By Olivia Wile, Swimming World College Intern.
After a calm session yesterday, the third day of the 2019 Japanese Swimming Championships followed a similar pattern. Most of the top seeded swimmers won their respective events, with Katsuhiro Matsumoto kicking things with a finals win in the men’s 200m free, just off the national record. Also just off a national record was Yasuhiro Koseki in the final of the men’s 50m breaststroke.
Several women were under the Gwangju World A cut in the 1500m free, there were seemingly more ties today as well as a considerably-faster final of the women’s 100m breast.
Men’s 200m Freestyle Final
Katsuhiro Matsumoto claimed an easy victory today in the men’s 200m free. He finished over two seconds ahead of his competition and just off the national record with a time of 1:45.63. The record is set at 1:45.23, respectively.
Though seeded first after yesterday, Naito Ehara shares second place with Keisuke Yoshida. The men tied for second with a time of 1:48.19. Koutarou Takahashi finished third (1:48.56).
There was another tie in this event, but this time for fourth between Atsushi Fujiyama and Kaito Nakamura. The two touched just out of the 1:48 mark at a 1:49.05.
Reo Sakata placed seventh (1:49.38) with Ryo Saitou taking eighth (1:49.32).
Women’s 1500m Freestyle Final
It was Waka Kobori who took first in the women’s 1500m free final. She finished with a time of 16:11.00. Though off the Japanese national record, she is well under the worlds A cut of 16:32.04.
Yukimi Moriyama, Miyu Namba and Chinatsu Satou all swam A cut times as well. Moriyama finished second (16:13.74), Namba touched third (16:18.82) with Satou taking fourth (16:26.92).
Just off the cut was Aoi Nakamura placing fifth with a time of 16:32.23. Finishing sixth with a time of 16:43.34 was Asari Wada, seventh (16:48.38) went to Mia Yamamoto. Rio Akamine got to the wall eighth (16:52.67).
Men’s 50m Breaststroke Final
Yasuhiro Koseki got his hands to the wall first in the men’s 50m breaststroke final. He was only seven hundredths off the national record time, finishing with a 27.01.
A close second (27.54) and third (27.55) went to Ryuto Shioiri and Masaki Niiyama.
Taking fourth with a time of 27.58 was Hayato Watanabe, he finished third in the 100m yesterday. Yoshiki Yamanaka placed fifth (27.62) with Taku Taniguchi finishing sixth (27.69).
In seventh place with a time of 28.00 was Taishi Takada. Kouichirou Okazaki finished eighth (28.08).
Women’s 100m Backstroke Final
Finishing a sub-minute and taking first in the women’s 100m back final was Natsumi Sakai. Though off the national record of 58.70, her time today (59.98) is a Gwangju worlds A cut. Taking second with a time of 1:00.66. was Emi Moronuki.
Finishing third in the event with a time of 1:00.80 was Marina Furubayashi. Not far behind her was Anna Konishi touching fourth with a time of 1:00.85.
Just staying in the minute range was Sayaka Akase, placing fifth (1:00.99).
Sixth (1:01.54) went to Miki Takahshi, Miyuki Takemura placed seventh (1:01.85) and Zika Yuhara took eighth (1:01.98).
Men’s 100m Backstroke Final
The men swam a slower 100m back final today than in semi-finals yesterday. Top seed Ryosuke Irie finished first, as planned, with a time of 53.53. Hayate Mastubara and Masaki Kaneko touched a close second (54.51) and third (54.52).
Taking fourth with a time of 55.22 was Taishi Natsume, Syunya Nishimura finished fifth (55.24).
In sixth with a time of 55.29 was Yuuma Edo, Ryota Naitou took seventh (55.32) and Akira Nakanishi finished eighth (55.37).
Women’s 200m Freestyle Final
Both dropping about a second from their prelim times yesterday were Rio Shirai and Chihiro Igarashi. Shirai finished first with a time of 1:57.16 while Igarashi took second (1:57.88).
In third with a time of 1:58.26 was Tomomi Aoki, Nagisa Ikemoto took fourth (1:58.44).
Just breaking the two minute mark was Aoi Masuda finishing fifth with a time of 1:59.92. Sayaka Kashiwazaki placed sixth (2:00.11).
Natsuki Maruyama finished sixth (2:00.29) while Ito Haruno got to the wall eighth (2:00.81).
Men’s 200m Butterfly Semi-Final
The session winded down with the semi-final of the men’s 200m butterfly. Well ahead of his competitors and cruising to first with a time of 1:55.07 was Daiya Seto.
Daiki Tanaka was next one to the wall finishing at a 1:57.07. Not far behind were Masafumi Horomura, placing third (1:57.10) and Nao Horomura taking fourth (1:57.14).
Both finishing with a time of 1:57.27 and tying for fifth were Masayuki Umemoto and Takumi Terada.
Only a hundredth away from making a three-way tie was Masato Sakai finishing seventh (1:57.28). Yuuya Yajima placed eighth (1:57.33).
Women’s 100m Breaststroke Final
After a pretty calm session, the women’s 100m breast brought some excitement to the day. Finishing first with a time of 107.70 was Misaki Sekiguchi, she was seeded third going into finals. Pushing for first was second-place finisher Satomi Suzuki, she dropped some time from yesterday, finishing with a time of 1:07.75.
Also finishing in the 1:07 range were Mai Fukasawa, Miho Teramura and Reona Aoki. Third (1:07.88) went to Fukasawa, Teramura took fourth (1:07.92) and Aoki finished fifth (1:07.98). Aoki was the only woman to break 1:08 after semi-finals yesterday, going in as top seed today.
Finishing off the event was Shiori Asaba placing sixth (1:08.93). Manami Chida and Yukino Miyasaka finished seventh (1:09.09) and eighth (1:09.63).
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