JAPAN SWIM 2017 (JAPANESE NATIONALS)
- Thursday, April 13th – Sunday, April 16th, 2017
- NGK Arena, Nagoya, Japan
- Qualification Meet for 2017 World Championships, World University Games and World Junior Championships
- Meet Information
- Entry List (in Japanese)
On the eve of the 2017 Japan Swim, the competition which serves as the nation’s World Championships Trials, Olympic champion Kosuke Hagino has signed with a 2nd sponsor in the form of athletic mega sportswear company, Nike.
In conjunction with his graduation from Toyo University in March and return to competition since undergoing endoscopic surgery last September, Hagino has now transitioned into a full-time, professional swimmer. He first signed a sponsorship agreement with Bridgestone, but Asian media reports he is now on the list of Nike-sponsored athletes. Reportedly focusing on their sportswear, as with Michael Phelps and Under Armour, Hagino is the first Japanese swimmer to sign with Nike
Gearing up for the Japan Open, the Olympic gold medalist (400m IM) and silver medalist (200 IM) is set to compete in his bread and butter IM events, as well as the 200m and 400m freestyle races. The former was an individual event in which the 22-year-old finaled in Rio, while the 400m has always been a lurking race the Toyo University graduate has kept in his repertoire. The 200m backstroke has been off his radar the past few years, but he and coach Norimasa Hirai have publicly said the swimmer’s backstroke has been feeling dynamite since his surgery, so look for the multi-faceted athlete to race in that discipline more and more as the quadrennial rolls on. He did compete in the 100m back at the Madrid Open last month, clocking a solid 54.58.