Ippei Watanabe Posts 2:07.02 200 Breast To Take Rankings Crown From Qin Haiyang

2024 KOSUKE KITAJIMA CUP

• Friday, January 19th – Sunday, January 21
• Tokyo Aquatic Center
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Results
• Livestream

The 2024 Kosuke Kitajima Cup wrapped up today from the Tokyo Aquatic Center, the site of swimming action at the 2020 Olympic Games.

The 3-day competition represents one of three early 2024 meets, with both the annual Konami Open and Kirara Cup taking place next month. The trifecta of meets is just a warm-up for the all-important Japan Swim in March, the sole opportunity for Japanese swimmers to qualify for this year’s Olympics in Paris.

Staking his claim on a possible Olympic bid in the 200m breast was former World Record holder in the event Ippei Watanabe.

26-year-old Watanabe crushed a time of 2:07.02 to get to the wall first, grabbing the gold by nearly a second.

Watanabe opened in 1:01.20 and closed in 1:05.82 to get the job done, coming within half a second of his best-ever and former WR of 2:06.67 from 2017. His effort this evening checks in as the 3rd-quickest result of his career.

Also putting up a super solid swim was Yamato Fukasawa, the 2023 World University Games bronze medalist.

Fukasawa stopped the clock in 2:07.98, hacking nearly a second off his previous career-quickest time of 2:08.92 logged at last year’s World Trials. He now becomes Japan’s 7th-fastest man in history in this 200m breast event.

Also landing on the podium was Yu Hanaguruma. The silver medalist at the 2022 World Championships turned in a time of 2:08.04 to round out the podium. He owns a lifetime best of 2:07.99, so tonight’s performance was just a hair off that mark.

Entering this Kosuke Kitajima Cup, Watanabe held steady as the #2 swimmer in the world, courtesy of the 2:07.70 put up at last month’s Japan Open. However, his 2:07.02 now usurps China’s Qin Haiyang to wear the world rankings crown.

The Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) has set the Olympic qualifying standard at 2:08.48, therefore, all 3 finishers easily cleared that benchmark. However, throw Ryuya Mura, Shoma Sato and yet-to-break-out athletes and there’s no sure thing in terms of who will wind up in the top 2 slots to make it to Paris.

Doubling up on her 400m IM victory from last night, Olympic champion Yui Ohashi got it done for gold in the women’s 200m IM. This is another confidence boost for the 28-year-old who has seen the likes of 16-year-old Mio Narita steal the domestic spotlight as of late.

Tonight, 28-year-old Ohashi touched in a time of 2:10.71 to just get the edge over Shiho Matsumoto who settled for silver in 2:10.86. The duo was well ahead of the pack, with the next-closest competitor represented by Chiaki Yamamoto who logged 2:14.35 for bronze.

Ohashi was 2:11.08 at December’s Japan Open, so her swim this evening shaved enough time off to bump her up in the season’s world rankings to slot #14, just behind Narita’s 2:10.70.

A time of 2:10.70 has been determined as the Olympic qualification standard by the JASF.

Katsuhiro Matsumoto completed his trifecta of victories as the 26-year-old Olympian topped the men’s 100m fly podium.

After winning the 100m free and 200m free races already here, Matsumoto put up a time of 51.28 as the gold medalist in the 100m fly.

Tomoru Honda, the 200m fly victor here, nabbed silver in 51.49 while Takeshi Kawamoto bagged bronze in 51.58. The top 5 finishers in this event were all under the 52-second barrier.

Matsumoto is the reigning 100m fly Asian Games champion, having notched a time of 51.13 in Hangzhou.

An Olympic qualification standard of 51.43 has been set by the JASF so the competitors at March’s Japan Swim will indeed need to bring their A-game to capture a roster spot.

Additional Notes

• The men’s 200m IM saw Tomoyuki Matsushita score the win, posting a time of 1:58.66. Kaito Tabuchi was next to the wall in 1:59.83 while Riki Abe turned in 1:59.92 as the only other athlete under 2:00.
• Mizuki Hirai powered her way to a women’s 100m fly victory, hitting 57.79. That beat out Ai Soma who touched in 58.21 and Nagisa Ikemoto who logged 58.37. Hirai’s time renders her Japan’s 6th-fastest female in history.
• The women’s 50m free saw Yume Jinno produce a time of 25.44 for the gold.
• Koshiro Sakai got it done for gold in the men’s 50m free, registering 22.14. That eked out the victory over Shinri Shioura who was relegated to runner-up in 22.15 while Masahiro Kawane also landed on the podium in 22.35.
• Kanako Watanabe snagged gold in the women’s 200m breast in a time of 2:23.97. That’s just off the 2:23.66 turned in at the Japan Open to rank the 27-year-old 7th in the world at the moment.