Deep Women’s 400 IM Field Highlights Day Three Heats of Japanese Olympic Trials

2024 JAPANESE OLYMPIC TRIALS

• Sunday, March 17th – Sunday, March 24th
• Tokyo Aquatics Center
• LCM (50m)
• Japan’s Olympic Selection Criteria
• Entries
• SwimSwam Entries Post
• Preview #1 / Preview #2
• Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap| Day 2 Finals Recap
• Live Result
• Livestream

The third day of the 2024 Japanese Olympic Trials will be filled with action-packed events, and we saw a short heats session wrap up about an hour ago. The session showcased just four events: the women’s 400 IM, women’s 100 backstroke, men’s 800 freestyle, and women’s 50 butterfly.

Finals of the women’s 400 IM and 50 fly will take place during Tuesday’s finals, along with semifinals of the women’s 100 back. The men’s 800 free final is scheduled for Wednesday. The third night (Tuesday) of finals will also contain the men’s and women’s 200 free, men’s 100 back, and women’s 100 breast, as semifinals took place on Monday.

Ageha Tanigawa was the swiftest performer during the women’s 400 IM heats, as she posted a field-leading time of 4:41.53. The field was quite deep, with seven swimmers checking-in at 4:43.2 or faster. Tanigawa snagged victory in the penultimate heat and will have the opportunity to chase her best time of 4:35.65 in the final. Tanigawa won the silver medal at the Asian Games in September, which is where she clocked her current personal record.

Rising star Mio Narita wasn’t too far behind Tanigawa, as she touched to win the final heat in 4:41.84. She turned into the freestyle leg with a near three second deficit, but roared home over the closing meters to touch out the field. Narita is the former world junior record holder, and she owns a best time to her name of 4:36.71. Yui Ohashi was leading her for most of the heat, ultimately securing 2nd in 4:42.82.

Ohashi claimed double Olympic gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, sweeping the individual medley events. She holds the national record in both events too, with her 200 IM (2:07.91) time coming from the 2017 and the 400 IM (4:30.82) from 2018.

All finalists will be chasing the coveted 4:38.53 qualification time in the final, nothing is guaranteed, as fellow 400 IMer Daiya Seto missed the cut en route to 2nd place on Monday. Tanigawa, Nirita, and Ohashi have all dipped under the standard in years prior, which shows how it’s one of Japan’s deepest events on the women’s side. Despite the fact that Ohashi is the defending Olympic Champion, Tanigawa and Nirita have separated themselves from Ohashi over the past two years.

Two sub-1:01 clockings were produced during the women’s 100 back heats, with Rio Shirai (1:00.83) leading Miki Takahashi (1:00.87) by just 0.04. Shirai has been well under a minute before, boasting a personal-best 59.43 from 2019. Japan’s Olympic qualification time is set at 59.49, so she’ll have to be back at her absolute best to challenge that mark. Shirai will be doubling up tonight, as she advanced 2nd into the 200 free final. She’ll have about an hour between events tonight, with the 100 back semifinals occurring prior to the 200 free final.

Seven heats of the men’s 800 free took place, where six competitors dipped under the elusive 8-minute barrier. 29-year-old Stogo Takeda put his hand on the wall in 7:58.14 for the fastest morning time, just outside his performance from last month’s World Championships (7:57.54). His lifetime bests rest as the 7:50.42 that he put on the books back at the 2021 Japan Championships.

Kazuki Imoto (7:58.91), Kazushi Imafuku (7:59.38), Yuki Ikari (7:59.50), Kaito Tabuchi (7:59.66), and Ryo Nakamitsu (7:59.94) also featured in the sub-8:00 club and will safely advance to the final.

Women’s 50 butterfly action was led by Ai Soma, who touched in 26.24. Finals will take place tonight, where she may have eyes on her best time of 25.76. The 26-year-old lined-up for the 100 fly on Monday, where she missed out on Paris qualification with a 4th place outing (57.64). Soma has been as quick as 57.42 in the 100m distance.