17-Year-Old Mizuki Hirai Logs 57.23 100 Fly During Day One Heats of Japan Olympic Trials

2024 JAPANESE OLYMPIC TRIALS

• Sunday, March 17th – Sunday, March 24th
• Tokyo Aquatics Center
• LCM (50m)
• Japan’s Olympic Selection Criteria
• Entries
• SwimSwam Entries Post
• Preview #1 /Preview #2
• Live Results
• Livestream

The first preliminary session of the 2024 Japanese Olympic Trials is in the books. Heats of the women’s 100 butterfly, men’s 100 breaststroke, women’s 400 freestyle, men’s 400 freestyle, and men’s 50 backstroke all took place, with some fast markers thrown down already.

17-year-old Mizuki Hirai dropped a massive personal best time to lead all qualifiers in the women’s 100 fly, checking-in at 57.23. Her previous best time stood at 58.03, which she put on the books at the Japan Open in December. Hirai scored bronze at the World Junior Championships in September, where she stopped the clock in 58.35. Hirai’s prelim swim also undercuts the Japanese Swimming Federation’s Paris qualifying time of 57.34.

Rikako Ikee also broke 58 seconds this morning, logging a respectable effort of 57.54. The time by Ikee is her fastest since returning to the sport after battling Leukemia, which is promising news for the sprinter training under Michael Bohl in Australia. Ikee is the Japanese record holder in this event with her best time of 56.08, which she recorded en route to gold at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships.

Ikee competed last month at a meet in Australia, the Victorian Open Championships, where she clipped Emma McKeon en route to winning the 50 fly (25.84). She also posted times of 25.51 in the 50 free, 55.45 in the 100 free, and 58.40 in the 100 fly. Her time this morning is almost a full second quicker than she was in the 100 fly last month.

Ai Soma, who will be one of the frontrunners once finals roll around, was 57.84 for 3rd place status heading into semifinals. She owns a best time of 57.42, which she clocked at the 2023 National Championships. Soma earned a silver medal at September’s Asian Games, finishing in a time of 57.57 there.

Taku Taniguchi was the swiftest men’s 100 breaststroker during the heats, finishing with a time of 59.82. The 22-year-old Chukyo University representative has been as quick as 59.72 in the event, a time he posted back in September. Rising star Yamato Fukasawa also cracked the 1:00-barrier this morning in 59.94. Fukasawa recently fired off a 2:07.07 in 200m breaststroke just last month, and will be among that hotly-contested field this week as well.

Ippei Watanabe, who previously held the 200 breast world record, sits 3rd heading into the finals with his 1:00.15 prelim marker. He owns a best time of 59.52 in this 100m sprint, but has fancied the 200 more over the course of his career. Yu Hanaguruma, who claimed silver at the 2023 National Championships, hit the wall in 1:00.27.

Shoma Sato, the only active Japanese swimmer to have swum under the 59.26 qualification standard, placed 23rd this morning in 1:01.38.

Waka Kobori stole the show in the women’s 400 free heats, claiming the top qualification spot in 4:08.72. She has a best time of 4:05.57, which she produced on home soil at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The only other competitor to break the 4:10-barrier was Miyu Namba, who put her hand on the wall in 4:09.46. Namba, like Kobori, has swum in the 4:05-realm before, owning a best time of 4:05.25. The time required for an Olympic berth is 4:05.34, so both will need to challenge their personal bests tonight.

On the men’s 400 free side of things, Kenta Ozaki made his presence known with the fastest time (3:50.33), but Asaki Nishikawa (3:50.41) and Ikki Imoto (3:50.55) follow closely behind. They’ll all have to drop significant time tonight, as they Japanese Olympic standard rests at 3:45.85.

In men’s 50 back action, 19 swimmers dipped under the 26-second threshold, with Riku Matsuyama topping all qualifiers in 25.12. Matsuyama recently posted a best time in the 100 backstroke (53.84) distance, outpacing legend Ryosuke Irie at the recent Kosuke Kitajima Cup. 36-year-old national record holder, Junya Koga (25.64), swam the 4th fastest time of the morning.

The 100 fly for women and 100 breast for men will feature semifinals later in the day, while finals will be held for the 400s in just a few hours time. The 50 back will not have semifinals, as the Japanese Swimming Federation has opted to make it a straight heats to finals progression instead.