2016 Konami Open Meet Preview: Hagino Tries On 200 Backstroke

2016 KONAMI OPEN

• Saturday, February 20th – Sunday, February 21st
• Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo, Japan
• Prelims at 9am local (7pm previous night EST)/Finals at 6pm local (4am EST)
• Meet Site
• Start Lists/Results

With psych sheets released for the 2016 Kanomi Open, swim enthusiasts can start getting excited about seeing their favorite Japanese swim stars throw it down in one of the final meets leading up to their Olympic Trials in April. In this unique meet at the Tatsumi International Swimming Center in Tokyo, age group student-athletes share the stage with national team members, as 995 swimmers are set to compete in the nationally televised event.

Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Junya Koga appears on the entry lists in his signature sprint events, including the 50m/100m backstroke and 50m/100m freestyle races. Koga holds his nation’s 50m backstroke record with the 24.24 he clocked at 2009’s World Championships and he also sits as the current U.S. Open Record Holder in the event. Koga’s 24.50 was the mark he registered at a time trial last July in Athens, Georgia to swim the fastest time ever on American soil.

Koga recently made news with some heavy-duty swims at his Club Wolverine Elite home pool of Canham Natatorium.  While competing in exhibition swims earlier this month, Koga clocked an unofficial pool record in the 100 yard backstroke with a blistering 45.08, a mark which sits just outside the top 10 swims ever. Koga also scored an unofficial time of 19.08 in the 50 yard freestyle.

Current Japanese 100m freestyle National Record Holder Katsumi Nakamura will be in the sprint events’ field against Koga and others, as he’s set to contest the 100m and 50m freestyle races at the meet. Although relatively quiet since, Nakamura started 2015 off with a bang in the form of his unexpected 48.41 shiny new Japanese National Record in the 100m free back in May at the Japan Open. That time stayed within the world’s top 15 for 2015, although Nakamura wouldn’t make it out of the heats at last year’s World Championships. His highest finish at that meet was 13th out of semi-finals in the 50m freestyle.

The women sprinters will also be in full force in Tokyo, as Rikako Ikee and Miki Uchida are slated to battle it out across the shorter freestyle events, with Ikee also swimming the 200m freestyle.  Although her nation’s record holder in the 100m butterfly, Ikee will try on the freestyle events for size, while Uchida still holds Japan’s national record in the 50m free at 24.96. Recently-minted 100m freestyle national record holder, Rie Kaneto (53.99) will not be in Tokyo, according to the psych sheets.

Mainstay Japanese breastkstroker Kosuke Kitajima is scheduled to appear in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events for the men, while 200m butterfly World Champion, Hoshi Natsumi, will be leading the charge in that event at the meet.

The fiercest duel is set to take place in the men’s 400m IM event, however, where dynamic aces Daiya Seto and countryman Kosuke Hagino are set to go head-to-head once again. The pair’s season-best times are separated by less than a second, with Hagino leading the duo with his blistering mark of 4:11.38 thrown down at the Kitajima Cup just last January. For Seto, his best mark thus far this season is his 4:12.10 he scored at the Japanese Intercollegiate Championships last September. The men currently sit as the top two swimmers in the world in the event.

Seto is also slated to swim the pair’s other top race, the 200m IM, in addition to swimming his 200m butterfly pet event. But, Hagino is foregoing the shorter IM in favor of the 200m backstroke. This falls in line with what we reported earlier this month in terms of Hagino’s anticipated Olympic Trials schedule, as told by his coach, Norimasa Hirai.

Hirai stated that the Olympic medalist will be targeting the 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 free and 200 back for Trials, but did insert a caveat that, if Hagino were to scratch one race, the 200m backstroke would be the one to get the ax. With the 200 back and 200m IM falling on the same day at Trials and in Rio, it is indeed tough to pull out a magnificent double, having proven taxing for even the best of swimmers, such as Ryan Lochte circa 2012.

With Hagino opting for the 200m backstroke here in Tokyo, the 21-year-old is no doubt seeing where his speed is at in that event to keep weighing the option to swim or not to swim the race come April’s Trials.