In October 15 year-old Rikako Ikee set a new junior world record in the women’s 50 butterfly and today at the Kitajima Cup in Tokyo she just missed setting her second junior world record by 15 one-hundredths of a second. Ikee won the women’s 100 freestyle in a time of 53.99 missing Shen Duo‘s record of 53.84.
Her time may not have broken the junior world mark, but it was good enough to set a new national record in the event. Ikee beat Haruka Ueda‘s record of 54.00 by one one-hundredth of a second.
Ikee also won the women’s 100 butterfly in a time of 58.07.
On the first day of the competition Kosuke Hagino won the men’s 400 IM in a time of 4:11.38 beating his old rival Daiya Seto by over a second. On the Sunday the two battled once again in the 200 IM this time the finish was much closer. Hagino took the event in a time of 1:57.73 followed by Seto who posted a 1:57.95.
Hagino’s time puts him third in the world rankings just behind Seto who posted a 1:57.72 in September.
2015-2016 LCM Men 200 IM
PHELPS
1.54.66
| 2 | Kosuke HAGINO | JPN | 1.55.07 | 04/08 |
| 3 | Ryan LOCHTE | USA | 1.56.22 | 07/01 |
| 4 | Shun WANG | CHN | 1.57.05 | 08/11 |
| 5 | Thiago PEREIRA | BRA | 1.57.11 | 08/10 |
Hagino was not the only man to record a time that ranks top five in the world Ippei Watanabe won the men’s 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:09.40 placing him fourth in the world rankings. He beat his season’s best of 2:09.94 which he recorded in October.
2015-2016 LCM Men 200 BREAST
PRENOT
2.07.17
| 2 | Ippei WATANABE | JPN | 2.07.22*OR | 08/09 |
| 3 | Dmitriy BALANDIN | KAZ | 2.07.46 | 08/10 |
| 4 | Marco KOCH | GER | 2.07.69 | 01/30 |
| 5 | Anton CHUPKOV | RUS | 2.07.70 | 08/10 |
Yasuhiro Koseki finished second in a time of 2:10.06 followed by Kosuke Kitajima who touched in a time of 2:10.31.
Sakiko Shimizu just missed the world’s top five in the women’s 200 IM winning the event in a time of 2:11.80 which puts her sixth in the world rankings.
Watanabe took the men’s meet MVP while Ikee won the award on the women’s side.
Japanese teens are used to being very fast very young. Especially on the girls’ side. Like in China. We’ll see how they’ll develop but they are serious talents in the making.
I’m going to blow my own trumpet a little and say ‘I told you so’ haha – Saw these big drops coming from Rikako, first in her Fly, now Free.
Much more to come from Rikako.