2023 KONAMI OPEN
- Saturday, February 18th & Sunday, February 19th
- International Swimming Center, Chiba Prefecture
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Site
- SwimSwam Preview
- Results
The 2023 Konami Open kicked off today in Japan, with the two-day affair taking place at the International Swimming Center within the Chiba Prefecture. The meet represents the last of three annual ‘K’ meets in Japan, with the Kosuke Kitajima Cup having taken place in January while last week the Kirara Cup concluded.
Katsuhiro Matsumoto was in the water twice in tonight’s finals session, taking on the men’s 200m free and 100m butterfly events. The 25-year-old found success in both, winning the 2free in a mark of 1:46.71 while he topped the 1fly podium in a result of 51.74.
Matsumoto has already been as fast as 1:45.88 in the 200m free from the Japan Professional Swimming Championships last November. That outing rendered Matsumoto the #2 swimmer in the world this season, sitting behind only South Korea’s Hwang Sunwoo who owns a season-best of 1:44.67.
As for the 100m fly, Matsumoto’s performance here checks in as his fastest of the season, besting his 51.99 from the aforementioned November meet. The versatile ace now bumps himself up to become the 3rd fastest performer in the world on the season.
2022-2023 LCM Men 100 Fly
Grousset
50.14
| 2 | Josh Liendo | CAN | 50.34 | 07/29 |
| 3 | Dare Rose | USA | 50.46 | 07/29 |
| 4 | Matthew Temple | AUS | 50.76 | 07/28 |
| 5 | Nyls Korstanje | NED | 50.78 | 07/28 |
Teen star Mio Narita was another one to watch on the first day of this competition, with the 16-year-old racing her bread-and-butter 400m IM event. The teen posted a winning effort of 4:37.59, establishing a new meet record in the process.
The result sits just outside her season-best of 4:37.32 she put up at December’s Japan Open to rank 4th in the world this season. That performance came after a successful run during the 2022 World Junior Championships where she took gold in the 200m IM, 400m IM, as well as on the girls’ medley relay for Japan.
Olympic silver medalist Tomoru Honda narrowly came away with the victory in the men’s 400m IM this evening, holding on to his lead after a final charge by runner-up Ei Kamikawabata.
Honda stopped the clock in a mark of 4:12.68, getting to the wall just .06 ahead of Kamikawabata’s 4:12.74. While Honda has already logged a 4IM time of 4:10.93 this season, 18-year-old Kamikawabata’s result here represents a new lifetime best.
Entering this meet Kamikawabata’s career-quickest result rested at the 4:14.95 he produced in the heats of the event at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships. In Hawaii, he wound up topping the podium in a time of 4:15.23.
With his sub-4:13 result here, Kamikawabata now ranks as Japan’s 10th fastest performer in history in the men’s 400m IM race and the 6th fastest performer in the world this season.
2022-2023 LCM Men 400 IM
Marchand
4:02.50 WR
| 2 | Daiya Seto | JPN | 4:07.92 | 04/04 |
| 3 | Carson Foster | USA | 4:06.56 | 07/23 |
| 4 | Chase Kalisz | USA | 4:08.22 | 06/29 |
| 5 | Ilya Borodin | RUS | 4:09.12 | 04/20 |
| 6 | Bobby Finke | USA | 4:09.55 | 06/29 |
| 7 | Tomoru Honda | JPN | 4:10.37 | 04/04 |
| 7 | Brendon Smith | AUS | 4:10.37 | 07/23 |
| 9 | Jay Litherland | USA | 4:10.74 | 06/29 |
| 10 | Lewis Clareburt | NZL | 4:11.29 | 07/23 |
Additional Winners
- Distance ace Shogo Takeda won the men’s 1500m freestyle in a time of 15:09.48, within striking distance of his season-best of 15:04.21 from December.
- The women’s 100m fly saw Hakino Makino get to the wall first in 58.37, followed quickly by Rikako Ikee who settled for silver in 58.56.
- Kanako Watanabe was too speedy to catch in the women’s 200m breast, grabbing gold in 2:24.31. In the men’s edition, it was Shoma Sato who got the top prize in 2:09.54.
- Ryosuke Irie casually clocked a winning effort of 53.47 to win the men’s 100m backstroke.