Day 5 of the Japanese Olympic Trials saw, in four finals, a pair of Junior National Records go down (Jr. National records in Japan are fast); a National Record go down; and an all-time textile-best swim out of the man Kosuke Kitajima. What’s more peculiar, however, is the mix of success at this meet. Whileas some swimmers in the field are swimming extremely fast, others are really imploding, without much rhyme-or-reason to it.
Men’s 200 Breast
Sometimes, one just isn’t enough. In this men’s 200 breaststroke, both Kosuke Kitajima (2:08.00) and Ryo Tateishi (2:08.18) went under the old textile-best standard in this 200 breaststroke final, and both will be on the Olympic squad.
Kitajima, however, faded once again on this closing 50 – he finished in 33.8 as Tateishi (33.4) nearly ran him down in the closing 25 meters; this closing is something that has plagued Kitajima in recent years; we saw it last year at Worlds, where a half-second lead turned into a silver medal in the final. That’s a stark contrast to earlier in his career, where he would frequently come from behind to take victories. This is something that indicates both that he could be faster in London, or that he could be caught in London.
Tateishi’s time was the best of his career, and moved him to 7th on the all-time list (second-best in textile). It only cleared his previous-best by .08, but was a full two-seconds faster than he was in 2011.
The Japanese now have the three-fastest times in textile ever, but one might not know that on the basis of this swim. That’s because the previous title-holder, Naoya Tomita, finished only 6th in this race in 2:11.76. Compared to his 2:08.25 that was the best time in the world last year, that is a shocking time. Keep in mind that his old textile-best was done at this meet last year – so perhaps this was a case of a swimmer trying to avoid the same too-early peak who didn’t hit the right balance. Either way, this is more turnover from last year’s World Rankings – we’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff like this in the Olympic Year.
In third, the next generation of Japanese breaststroking, 17-year old Akihiro Yamaguchi, broke his own Junior National Record with a 2:09.70, which is the 4th-best time in the world this year.
Women’s 100 Free
Haruka Ueda took down the Japanese Record in this 100 free with a 54.00. When the Japanese set their standard at 54.07, it’s unlikely that they expected anyone to clear it, as no Japanese swimmer had even been close in the past – the old record was held by Misaka Yamaguchi in 54.37. This swim was half-a-second faster than Ueda was last season, and now gives the Japanese women a respectable relay anchor.
The Japanese at this meet have now broken the National Records in both the 100 fly (Yuka Kato 57.77) and 100 frees, which really shores up the back-half of the medley. Aya Terakawa was already awesome, but her 59.10 100 backstroke was another Japanese Record. Satomi Suzuki didn’t break a Japanese Record in her 100 breaststroke win, but is 2nd in the world this year. This was only a 5th-place relay at last year’s World Championships, but if these swimmers can all hit their best at the Olympics, then they could be medalists.
Ueda isn’t the only sprint free option emerging on the women’s side, however, as a very good 400 free relay seems to be emerging as well. Yayoi Matsumoto swam a solid 54.80 for 2nd, with 16-year old Miki Uchida breaking the Japanese Junior National Record with a 55.08.
Rounding out the relay will be Hanae Ito with a 55.10.
Men’s 100 Free
While the women shored-up their medley relay, the Japanese men are still looking for answers. Nobody was expected to be near the Olympic qualifying cut individually, but we were expecting much, much better than Takuro Fujii’s 49.20 win (slower than he was in the semi’s) and Shinri Shioura’s 49.65 for 3rd-place. Last year, the Japnese had three swimmers at 48.8 or better; this year, one didn’t even make it out of the prelims (Kenta Ito) didn’t even make it out of the prelims, while the other two, listed above, weren’t even close. It’s back to the drawing board for this relay, unless they expect that One of the swimmers mentioned above has a much-better time in them at the Olympics.
Men’s 200 Fly
Among the next-best options for that medley might be Takeshi Matsuda, who didn’t swim the 100 free as he was focused on the 200 fly – his best event. He won that race handily in 1:54.01, which is identical to his silver-medal-winning performance from last year’s World Championships and leads the world this year. He was followed by Kazuya Kaneda in 2nd in 1:55.39, which ranks him 4th in the world this year and puts him also on the Olympic Team.
But as for Matsuda, he had an outstanding 200 free, and has dropped the 400 free, which shows he’s really been working on his speed. One would guess that with a 1:45 in the 200 free, he would be capable of at least a 48.5 in the 100 – though with that, we would presume that Fujii’s 100 fly was better than his 100 free was.
I think Kenta Ito still has a slight chance to anchor the 400MR. He messed up badly in the 100 prelims, but he is looking to win the 50, and if they let him on the team, he is still their fastest 100 freestyler.
The level in breaststroke is incredible on the men’s and the women’s side. The young swimmers must copy japanese style in this stroke.
For me the time of Takeshi Matsuda in the 200 fly isn’t impressive. I was waiting for a much better time of him after his great 200 free. Nothing scary for Michael Phelps.
After these very bad times in the men’s 100 free I think Japan will put Takeshi Matsuda in the freestyle leg to finish the men’s 4X100 medley relay. I hope Michael Phelps will finish his fantastic career with a win. USA have two big opponents in this race, Japan and Australia. USA must be 1,5 second at the most behind Japan after… Read more »
That’s a big upset for Keneda, beating out Kobori, Sakata, and Sano. Just shows how deep Japan is in the 200 fly.