World C’ships Silver Medalist Matsumoto Lowers 200 Free JPN Record

2020 JAPAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, October 17th & Sunday, October 18th
• Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Centre
• SCM (25m)
• Entries (in Japanese)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Results

One of our top 5 races to watch at these Japan Short Course Swimming Championships did not disappoint, as Katsuhiro (Katsuo) Matsumoto unleashed a new national record in the men’s 200m freestyle.

After playing it cool in this morning’s heats, hitting an AM swim of 1:45.20 to claim the 5th seed, the 23-year-old World Championships silver medalist blasted a huge new lifetime best of 1:42.10 to stand atop the podium.

Splitting 49.44/52.66, Matsumoto’s 1:42.10 tonight overtook the previous Japanese standard of 1:42.41, which Matsumoto held himself from his performance at this same meet last year. Splits for that previous lifetime best included 49.60/52.81.

Matsumoto’s time here now bumps him up on the all-time performers’ list to land in slot #32, tying Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski, but ahead of the likes of British world champion James Guy and co-bronze medalist in the 200m free last year in Gwangju Martin Malyutin of Russia.

The swim is also significant as Matsumoto is racing back after a positive anti-doping test scare from just a couple of months ago. You can read our original report here, which relays how the freestyle ace tested positive for a then-unnamed substance, albeit with barely detectable traces noted. FINA ruled that his test was a result of contaminated meat eaten while at a high-altitude camp in Mexico. Matsumoto was issued a warning.

Of note, producing a time of 1:44.08 for runner-up in tonight’s 200m free final was the young gun Konosuke Yanagimoto. At just 16 years of age, Yanagimoto’s outing checks-in as a new Japanese National High School Record. Look for a separate post on this explosive swim.