2017 KONAMI OPEN
- Saturday, February 18th – Sunday, February 19th
- Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo, Japan
- Prelims at 9am local (7pm previous night EST)/Finals at 6pm local (4am EST)
- Meet Site
- Start Lists/Results (in Japanese)
Another swim, another Japanese National Record for teen phenom Rikako Ikee. While competing at the 2017 Konami Open at Tatsumi International Swimming Center in Tokyo today, the 16-year-old lowered her own personal best 50m freestyle time by .19 to notch not only a new national mark, but also an even lower World Junior Record.
Headed into today’s meet, Ikee’s previous record stood at the 24.67 she nabbed at the 2016 Japanese National Sports Festival at the Morioka Municipal Pool. That performance itself had lowered the teen’s own Japanese National Record, which previously stood at 24.74 from the 2016 version of the Konami Open. Today in Tokyo, however, Ikee scored a new record-setting time of 24.48 to re-write the history books once again. At just 16 years of age, Ikee holds her nation’s national LCM records across the 50m/100m/200m freestyle and 50m/100m butterfly events.
2016-2017 LCM WOMEN 50 FREE
SJOSTROM
23.67*WR
| 2 | Ranomi KROMOWIDJOJO | NED | 23.85 | 07/30 |
| 3 | Simone MANUEL | USA | 23.97 | 07/30 |
| 4 | Pernille BLUME | DEN | 24.00 | 07/30 |
| 5 | Bronte CAMPBELL | AUS | 24.43 | 07/29 |
Also today’s final session, Ikee notched a new competition record in the women’s 100m butterfly, checking in with a swift 57.55. That comfortably overtook her own meet record from last year of 58.86 and also sits as the teen’s 2nd fastest outing this season. Her 57.46 100m butterfly from the 10th Asian Swimming Championships last November still rests as the 2nd fastest time in the world this season.
2016-2017 LCM WOMEN 100 FLY
SJOSTROM
55.53
| 2 | Emma McKEON | AUS | 56.18 | 07/24 |
| 3 | Kelsi WORRELL | USA | 56.37 | 07/24 |
| 4 | Rikako IKEE | JPN | 56.89 | 01/28 |
| 5 | Penny OLEKSIAK | CAN | 56.94 | 07/24 |
For the men, Daiya Seto stood out from the competition in one of his signature events, the men’s 400m IM. Dominating the race, as per his usual, Seto came away with the gold in a mark of 4:11.37. That’s just off his own season-best of 4:10.17 from last November, a time which still ranks as #1 in the world.
2016-2017 LCM MEN 400 IM
KALISZ
4.05.90
| 2 | David VERRASZTO | HUN | 4.07.47 | 06/24 |
| 3 | daiya SETO | JPN | 4.07.99 | 06/24 |
| 4 | Jay LITHERLAND | USA | 4.09.31 | 06/29 |
| 5 | Max LITCHFIELD | GBR | 4.09.62 | 07/30 |
Newly-minted 200m breaststroke world record holder Ippei Watanabe was slated to make an appearance at the meet, however, he was absent from that particular event here in Tokyo. In his absence, Yasuhiro Koseki took advantage of the opportunity, racing his way to gold in 2:11.14.
Tokyo will be the Rikako vs Penny show, and they are both setting themselves up very well to come home with handfuls of medals.
24.48 is also a new Asian record, breaking the previous mark by 0.03s. The previous record was set by Le Jingyi in 1994, which was almost 23 years ago.
Ikee did a 56,89 in 100 butterfly a few weeks back..
Is it just me, or does it feel like Ikee has been 16 years old for the last three years? That is a sign of a pretty great year.
24.48 at 16.
Ok. What a talent!
She’s programmed to win the 50 free, the 100 free and the 100 fly in Tokyo.
How will she handle the pressure at home?
She will dominate at Tokyo
I’m not so sure about that. She is a supreme talent, but I think we have a generation of supreme 50/100/200 freestyles coming through. Oleksiak & Ikee are identical in their ‘events’, and incidentally identical to Sjöström. Cate, Bronte & Simone are still young. Steenbergen had a plateau in 2016 but again is very similar in that she is strong across 50/100/200. My wildcard is Freya Anderson, strong 50-400, beat Rebecca Smith over 100m in Ontario in December and is the youngest of the lot (2001). I suspect ultimately she’ll become a 200 specialist though.
Ikee, along with Oleksiak, is certainly in prime position.
If I had to bet, I would put my money in Oleksiak.She is very tall and has a lot of muscle to fill her slim body(I saw her at Olympics 3feet from me several times).Save injuries/out of pool problems, Penny will be a 51seconds swimmer in the next two years.