JAPAN SWIM 2017 (JAPANESE NATIONALS)
- Thursday, April 13th – Sunday, April 16th, 2017
- NGK Arena, Nagoya, Japan
- Qualification Meet for 2017 World Championships, World University Games and World Junior Championships
- Prelims at 9:30am local/8:30pm (night before) EDT; Finals at 6pm local/5am EDT
- Meet Information
- Entry List (in Japanese)
- JPN Qualifying Time Tiers
- Live Stream
- Live Results
Three national records fell on day 2 of the 2017 Japan Swim, but by far the most impressive was the women’s 400m IM. Yui Ohhashi has been on the medley scene for a while, scoring a bronze in the event at this same meet last year, while claiming 200m IM gold at the 2016 Asian Swimming Championships, but she set herself apart in Nagoya.
The 22-year-old took things to a new level in the longer distance tonight, blasting a time of 4:31.42 to not only win gold in a World Championships-qualifying time but slash almost 3 seconds ahead of the previous national record. That NR was set at the Rio Olympic Games by tonight’s silver medalist Sakiko Shimizu, at 4:34.66.
In tonight’s race, Ohhashi finished more than 6 seconds ahead of Shimizu to clock a speedy enough time that would it have earned bronze in Rio ahead of Spain’s Mireia Belmonte. As it stands after tonight, Ohhashi now sits atop the world rankings throne in the event by a large margin, establishing herself as a potential minor medal power behind Hungary’s Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu in Budapest if she can replicate her same performance.
All Asian swimmers are still chasing the elusive 4:28.43 of Ye Shiwen from 2012 that still stands as the Asian continental record.
2016-2017 LCM WOMEN 400 IM
HOSSZU
4.29.33
| 2 | yui OHHASHI | JPN | 4.31.42 | 04/14 |
| 3 | Mireia BELMONTE | ESP | 4.32.17 | 07/30 |
| 4 | Sydney PICKREM | CAN | 4.32.88 | 07/30 |
| 5 | Leah SMITH | USA | 4.33.86 | 06/29 |
Of her race tonight, Ohhashi said, “I’m happy, but shocked myself at the same time. The world championships have been a goal of mine all along.”
Splits for Ohhashi:
1:01.69
1:08.30
1:18.35
1:03.08
Whoa . Japanese ladies doing very well . Whilst they don’t have any backstrokers – here is a 68.3 on the 400 Im . Emily Seebohm only ever does 33 in the 200 . There are definite advantages to not weighing as much for girls in IM .