2024 JAPAN OPEN
The 2024 Japan Open concluded tonight but not before Australian Olympic champion Cameron McEvoy made his mark on the competition.
30-year-old McEvoy took on the men’s 50m free in Tokyo, his sole event, where he stopped the clock in a super solid in-season swim of 21.70.
McEvoy turned in a prelims time of 22.22 to lead the pack before dropping over half a second to produce the sole sub-22-second effort of the field in the A-Final.
Former national record holder Katsumi Nakamura of the host nation settled for silver in 22.02 while teammate Juran Mizohata rounded out the podium in 22.26.
McEvoy became Olympic champion this summer in Paris in a 21.25 scorcher, just .05 ahead of Ben Proud of Great Britain who earned his first-ever Olympic medal in 21.30 for silver.
JAPAN OPEN 2024
半フリ決勝
Cameron McEvoy 21.70
いいものが見れた！ pic.twitter.com/HbaYlW668E— 鈴木 天理｜SUZUKI Takanori (@tenri_dn1208) December 1, 2024
The Australian women also showed up big in their edition of the 50m free, with Jaimie De Lutiis grabbing the gold.
After finishing behind fellow Aussie Abbey Webb in both the 100m and 200m free events, De Lutiis got to the wall first in the splash n’ dash, registering 25.06. That’s a new personal best, overtaking the 25.37 notched at last year’s Australian Age Championships.
As for Webb, she snagged silver in 25.14, just .02 outside her lifetime best of 25.12 from January’s South Australian State Championshps. Japan’s Yume Jinno bagged the bronze tonight in 25.55.
17-year-old Mizuki Hirai was the clear winner in the women’s 100m fly, with the Olympic finalist registering 57.76 as the only swimmer to break the 58-second threshold.
Hirai, committed to swim at the University of Tennessee, opened in a swift 26.42 and closed in 31.34 to get the job done ahead of Chiharu Iitsuka who was next to the wall in 58.40. Nagisa Ikemoto earned her 3rd bronze of the competition with 58.65.
Hirai is Japan’s #2 performer of all time in this women’s 100m fly, owning a lifetime best of 56.33 from this summer in Paris. That time was produced at a domestic meet in June. At the Games, Hirai finished 7th in 57.19 despite logging 56.71 in the heats.
Versatile Katsuhiro Matsumoto topped the men’s 100m fly podium in 51.30, just over half a second ahead of 200m fly victor here Genki Terakado.
Terakado secured silver in 51.84 and Yuya Sakamoto produced 52.38 for bronze.
Matsumoto ranks as the 2nd-fastest Japanese man ever in this event, with his 50.96 PB from last year sitting only behind national record holder Naoki Mizunuma‘s time of 50.81 from 2022.
Another teenager, 17-year-old Olympian Mio Narita, got on the board, winning the women’s 200m IM.
Narita cleared the pack in 2:12.15, holding a healthy advantage over runner-up Shuna Sasaki who touched in 2:13.645. Misuzu Nagaoka also landed on the podium in 2:13.84.
The men’s 200m IM saw a strong showing by Takumi Mori, with the Japanese swimmer dipping under the 1:58 barrier for the first time in his career.
Mori stopped the clock at 1:57.71 to beat his previous PB of 1:58.01 from this year’s Olympic Trials. His new career-best keeps him ranked 9th among all-time Japanese performers.
So Ogata, who missed making this year’s Olympic team in this event by a mere .01, snared silver in 1:58.50 and Tomoyuki Matsushita, Japan’s sole Olympic medalist this summer with his 400m IM silver, earned bronze in 1:58.55.
Finally, Ippei Watanabe upgraded his 3rd place performance in the 100m breast to shiny gold in the 200m breast tonight.
Watanabe posted a stellar in-season effort of 2:08.12 (1:02.08/1:06.04) as one of two 2:08 swimmers.
Joining him was Yamato Fukasawa who hit 2:08.92 while Shin Ohashi finished well back in 2:10.27.
Watanabe is a former World Record holder in this event, owning a PB of 2:06.67 from 2017. He raced the 2breast at the Games this summer after missing the 2020 Japanese Olympic team. In Paris, the 27-year-old placed 6th in 2:08.83. His time tonight would have placed 4th, just .22 off the bronze.
Additional Winners
- Miki Takahashi scored gold in the women’s 50m back in 28.16 while Riku Matsuyama hit 25.16 to win the men’s version of the event.
- The women’s 200m breast saw Yumeno Kusuda produce 2:25.74 as the gold medalist.
