15th TOKYO SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, June 2nd – Sunday, June 4th
- Tokyo Aquatics Center
- LCM (50m)
- Results
The 15th Tokyo Swimming Championships wrapped up tonight with the non-selection meet representing another tune-up racing opportunity ahead of next month’s World Championships.
The likes of Daiya Seto, Yui Ohashi and Katsuhiro Matsumoto were in the water over the course of the 3 days, but the standout performance came out of former World Record holder Ippei Watanabe.
Competing in the men’s 200m breaststroke tonight, 26-year-old Watanabe ripped a season-best outing of 2:07.55. That not only garnered the gold but it beat the field by well over 3 seconds.
Watanabe opened in 1:01.09 and closed in 1:06.46 to get the job done. His stellar result here outperformed the 2:07.73 it took him to win the national title at April’s Japan Swim. That previous result booked his spot on the Japanese lineup for Fukuoka.
His 2:07.55 now sits among the top 10 personal performances of the World Championships medalist’s career.
Top 10 LCM 200 Breast Performances for Ippei Watanabe
- 2:06.67, 2017
- 2:06.73, 2019
- 2:07.02, 2019
- 2:07.08, 2020
- 2:07.22, 2016
- 2:07.44, 2017
- 2:07.47, 2017
- 2:07.54, 2021
- 2:07.55, 2023
- 2:07.56, 2018
Watanabe now frog hops reigning World Record holder and Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia to rank as the 2nd fastest performer in the world this season. Only Russia’s Kirill Prigoda‘s time of 2:07.47 has been swifter.
2022-2023 LCM Men 200 Breast
Haiyang
WR 2:05.48
2 | Zac Stubblety-Cook | AUS | 2:06.40 | 07/28 |
3 | Leon Marchand | FRA | 2:06.59 | 06/11 |
4 | Kirill Prigoda | RUS | 2:07.47 | 04/19 |
5 | IPPEI WATANABE | JPN | 2:07.55 | 06/03 |
For perspective, Watanabe’s 2:07.55 outing would have placed 5th at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and would have snagged silver last year at the World Championships in Budapest.
As a refresher, Watanabe was shut out of a home Olympic squad, having been beaten at the Trials final by Shoma Sato and Ryuya Mura. He opted out of the 2022 World Championships.
So nice to see him getting back to his old speed
That’s gotta be in the top 30 all time performances for Japan, right? Pretty freaking quick!
Yep, 17th fastest performance in Japanese history, tied for 67th all-time worldwide.
Appreciate you finding that out!
Score!