Rikako Ikee’s Emotional Race Reaction Is Why We Swim (Video)

2020 TOKYO SPECIAL SWIMMING TOURNAMENT

• Saturday, August 29th & Sunday, August 30th
• Tatsumi International Swimming Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Results

The 2020 Tokyo Special Swimming Tournament wrapped up in Tokyo over the weekend, with several of the nation’s potential would-have-been 2020 Olympians in the water making waves.

We saw 30-year-old Ryosuke Irie snag 100m backstroke gold, while Kosuke Hagino produced his fastest 200m IM since last year.

Suzuka Hasegawa also wowed the virtual crowd with her impressive 100m and 200m fly performances, the latter of which checked the 20-year-old in among the world’s top 20 performers all-time.

Despite these speedy efforts and world-class showings, it was a modest time out of lane 3 that stole the show at Tatsumi International Swimming Centre. 20-year-old Rikako Ikee was back to racing after a 594 hiatus due to battling leukemia.

Having been in the hospital the majority of 2019, Ikee’s return to the water in the women’s 50m free here after having just gotten back to training in the spring was nothing short of heroic. We posted the race video of Ikee’s 26.32 50m freestyle swim here, however, the video doesn’t show the emotional reaction of the sprint ace after she emerges from the water.

The survivor’s tears are palatable and her outpouring of feelings drive home the passion and love we all have for our sport of swimming, no matter the outcome.

Below is a collection of race videos from the 2020 Tokyo Special Swimming Tournament.

Suzuka Hasegawa’s 2:05.62 200 Fly

Suzuka Hasegawa‘s 57.49 100 Fly

Kosuke Hagino‘s 1:58.20 200 IM

Ryosuke Irie‘s 53.14 100 Back

Yuki Kobori’s 52.02 100 Fly