61st JAPANESE NATIONAL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL C’SHIPS
- Tuesday, August 17th – Thursday, August 19th
- Chiba International Swimming Center
- LCM (50m)
- Results (in Japanese)
On the final day of action at the 61st Japanese National Junior High School Championships, a longstanding women’s 400m freestyle record bit the dust.
Getting to the wall first for Musashino Junior High School was Ruko Takezawa, who stopped the clock in a time of 4:10.56 to take the 400m free title. In doing so, Takezawa wiped out the national junior high school record of 4:11.44, a mark that has been on the books since 1991 when Suzu Chiba took bronze at that year’s World Championships. As such, the teen just took down a record that’s been around for 30 years.
Entering this meet, 15-year-old Takezawa’s personal best rested at the 4:11.74 she put up as just a 14-year-old at the Japanese Olympic Trials in April. That time rendered Takezawa as the 4th place finisher in the event.
With her time here in Chiba tonight, the teen becomes Japan’s 11th fastest 400m freestyle performer of all time.
Splits for Takezawa’s performance are as follows: 59.39/1:03.62/1:03.91/1:03.64.
For perspective, her 4:10.56 time would render Takezawa as the 25th fastest American 15-16-year-old performer in history, with the Japanese budding star having just turned 15 on August 5th.