Koseki Downs 50 Breast National Record On Third Night Of 2018 Japanese Nationals

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

Some of the biggest names in Japanese swimming are competing this week in the 2018 Japanese National Championships in Tokyo. They are racing to qualify for the Pan Pacs team as well as the Asian Games, Jr. Pan Pacs and the Youth Olympics. In the third day of competition the crowd saw another national record in the men’s 50 breast in addition to several near-misses. Check out the event lineup for the third day of the meet and full recap of each event below.

Day Three Events

Women’s 200 IM (Semi-final)
Men’s 200 IM (Semi-final)
Women’s 50 Freestyle (Semi-final)
Men’s 50 Freestyle (Semi-final)
Men’s 200 Butterfly (Semi-final)
Men’s 1500 Freestyle
Women’s 100 Backstroke
Women’s 100 Breaststroke
Men’s 50 Backstroke
Men’s 50 Breaststroke
Women’s 200 Freestyle
Men’s 200 Freestyle

Women’s 200 IM (Semi-final)

National record holder Yui Ohhashi was the first qualifier out of semi-finals with a 2:11.36, about three seconds faster than he 3rd seed out of prelims from earlier in the day. Just behind her were Miho Teramura with a 2:11.56 and Sakiko Shimizu with a 2:11.79, setting up for a potentially very close final.

Men’s 200 IM (Semi-final)

Olympic gold medalist and IM specialist Kosuke Hagino led all qualifiers through the semi-finals of the 200 IM, posting a top time of 1:57.70. Hagino is already a silver medalist at this meet in the 400 freestyle, but scratched the 200 free to presumably focus on the IM events. In second about one second back was Daiya Seto, who moved up from his 10th position after prelims.

Women’s 50 Freestyle (Semi-final)

17-year old Rikako Ikee is the top seed coming out of the 50 free semi-finals with a 24.75. Similar to Seto in the 200 IM she was only 10th out of the morning’s prelims but really put on the gas in semi-finals tonight to secure a middle lane for the final. Ikee was the only swimmer under 25 in the event, with Mayuka Yamamoto qualifying closest with a 25.48.

Men’s 50 Freestyle (Semi-final)

Shinri Shioura was the top qualifier out of semi-finals in the men’s 50 free with a 22.01, followed closely by national record holder Katsumi Nakamura who qualified second with a 22.10. Joining them in the middle of the pool will be Kosuke Matsui, who was just behind in 22.12 after posting a personal best 22.06 in the prelims to have the top seed coming into semis.

Men’s 200 Butterfly (Semi-final)

The men’s 200 butterfly looks to be a tight final, with the top three qualifiers all posting 1:55’s and the next two just a few tenths back. Swimming in the first heat, Daiya Seto swam to a strong 1:55.77 that would end up as the second seed by a tenth after a close second heat. Yuuya Yajima won that heat in 1:55.67 to become the top qualifier for tomorrow’s final. He finished just ahead of Nao Horomora (1:55.92) and Takumi Terada (1:56.04). Notably, Yajima was a 1:55.05 out of prelims, a best time and the fastest 200 fly of the meet so far.

Men’s 1500 Freestyle

Two men went under 15:00 in the final of the men’s 1500, with Syogo Takeda (14:55.42) and Ayatsugu Hirai (14:58.88). Takeda led the race the whole way, while Hirai used a strong back half to grab second. Takeda’s time was less than a second off of Kohei Yamamoto’s 2014 national record of 14:54.80. Yamamoto himself finished third in this race, touching in 15:05.06 to finish about 10 seconds back from the leader.

Women’s 100 Backstroke

Anna Konishi grabbed gold in the 100 backstroke with a 59.62 after finishing third earlier in the meet in the 50 back. Joining her under a minute in second was Natsumi Sakai, the champion in the 50 back on the first day of the meet, in 59.83, while Emi Moronuki was third in 1:00.52.

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

Reona Aoki blew away the field with a 1:05.90 in the women’s 100 breast, the only swimmer under 1:06. That was only .02 off of Kanako Watanabe’s national record of 1:05.88 from 2014. More than a half second back in second was Satomi Suzuki, who broke the national record in the 50 breast earlier in the meet, with a 1:06.52, followed by Watanabe in 1:06.60.

Men’s 50 Backstroke

Top seed Junya Koga was the champion in the men’s 50 backstroke, finishing in 24.56. That is about 3-tenths off of his own national record but it was still good for a win by nearly a second. The closest finisher to him was Hiroki Sakurai with a 25.44 followed by Junya Hasegawa in 25.52.

Men’s 50 Breaststroke

After a few near misses the crowd did see a national record come in the 50 breast, with Yasuhiro Koseki setting a new national mark of 27.12 to take gold. This is Koseki’s second gold of the meet after winning the 100 breast yesterday in 59.30. In second was Masaki Niiyama in 27.52 followed by Hayato Watanabe in third with a 27.56.

Women’s 200 Freestyle

Chihiro Igarashi won a close 200 free final, taking the win by two-tenths in 1:57.73. Igarashi was second going into the last 50 but finished strong to just zip by second place finisher Yui Ohhashi (1:57.97). That was Ohhashi’s second swim of the night after qualifying first through semi’s in the 200 IM. In third was Tomomi Aoki (1:58.14), while Aya Takano finished fourth (1:58.55).

Men’s 200 Freestyle

Katsuhiro Matsumoto took the top spot in the men’s 200 free with a 1:45.93. Similar to Igarashi in the women’s 200, Matsumoto was sitting second at the 150 but used a strong last 50 to best the field by 4-tenths of a second. In second was Naito Ehara in 1:46.35. Top seed Reo Sakata faded to third in the final (1:47.61), while Yuuki Kobori was fourth in 1:48.69.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use