It was revealed that Kosuke Hagino, a swimmer, will not participate in the men's 400-meter individual medley, which won the gold medal at the previous Rio de Janeiro tournament at the Japan Championships next month, which will be the representative selection for the Tokyo Olympics.
The Japan Championships in Swimming will be held for eight days from the 3rd to the 10th of next month at the Tokyo Aquatics Center in Koto-ku, Tokyo, which will also serve as the representative selection for the Tokyo Olympics.
At first, Hagino had entered the 5th event in total for this tournament, but according to the people concerned, he corrected the entry by the 19th and won the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro tournament, in addition to the men's 200m individual medley. , Men's 200m freestyle and men's 200m backstroke.
For this reason, Hagino did not participate in the men's 400-meter individual medley, which won the gold medal for the first time in Japan at the previous Rio de Janeiro tournament, and the possibility of becoming a representative of the Tokyo tournament in this event has almost disappeared. ..
As for the Olympic representative of swimming, the Japanese championship is a one-shot selection, and it is a condition of the representative to be in the second place after breaking the dispatch standard record in the final race for the individual event.
Daiya Seto has already decided to represent the men's 400-meter individual medley, so he will be competing for the remaining one.
Hagino and Men's 400m Individual Medley
Hagino has been sluggish for several years, having been away from the competition for a while after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but he won a bronze medal at the London Games and a gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games. The challenge to the 400-meter individual medley has continued.
On the other hand, I couldn't keep producing the results I expected in this event, which is considered to be the toughest in terms of physical strength, and I won the Japan Championship in December last year for the first time in two tournaments, but this February At the domestic tournament, he was unable to achieve stable results, such as finishing in 6th place, more than 10 seconds behind his own Japanese record.
According to the people concerned, at the training camp that was held until the 17th of this month, we practiced aiming at a distance of 200 meters, and as the condition gradually improved, we once entered the 400 meters individual medley. However, in the end, considering the burden during the tournament, priority was given to aiming to become a representative in the 200-meter individual medley.
Hagino, who was interviewed online during the training camp, said about the men's 400-meter individual medley, "I know that it is the most difficult event to do with a simple feeling. There is a possibility of narrowing down the participating events." I was revealing my feelings.
On top of that, "The first goal is to decide to be a representative, and I think it is many times more important to get results in the events that I can fight now and to fight the world. I will fight as a representative of Japan at the Olympics. I want to be conscious and decide which event I will actually participate in. "