Kosuke Hagino Advances to Semifinals of 200 Freestyle at Japanese Olympic Trials

Kosuke Hagino Advances to Semifinals of 200 Freestyle at Japanese Olympic Trials

One of the big names missing from the opening day of the Japanese Olympic Trials was Kosuke Hagino, the reigning champion in the 400-meter individual medley. Rather than defend that title, Hagino has shifted his attention to other events on the program, including an appearance in the 200 freestyle.

So, his debut at the meet didn’t come until Sunday morning, at which point Hagino had no trouble advancing to the semifinal round of the 200 free with a third-place prelim time of 1:48.63. The top time of the preliminaries was posted by Konosuke Yanagimoto, who covered his four laps in 1:47.79, while second went to Katsuhiro Matsumoto in 1:48.49. Matsumoto is the reigning silver medalist in the event from the 2019 World Championships.

For Hagino, who took time away from the sport due to depression, the decision to scrap the 400 medley was a surprise. However, the veteran is talented enough to qualify for the Olympic Games in his other three events. In addition to the 200 freestyle, Hagino is also entered in the 200 individual medley and the 200 backstroke.

Satomi Suzuki established herself as the pacesetter in the women’s 100 breaststroke when she delivered a prelim outing of 1:07.26, ahead of the 1:07.51 of Reona Aoki. Two other women dipped under the 1:08 barrier in the morning, as Miho Teramura went 1:07.73 and Kanako Watanabe touched the wall in 1:07.84.

Veteran Ryosuke Irie had no trouble moving into the semifinals of the men’s 100 backstroke. A longtime presence on the international scene, Irie checked in at 53.53 for the only effort under 54 seconds. Qualifying second was Masaki Kaneko in 54.38.

The preliminaries of the women’s 100 backstroke were quiet, with Natsumi Sakai going 1:00.88 for the fastest time heading into the semifinals. She was followed in the No. 2 position by Emi Moronuki (1:00.92), with third place going to Rio Shirai (1:00.16). The women’s 400 freestyle was led by Miyu Namba in 4:09.14.

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