2023 JAPANESE SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, October 21st & Sunday, October 22nd
- Tokyo Aquatics Center
- SCM (25m)
- Entries (in Japanese)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
The second and final day of the 2023 Japanese Short Course Championships concluded today from Tokyo and a handful of yesterday’s medalists stepped onto the podium once again.
Katsuhiro Matsumoto claimed gold in the men’s 200m free and 50m free events on night 1 and followed up with a victory in 2 more events this evening.
The 26-year-old clocked a time of 3:40.79 to top the men’s 400m free podium to start. The Olympian owns the Japanese national record in this event in a time of 3:36.87, a result he notched en route to 4th place at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
Matsumoto also earned top honors in the 100m free, posting a victorious outing of 47.12. That held a minor edge over Kaiya Seki who settled for silver in 47.34 while Juran Mizohata rounded out the top 3 in 47.56.
Ai Soma is another multiple-event winner, following up her 50m fly gold with a victory in the 100m fly this evening. Soma hit a result of 56.01, a new lifetime best.
Entering this competition, the 26-year-old’s career-quickest rested at the 56.27 she produced to ultimately place 5th at the aforementioned 2022 Short Course World Championships in Melbourne.
Former World Record holder Ippei Watanabe got to the wall first tonight in the men’s 200m breast. The veteran posted an effort of 2:03.25 to beat out a pair of 2020 Olympians in Yu Hanaguruma and Ryuya Mura.
The former logged 2:04.57 while the latter registered 2:04.79 to trail Watanabe’s performance. Watanabe is Japan’s 2nd-quickest man ever in this event, owning a lifetime best of 2:01.70 from the 2022 edition of these championships.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Yui Ohashi rebounded from her 5th place position in the women’s 400m IM event last night with a gold in the 200m IM this evening.
Ohashi stopped the clock in a result of 2:07.28 to just hold off teenager Mio Narita who settled for silver in 2:07.34.
Finally, Takeshi Kawamoto put the national record on notice en route to winning the men’s 100m fly. Kawamoto touched in 49.82 as the sole sub-50-second performer of the field, with this result falling just .28 outside of the NR of 49.54 he registered at the 2020 Japanese SC Championships.
Additional Day 2 Notes
- Satomi Suzuki and Reona Aoki traded spots from their 100m breast battle from yesterday. This evening, it was Suzuki who landed on top, hitting 29.79. That outing fell just .22 shy of the 29.57 national record. Aoki logged 30.07 for silver.
- Taka Taniguchi produced a time of 26.05 to win the men’s edition of the 50m breast, establishing a youth national record in the process.
- Rio Shirai touched the wall in a time of 56.93 to beat the women’s 100m back field.
- The men’s 100m back saw Yusuke Sato produce a new High School Record of 50.77. Behind him was Daiki Yanagawa who hit 50.92 as the runner-up.
- Miyu Namba scored gold in the women’s 400m free in 4:02.15, beating the field by 4 seconds.