
- Shoma Sato (JPN) – 2:06.40, 2021
- Leon Marchand (FRA) – 2:06.59, 2023
- Ippei Watanabe (JPN) – 2:06.67, 2017 & Matt Wilson (AUS) – 2:06.67, 2019
- –
- Arno Kamminga (NED) – 2:06.85, 2020
- Akihiro Yamaguchi (JPN) – 2:07.01, 2012
- Yamato Fukasawa (JPN) – 2:07.07, 2024
As mentioned, Fukasawa’s time this evening would have easily taken the gold in Doha where China’s Dong Zhihao topped the podium in 2:07.94. Japan did have a man in the race, with Ikuru Hiroshima placed 5th in a personal best of 2:09.37.
After the race this evening, Fukasawa told Hochi News, “I think I’m in the best shape in the Japanese swimming world right now.”
According to Sankei News, upon graduation from Keio University last spring, he reportedly only practiced 3-4 times a week while he worked in urban development.
Fukasawa now trains alongside Watanabe under the guidance of Naoki Takashiro in the hopes of making it a 1-2 squad punch for the Paris Games. The Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF)-mandated Olympic qualification time sits at a very doable 2:08.48.
He works full time for Tokyu Railways. First year employees usually work in many areas in the company in general. He works at a train station ( Tokyu Railways) with different shifts and managed training and good performances. Congrats!
Japanese 200 breaststrokers and appearing out of nowhere during an Olympic year, name a more iconic duo…
It’s amazing how much Shoma Sato has fallen off since the Olympic year
2:07. 206 and we got got a real conversation
Man I’m hype we already got a WR in THE EVENT and a unknown in another among other things, Paris will be goated
The question is: How many 2:06s are we going to see next month at Japanese Trials?
Probably one. But the real question is will they step up and deliver a 2:06 at Paris cuz for the last couple of years Japan has performed well at Trials and then underperformed at World Champs, Asian Games, and the Olympics.