Kanako Watanabe had the highlight swim of an incredibly fast night at the Japan Swim 2015. \u00a0Watanabe moved to the top of the world rankings in the women’s 200-meter IM with a Japanese record.<\/p>\n
Daiya Seto won the men’s 200-meter fly in a world-best time of 1:54.63. \u00a0He cleared Leonardo de Deus’ 1:55.19 from the Maria Lenk Trophy meet to stand on the top of the rankings with his victory. \u00a0Masato 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.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0Yayoi Matsumoto placed second in 25.19 with Rikako Ikee taking down her Japanese junior record again with a third-place 25.28.<\/p>\n
Shinri Shioura picked up the men’s 50-meter free title in 22.15. \u00a0Katsumi Nakamura touched second in 22.34 with Kenta Ito earning third in 22.48.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0Watanabe posted a 2:09.81 tonight, lowering her 2:10.58 set to win silver in the event at the 2014 Asian Games. \u00a0That performance moved her ahead of Siobhan Marie O’Connor’s 2:10.12 from the Edinburgh International meet for the top in the world. \u00a0Sakiko Shimizu took second tonight in 2:11.96 with Rika Ohmoto rounding out the top three in 2:12.14.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0That swim bettered his previous world best of 1:57.01 from the Tokyo City Championships. \u00a0Daiya 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. \u00a0Hiromasa Fujimori placed third tonight in 1:58.14 to move to third in the world. \u00a0Keita Sunama took fourth tonight in 1:58.64 and now stands sixth in the world rankings as well.<\/p>\n
Natsumi Hoshi paced the women’s 200-meter fly semis with a time of 2:09.12. \u00a0That put her 12th in the world rankings. \u00a0Yai Watanabe clocked a second-seed time of 2:10.73 with Haruno Ito taking third with a 2:10.96.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0Yuki 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.<\/p>\n
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. \u00a0Meanwhile, Ippei Watanabe downed his own FINA World Junior record with a second-seeded 2:09.89. \u00a0That performance cleared his previous mark of 2:10.23 from Tokyo last summer, and moved him to second in the world. \u00a0Ryo Tateishi claimed the third seed in 2:10.45 for fifth in the world rankings.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n