Rikako Ikee Comes Out On Top Again At Tokyo New Year’s Meet

2021 TOKYO METRO NEW YEAR’S MEET

• Saturday, January 8th & Sunday, January 9th
• Tatsumi International Swimming Centre
• SCM (25m)
• Day 1 Recap
• Results

Japan’s Tokyo Metro New Year’s Meet wrapped up today from the Tatsumi International Swimming Centre, with 21-year-old leukemia survivor Rikako Ikee back in action.

Following up on her 200m free victory from night 1, Renaissance’s Ikee wrangled up another gold, this time in the 100m free sprint.

Ikee posted an effort of 53.01 to beat the field handily, with the next closest swimmer getting to the wall over one and a half seconds later. Two-time Olympian Ikee opened in 25.59 and closed in 27.42 to get the job done.

As with her 200m free, this New Year’s Meet is where she established the Japanese national record in this event, posting a big-time 51.61 3 years ago at just 18 years of age.

18-year-old Konosuke Yanagimoto also topped the podium once again, adding 400m free gold to his 200m free from last night.

Yanagimoto put up a mark of 3:45.02 for a new meet record as the only swimmer to get under the 3:50 threshold in the race.

Earlier this year as a 17-year-old, Yanagimoto became the youngest member of the Japanese Olympic swimming team since recently-retired Kosuke Hagino made the squad at the same age for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Additional winners included Suzuka Hasegawa claiming the top spot in the women’s 100m fly in 57.41 while Nao Horomura did some damage in the men’s edition of the same race in 51.77.