2023 JAPANESE SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, October 21st & Sunday, October 22nd
- Tokyo Aquatics Center
- SCM (25m)
- Entries (in Japanese)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Live Results
The 2023 Japanese Short Course Championships kicked off today from Tokyo and, with the meet taking place over just two days, it was a rapid-fire sequence of swimming events.
Although the likes of Tomoru Honda, Rikako Ikee and Ryosuke Irie are not among the competitors there was still a collection of top-tier talent who made their marks on day one.
National record holder Katsuhiro Matsumoto doubled up on the 200m free and 50m free to kick off his campaign, with the 26-year-old grabbing gold in each.
In the former, Matsumoto fired off a winning time of 1:42.50, a mark just over a second outside his own Japanese standard of 1:41.29. He logged that quicker performance in the event heats at the 2022 Short Course World Championships. There in Melbourne, he ultimately settled for 8th place with a final result of 1:41.91.
Tonight’s 50m fly final saw Matsumoto top the podium in a mark of 21.26, a new lifetime best.
Ai Soma was another athlete who made it onto two podiums before night one was through. The versatile 26-year-old notched an effort of 25.21 to win the women’s 50m fly and followed up with silver in the 50m free.
The latter event saw her notch a time of 24.61 to fall only .08 outside of gold. Grabbing the top spot in the women’s 50 free was Mayuka Yamamoto who touched in 24.53.
Additional Day 1 Notes
- Miyu Namba was the quickest women’s 800m freestyler, getting to the wall in a time of 8:22.25 to beat the field by nearly 6 seconds.
- Ayatsugu Hirai topped the men’s 1500m free podium, hitting 14:46.97 for the victory.
- Veteran Kanako Watanabe surged to the wall ahead of runner-up Riko Sawano. The former touched in 59.43 to the latter’s 59.71.
- The women’s 50m back saw Olympian Rio Shirai get it done for gold in 26.40.
- Takeshi Kawamoto came within striking distance of the men’s 50m fly national record. He clocked 22.26 to fall only.07 outside of his lifetime best and Japanese standard of 22.19 notched at the 2020 edition of this competition.
- Junior Pan Pacs champion Mio Narita came out as the winner of the women’s 400m IM in a time of 4:29.21. That beat the field by over 2 seconds, one which included double 2020 Olympic champion Yui Ohashi. Ohashi fell to 5th in 4:36.12.
- Reona Aoki and Satomi Suzuki dueled in the women’s 100m breaststroke, with the pair registering the only sub-1:05 outings of the field. Aoki got there first in 1:04.37 while Suzuki scored silver in 1:04.69.
- Of note, Daiya Seto was entered in the men’s 400m IM but did not swim in the event.