2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Swimming: August 6-13
- Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
- Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
- SwimSwam previews
- Day 1 Schedule & Results
- Live Stream (NBC)
The foursome of Miki Uchida, Rikako Ikee, Misaki Yamaguchi and Yayoi Matsumoto fired off a new Japanese National Record in prelims of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay in Rio this afternoon. Clocking a collective time of 3:36.74, the squad qualified in 7th place for tonight’s final, sitting about 3 seconds outside the top 3 leaders.
Entering the 2016 Olympic Games, the Japanese National Record in the women’s 4x100m freestyle event stood at 3:37.96, a mark in which both Uchida and Matsumoto played a role. The other legs were raced by Haruka Ueda and Hanae Ito and the team finished 7th overall at the 2012 Olympic Games, the site at which the NR was set.
Whereas the 2012 effort was void of 53-second splits, today’s new record saw two right off the bat in the form of Uchida and Ikee. Uchida, who holds the Japanese NR in the short course 100m freestyle, led off the relay with a mighty 53.93, while 16-year-old long course national record holder Rikako Ikee continued the momentum with a super speedy 53.41. Two 54-high splits ensued by Yamaguchi and Matsumoto to put the foursome over the edge and crank out a new record, with still the finals session tonight.
Comparison of splits:
2012: 3:37.96
Haruka Ueda – 54.34
Yayoi Matsumoto – 54.52
Miki Uchida – 54.43
Hanae Ito – 54.67
2016: 3:36.74
Miki Uchida – 53.93
Rikako Ikee – 53.41
Misaki Yamaguchi – 54.87
Yayoi Matsumoto – 54.53