Saturday 21 May 2011

Japan Open - Day Two

Day Two at the Japan Open is in the books. No time to waste, let the bullets fly...

 1996 born Kanako Watanabe followed up yesterday's 1:07.10 effort in the 100 Breast with a win in the 50 Breaststroke. Her time of 31.83 set a new Junior record.  Watanabe falls more into the category of a 100/200 specialist (ie. Rebecca Soni), than a 50/100 swimmer (ie. Jessica Hardy). Tomorrow's 200 should be a cracker after last month's 2:25.59 at Japanese Nationals. Another world ranked top 10 swim (sub 2:25) could  be on the cards.

 Ryosuke Irie won the 200 Back in a blazing time of 1:54.55. That time is the third fastest swim since the suit ban and only Ryan Lochte and Aarson Peirsol have swum faster in a textile suit. Right now the 200 Back is shaping up to be a terrific race in Shanghai. It's hard to look past Ryan Lochte, but Irie looks like his strongest challenger. 10 days ago Tyler Clary also reported on twitter that he swam 1:54.7 in jammers... in training! Those three look to have a lead on the rest of the world right now.



 Shiho Sakai put in another top effort in the women's 200 Back. Her 2:08.38 is the eighth fastest swim in the world this year and is just a shade slower than her fifth-ranked 2:07.98 from Nationals. On current form, Sakai looks like a shoe-in for a final spot in Shanghai. 2011 Watchlist member, 17-year-old Sayaka Akase swam 2:09.38 and is definitely a name worth  following over the next few years.

 Japan now has three men in the Top 10 in the world on the 400 IM. Yuuya Horihata took the win tonight in 4:12.96, just slightly down on his 4:12.28 from Nationals. The real story came from two other members of the 2011 Watchlist, Daiya Seto and Kousuke Hagino who finished in 4:13.42 and 4:14.58 respectively. Both born in 1994, those times mark a drop from 2010 of 4 seconds from Hagino and 5.5 seconds from Seto.

 1994 also produced another top 400 IM swimmer on the women's side. Miyu Ohtsuka improved upon her 4:39.35 from Nationals to win tonight in 4:38.05, the 4th fastest time in the world this year.

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1 comment:

  1. OMG? Who has a pic of themselves on twitter page?

    A foto altering app is recommended.

    ReplyDelete