Watch 16-Year-Old Yanagimoto Race His Way To 1:47.85 200 Free

TOKYO SPECIAL SWIMMING TOURNEY – HIGH SCHOOL

• Saturday, September 19th – Tuesday, September 22nd
• Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center
• LCM (50m)
• Results (in Japanese)

The Tokyo Special Swimming Tournament for high school competition wrapped up tonight in Tokyo, Japan. A key performer of the meet was 16-year-old Konosuke Yanagimoto, who posted eye-catching times in both the men’s 100m and 200m freestyle events.

As we reported, today in the 100m Yanagimoto punched a lifetime best of 49.41 to slice .08 off of the national high school record from 2012. The man had never before been under 50 seconds but did so in fast fashion to take the gold. You can read a recap of his performance and see his 100m free record here.

Yesterday Yanagimoto got things started, however, with his wicked-fast effort of 1:47.85. Splitting 52.14/55.71, the Nichidai Buzan High School student-athlete once again logged a lifetime best and checks in among the best-ever 200m freestylers at his age worldwide.

Just for perspective, Yanagimoto’s effort here would rank the teenager #2 among the all-time top U.S. performers in the men’s 200m free event in the 15-16 age group, sitting only behind Luca Urlando’s 1:47.73. Additionally, Yanagimoto’s 1:47.85 time would have finished 8th in the 2019 World Junior Championships final.

We now have video of Yanagimoto’s 200m free to go with our recap, so take a look at how the teen made it happen, courtesy of Tokyo Swimming Association.

The race can be seen in the video below at the 20:47 mark.