2024 Japanese Olympic Trials: Ohashi Not A Sure Thing To Take 400 IM Slot

2024 JAPANESE OLYMPIC TRIALS

• Sunday, March 17th – Sunday, March 24th
• Tokyo Aquatics Center
• LCM (50m)
• Japan’s Olympic Selection Criteria
• Entries
• SwimSwam Entries Post

With the 2024 Japanese Olympic Trials kicking off Sunday, March 17th, we’re examining a few of the key races about to go down in Tokyo. We began with the men’s 200m breaststroke and will now take a look at the women’s 400m IM, another competitive event for the nation.

Among the racers will be reigning Olympic champion Yui Ohashi, with the 28-year-old vying to defend her gold in this 400m IM as well as the 200m IM.

As far as the longer event, Ohashi topped the Tokyo podium in a time of 4:32.08. It was 3 years earlier when Ohashi posted her personal best and Japanese national record of 4:3082 to rank as the 7th-best performer in history.

In the past couple of years, however, Ohashi has been a tier down in terms of performance. She notched a time of 4:37.99 to place 5th at the 2022 World Championships while her quickest effort in 2023 came last December when Ohashi put up 4:39.08 at the Japan Open.

Meanwhile, teammates to the tune of Mio Narita, Ageha Tanigawa and Waka Kobori have continued rising to the upper crust.

17-year-old Narita had a huge 2022, reaping 400m IM gold at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships and World Junior Championships, setting a new meet record of 4:37.78 at the latter.

Continuing her momentum, the teen scored bronze at last year’s Asian Games, hitting a time of 4:38.77.

Narita’s best time ever came at the 2022 Japanese World Championships Trials when she logged 4:36.72, a time that briefly established a World Junior Record. Therefore, she’s proven she has the stuff to get under the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) Olympic selection standard of 4:38.53.

20-year-old Tanigawa beat Narita at the 2023 Asian Games, turning in a time of 4:35.65 to earn Hangzhou silver. That represented her personal best and entered her on the all-time Japanese performers list in slot #4. That effort checked Tanigawa in as the 3rd-swiftest swimmer worldwide this season.

While Kobori’s career-best of 4:39.06 is well behind the others, the 23-year-old has been making incremental improvements that warrant her inclusion in the 4IM conversation.

Primarily a mid-distance freestyler, Kobori has only raced this 4IM on the elite stage the past 4 years with her PB timeline as follows:

• 2020 – 4:59.77
• 2021 – 4:43.35
• 2022 – 4:40.16
• 2023 – 4:39.06