As we reported last week, 20-year-old Japanese champion Rikako Ikee had hinted she’d most likely be changing up her racing return based on meet capacity restrictions now attached to the competition she was targeting for October.
At the time she said she potentially would be targeting the match between her Nihon University and Chuo University later this month, but now she has landed on the Tokyo Metro Special Tournament slated for August 29th.
The meet is a special production of the Tokyo Swimming Association to give swimmers an opportunity to compete after lost meets and practices due to the coronavirus pandemic. Multi-Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima, now Chairman of the Tokyo Swimming Association, says of the meet, “I want children and seniors to have peace of mind with proper guidelines” in terms of controlling as much of the health and safety of the environment at the meet as possible.
Ikee had previously said she was targeting the Japan Intercollegiate Championships, an annual meet slated for October, as her monumental first meet back. However, the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) has now decided at its latest board meeting that only the top 32-40 fastest athletes will be invited to participate per individual event, with times ranked from April 2019 onward.
A long-awaited comeback for such an inspirational young lady. Hope she is successful in her swims in a few weeks.
Great news.