"I think there is no doubt that it is within the medal range, but I want you to raise it to the point where you can


win a

gold medal at the selection meeting."

Katsuhiro Matsumoto, a men's 200-meter freestyle final, showed a race that embodies the words of his teacher. It was.

When I got out early, the lap time for the first half was 50 seconds 42.

It was an amazing pace, 0.76 faster than my own Japanese record.


When I gradually widened the lead even after entering the second half, the last 50 meters showed the most trash.

Yoji Suzuki, a 71-year-old coach who has been instructed for four years, emphasized that "the game will be raised by the players of the world," and Matsumoto himself has grown steadily with his last spurt.



With 5 meters remaining, what I showed in the final stage, "I couldn't move anymore," was "No Breath," which does not breathe.



"I've been practicing really hard, and I've been practicing to move somehow even when I'm not moving. I wanted



to show my abilities no matter what."


The result was an overwhelming victory with a difference of nearly 3 seconds to 2nd place.

Japan's new record of 1 minute 44 seconds 65, which is the first Japanese player to cut 1 minute 45 seconds, was the time equivalent to the gold medal at the adult world championship where Matsumoto won the silver medal.

After the race, Matsumoto expressed his thoughts on swimming.



"I was going to be put out of the 44 seconds in the preliminary round of a year ago. Today is the minute of started to race and I think also I'll hit at the time of last year's tournament was canceled"


be postponed "one year, now I feel that I worked very positively. "

Over the past year, Matsumoto, like many athletes, has spent his days exploring without a strengthening schedule at all.


The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics was decided while I was getting a response after training so hard that I didn't want to do it again.

It was the presence of rivals in the world and the words of his teacher that awakened Matsumoto that he sometimes couldn't go to the pool at one point.



ISL, an international short waterway competition held in Hungary last October.

In the semi-final race where Matsumoto and other world championship medalists met, Matsumoto finished third.

Even if I deducted the fact that it was a short waterway race that I was not good at, it was a race that made me keenly aware that "the world has not stopped".


Furthermore, what stuck in my chest was the words of coach Suzuki, who puts his full trust in him.

"If I lose in such a place, I wouldn't have a gold medal in Tokyo."



Matsumoto renewed his determination, saying, "There was still something sweet."

This winter's swim has been trained to the extent that coach Suzuki admits that he "feels prepared."

The new record in Japan, which was set in the race that he said, "I have never left behind," was backed by the thoughts and amount of practice for two years.



After the race, the 71-year-old coach squinted, "I'm finally at the point where I can play the gold medal."

The 24-year-old student vowed to make a leap forward, saying, "Looking at this time, the world will rise in level. I want to raise it as much as I can."



The story of the 47-year-old master-student combination who challenges the world continues this summer.