2024 Japan Olympic Trials
The 2024 Japan Olympic Trials have entered their fifth day, officially marking the halfway point of the competition. A short qualifying session took place in Japan this morning, with only four events being covered: women's 200m breaststroke, men's 200m backstroke, women's 200m butterfly and women's 50m backstroke.
33 years old in women's 200 chest heat Satomi Suzuki He set the fastest time of 2:25.80. Earlier this week, Suzuki beat her lifetime best in the women's 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:05.91, qualifying her for Paris.
Suzuki has focused on sprinting in recent years, but the 200m was once her best event. At the 2012 London Olympics, she won a bronze medal in the 100m chest dash (1:06.46) and a silver medal in the 200m dash (2:20.92).
Yumeno Kusada He recorded a time of 2:26.33 in qualifying and was second fastest on his way to winning the final heat. The 18-year-old boasted a best time of 2:25.70 at the event, and she may have her sights set on it once the semi-finals are over.
27 years old Kanako Watanabewas world champion in 2015, but ran into a 2:26.47 barrier heading into the next round and finished third overall. She ran the event in a time of 2:20.90, a time she recorded before the 2015 World Championships.multipurpose Runa ImaiHe is only 23 years old and finished 4th in 2:26.78. Imai recorded a career-best 2:22.98 in this event, and although she also specializes in various other events, she chose to focus on breaststroke this year.
Imai’s additional best time:
- 50 Freestyle — 24.93
- 100 Freestyle — 54.82
- 100 Breaststroke — 1:06.91
- 200 minutes — 2:09.99
- 400 minutes — 4:41.52
Shuichi Takehara (1:56.90) was the fastest men's 200-meter backstroker in qualifying, stopping the clock on his only sub-1:57 attempt. For Takehara, this was a new best time, 0.03 seconds faster than his previous best time set almost exactly one year ago. More importantly, his time in the heats is already below Japan's Olympic qualifying time of 1:56.92, and with two rounds left he appears to be on the right track.
A backstroke legend who missed the qualification standard in the 100m Ryosuke Irie This morning he placed 2nd with a time of 1 minute 58.82 seconds. Irie, 34, currently holds Japanese records in both the 100 backstroke (52.21 seconds) and 200 backstroke (1 minute 52.54 seconds). He produced both of these records in his 2009.
The women's 200 fly race was led by Airi Mitsui, I hit the wall at 2:09.59. She was the only competitor to enter the sub-2:10 area. Chiho Mizuguchi (2:10.16) and Tanikawa Swallowtail (2:10.58) The only other individual less than 2:11.
Mitsui, who is only 19 years old, set a lifetime best time of 2:06.77 at the event, which was lower than the qualifying time of 2:07.95 set by Swimming Japan. She won the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championship title (2:07.82) in this event and finished fifth in the 2023 World Championship finals (2:07.15).
Mizuguchi recorded a time of 2:08.22 at the 2022 World Championship Trials and is vying to improve his qualifying time.
Women's 50 Back Heat has concluded the session. Miki Takahashi (28.56) Cleared the field by 0.11. At the Fukuoka World Championships last July, he ran a time of 27.84 seconds in this event, finishing 14th. This time still stands as her lifetime best and makes her a strong contender for tonight's final.
Hikaru Yamazaki (28.67) and Misato Sasaki (28.68) passed the qualifying round in second and third place behind Takahashi, respectively. Yamazaki narrowly missed the best time of 28.46 seconds, but Sasaki was about three-tenths short of the 28.36 he set at the World Junior Championships in September.
