2020 KIRARA CUP
- Friday, February 7th – Sunday, February 8=9th
- Kirara Expo Park, Yamaguchi, Japan
- LCM
- SwimSwam Preview
- Results
Day 1 of the 2020 Kirara Cup brought the distance events, as the women’s 800m free and men’s 1500m free fields took to the pool. There were decisive winners in both races, giving us a glimpse into who the frontrunners may be when Japan’s Olympic Trials (Japan Swim) roll around in early April.
Shogo Takeda produced the quickest 1500m free time of the open men, hitting the wall in a mark of 15:08.28. That held a comfortable advantage over the next closest swimmer of Kohei Yamamoto, who finished in 15:15.70 for silver tonight in Yamaguchi.
Shogo already ranks as the 13th fastest swimmer in the world in this event this season, owning an outing of 15:07.05 from the FINA Swimming World Cup in Tokyo last August.
As for the women, World Junior Championships silver medalist Miyu Namba stamped her name on the 800m free, taking the Kirara Cup title in a time of 8:38.22. That’s well off the 8:27.24 that garnered the 17-year-old runner-up status behind Aussie Lani Pallister in Budapest last year, but enough to check-in with the fastest time of the entire women’s field tonight, although she competed in the junior category.
Namba’s season-best rests at the 8:31.14 she produced at the aforementioned FINA Swimming World Cup in Tokyo, ranking her 14th worldwide.
The open women’s 800m free title tonight went to Yukimi Moriyama, as the 2018 Japan Open Water national champion posted a mark of 8:38.22 to take the gold.