Kanako Watanabe Downs Japanese Record, Ippei Watanabe Lowers World Junior Mark

Kanako Watanabe Pan Pacs 2014
Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

Kanako Watanabe had the highlight swim of an incredibly fast night at the Japan Swim 2015.  Watanabe moved to the top of the world rankings in the women’s 200-meter IM with a Japanese record.

Daiya Seto won the men’s 200-meter fly in a world-best time of 1:54.63.  He cleared Leonardo de Deus’ 1:55.19 from the Maria Lenk Trophy meet to stand on the top of the rankings with his victory.  Masato Sakai took second in 1:55.23 to move to third in the world with Takeshi Matsuda placing third tonight in 1:56.02 for ninth in the rankings. Yuya Yajima posted a 1:56.47 to move to 10th in the world as well with his fourth-place time.

Miki Uchida followed up her Japanese record in semis in the women’s 50-meter free (24.97) with a 25.01 to win the finale tonight.  Yayoi Matsumoto placed second in 25.19 with Rikako Ikee taking down her Japanese junior record again with a third-place 25.28.

Shinri Shioura picked up the men’s 50-meter free title in 22.15.  Katsumi Nakamura touched second in 22.34 with Kenta Ito earning third in 22.48.

Kanako Watanabe downed her own Japanese record in the women’s 200-meter IM as she broke through the 2:10 barrier for the first time and moved to the top of the world rankings.  Watanabe posted a 2:09.81 tonight, lowering her 2:10.58 set to win silver in the event at the 2014 Asian Games.  That performance moved her ahead of Siobhan Marie O’Connor’s 2:10.12 from the Edinburgh International meet for the top in the world.  Sakiko Shimizu took second tonight in 2:11.96 with Rika Ohmoto rounding out the top three in 2:12.14.

Kosuke Hagino became the first man under 1:57 this year in the men’s 200-meter IM with a 1:56.30 for the win.  That swim bettered his previous world best of 1:57.01 from the Tokyo City Championships.  Daiya Seto, who had already been second in the world with a 1:58.27, cut a load of time off his season best with a second-ranked 1:56.82.  Hiromasa Fujimori placed third tonight in 1:58.14 to move to third in the world.  Keita Sunama took fourth tonight in 1:58.64 and now stands sixth in the world rankings as well.

Natsumi Hoshi paced the women’s 200-meter fly semis with a time of 2:09.12.  That put her 12th in the world rankings.  Yai Watanabe clocked a second-seed time of 2:10.73 with Haruno Ito taking third with a 2:10.96.

Ryosuke Irie, who already owns the top time in the world this year in the men’s 200-meter back with a 1:54.62 from the BHP Super Series, led the way in semis of that event tonight in 1:55.73.  Yuki Shirai finished second in 1:58.08 for the second seed with Masaki Kaneko posting a third-seeded time of 1:58.46. Shirai (8th) and Kaneko (11th) each moved into the top 15 in the world.

Yasuhiro Koseki vaulted to the top of the world rankings with a blazing time of 2:09.73 in the men’s 200-meter breast semis. That swim pushed him past Marco Koch’s previous best of 2:10.10 from the Amiens stop of the Golden Tour.  Meanwhile, Ippei Watanabe downed his own FINA World Junior record with a second-seeded 2:09.89.  That performance cleared his previous mark of 2:10.23 from Tokyo last summer, and moved him to second in the world.  Ryo Tateishi claimed the third seed in 2:10.45 for fifth in the world rankings.

Overall, Japan dominated the top 10 in the world rankings in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke as Kazuki Kohinata (2:10.60), Hayato Watanabe (2:10.61), Akihiro Yamaguchi (2:10.80) and Yukihiro Takahashi (2:10.93) all clocked in with 2:10s to make the top 10 in the world.

In the women’s 800-meter free prelims, Chinatsu Satou posted the top time of 8:38.11. Yuna Kikuchi clocked a second-seeded 8:43.00.

2015 Japan Swim, Day Four – Results

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Aleksandra
Aleksandra
8 years ago

Hello

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