Entries For Tokyo Special Tourney Confirm Rikako Ikee In 50 Freestyle

2020 TOKYO SPECIAL SWIMMING TOURNAMENT

• Saturday, August 29th & Sunday, August 30th
• Tatsumi International Swimming Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Timed Finals
• Entries (in Japanese)

Earlier this month leukemia survivor Rikako Ikee of Japan revealed that she had selected the competition at which she would race her first event in well over a year.

Ikee chose the Tokyo Special Swimming Tournament slated for August 29th & August 30th. With entries now posted we can confirm the 20-year-old is entered in the women’s 50m freestyle.

The meet is a special production of the Tokyo Swimming Association to give swimmers an opportunity to compete after lost meets and practices due to the coronavirus pandemic. Multi-Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima, now Chairman of the Tokyo Swimming Association, says of the meet, “I want children and seniors to have peace of mind with proper guidelines” in terms of controlling as much of the health and safety of the environment at the meet as possible.

As we reported, Ikee had previously said she was targeting the Japan Intercollegiate Championships, an annual meet slated for October, as her monumental first meet back. However, the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) has now decided at its latest board meeting that only the top 32-40 fastest athletes will be invited to participate per individual event, with times ranked from April 2019 onward.

Ikee’s last competition was the Yowa Sprint in January of 2019, nearly 19 months ago.

We also previously reported that Olympic champion Kosuke Hagino and World Championships medalist Yui Ohashi were scheduled to make appearances at this Tokyo Special Swimming Tournament. Hagino is entered in the men’s 200m IM as his sole event, while Ohashi is set to race the women’s 200m breast and 100m fly.

Additionally, once banned Junya Koga is among the entrants, with the man expected to race the 50m and 100m back, as we reported.

But, they’re not the only ones set to get some racing in at the end of the month. Takeharu Fujimori is another notable performer set to make a return from suspension. Look for a separate post on this man’s dive back into competition.

In the meantime, below is a list of the key Japanese swimmers ready to make their mark on this special meet.

• Chihiro Igarashi – 100/200 free
• Ryosuke Irie – 100/200 back
• Masaki Kaneko – 100/200 back
• Masane Kawane – 50/100 free
• Yuki Kobori – 100/200 fly
• Junya Koga – 50/100 back
• Yuki Moriyami – 200/400 free
• Juran Mizohata – 200 free, 200 IM
• Shunichi Nakao – 50 free, 100 back
• Sakiko Shimizu – 200/400 IM
• Shinri Shioura – 50/100 free
• Rio Shirai – 200 free, 100 back
• Keita Sunama – 100/200 back
• Kohei Yamamoto – 1500 free