On the 5th, the Japan Championships in Athletics, which will be the representative selection for the Tokyo Olympics, was held on the 3rd day of the competition, and eight new athletes, including Katsuhiro Matsumoto, were appointed as representatives.
The Japan Championships, which also serves as the representative selection for the Tokyo Olympics, held the finals of the 4th men's and women's events on the afternoon of the 5th of the 3rd of the tournament.
Of these, in the men's 200-meter freestyle, Matsumoto won the championship at 1: 44.65, which set his own Japanese record, and broke the standard dispatch record set by the Japan Swimming Federation and was appointed as the representative of the Tokyo Olympics in this event. did.
In addition, since this race also serves as a representative selection for the men's 800m relay, there are four players, Matsumoto who won the race, Konosuke Yanagimoto in second place, Kosuke Hagino in third place, and Kotaro Takahashi in fourth place. The total time broke the standard dispatch record, and all of them were nominated as representatives.
In the men's 100-meter backstroke, Ryosuke Irie won the championship in 53.13 and was nominated as the representative of this event.
Irie will be participating in the Olympic Games for four consecutive tournaments.
In the women's 100-meter breaststroke, Kanako Watanabe won the championship at 1: 6: 51, and Reona Aoki finished second at 1: 6: 56, both of which were nominated as representatives of this event.
Watanabe will be participating in the Olympic Games for the third consecutive tournament.
In the women's 100-meter backstroke, Anna Konishi won the championship at 59.93 and could not break the standard dispatch record for individual events, but she broke the standard dispatch record for the medley relay and was appointed as the representative of the Tokyo Olympics.
Matsumoto Overwhelming strength
Katsuhiro Matsumoto showed overwhelming strength in the men's 200m freestyle final.
As he said before the tournament, "I will race like fighting in the Olympics", I got out early and took the lead of 0.76 seconds faster than my own Japanese record, taking the lead of one body in 2nd place and 100 meters. I turned it back.
In the second half, he gradually expanded his lead and grew steadily in the last spurt.
In the final stage, he did his best with "No Breath" without breathing, and the result was an overwhelming victory with a difference of nearly 3 seconds to 2nd place.
He won the ticket for the Tokyo Olympics with a time of 1'44.65, which set his own Japanese record of 0.48 in January.
Matsumoto is 24 years old from Fukushima prefecture.
He specializes in freestyle swimming, and has a dynamic swim that makes use of his large physique, which is 1 meter and 86 centimeters tall and weighs over 80 kilograms.
Since 2017, I have been strengthening my strength under the guidance of coach Yoji Suzuki, who raised Daichi Suzuki, a gold medalist at the Seoul Olympics.
What he is most good at is the men's 200-meter freestyle with thick walls in the world, and under coach Suzuki, who is known for his rigorous practice, at the 2019 World Championship, Kosuke Hagino broke the Japanese record and became the first Japanese player. I won the silver medal which is the medal of.
For the Tokyo Olympics, we have pursued "easy and fast swimming" to reduce the number of strokes without slowing down the swimming speed so that we can save more physical strength for the last spurt that we are good at.
The goal is to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, which will be his first appearance.
After the race, Matsumoto said, "By setting this time, the world will rise again. I knew that it was going well for the summer, so I would like to strengthen it again." I tightened it.
The 24-year-old, who said, "I want to take the top of the world once," is steadily preparing to shine on the stage of the Olympics.
4 consecutive Olympics Irie "Finally I can sleep slowly"
Ryosuke Irie, who won the men's 100-meter backstroke and was appointed as the representative of the Tokyo Olympics, is 31 years old from Osaka prefecture.
He specializes in backstroke and has a beautiful form that does not shake the axis of the body and high technology.
The 100-meter and 200-meter Japanese records set in the high-speed swimwear era have not been broken for more than 10 years.
He won three medals at the London Olympics, including 200 meters of silver.
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics missed the medal and thought about retiring at one point, but decided to challenge the Tokyo Olympics, which was involved in the bid activity, and for more than two years from 2017, moved the practice base to San Diego, California, USA and is the top player in each country. We strengthened it with a professional team that gathers.
After returning to Japan, my injured lower back has recovered and I have been able to focus on strength training.
We are aiming for the podium for the first time in two tournaments at the Tokyo Olympics, which will be the fourth consecutive tournament with a swim that has increased strength in addition to technology.
Irie said in a relieved manner, "I was so nervous yesterday night that I thought I wouldn't get used to the Olympic selections no matter how many times I tried. I can finally sleep slowly."
On top of that, he said, "I wanted to be on the same team as great players like Ikee and Matsumoto. I'm a little disappointed with today's time, so I want to break the standard dispatch record and win the championship even at 200 meters."
Third Olympics Watanabe "This time the goal is achieved"
Kanako Watanabe, who won the women's 100-meter breaststroke and was appointed as the third Olympic representative, is 24 years old from Tokyo.
He specializes in breaststroke and has a big swim with a long stretch.
He was noticed early on and participated in the London Olympics at the age of 15, and won the world championship at the age of 18, but the Rio de Janeiro Olympics lost in the semifinals due to pressure and thought about leaving swimming for a while.
After becoming a member of society in the spring of the year, I decided to change my mind and aim for the Tokyo Olympics under the guidance of coach Yoshiaki Takemura, who moved the practice base from the university to the club and received guidance until the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
In the summer, I broke my left elbow during track and field training, but gradually recovered and achieved the double crown of 100 meters and 200 meters for the first time in five years at the Japan Championships in December last year.
Watanabe said, "I was very nervous, but I was relieved that I was able to decide safely." Regarding the swim in the final, "I was thinking of doing my own race. I also won here. I think I'm confident. "
For the Olympics, I was enthusiastic, "I haven't been able to achieve results in the two competitions so far, so I hope I can achieve my goal this time."
Aoki "Aggressive race even in production"
Reona Aoki, who finished second in the women's 100-meter breaststroke and was appointed as the representative of the Tokyo Olympics, is 26 years old from Tokyo.
With a strong kick that specializes in breaststroke and creates great propulsion, he has been strengthened by the head coach of Japan national team Norimasa Hirai, who has been instructed since junior high school.
At the 2019 World Championships, she is in the position to aim for the top of the world by finishing in 4th place, which is close to 4/100 seconds to the medal in the women's 100-meter breaststroke.
Coach Hirai, who raised Kosuke Kitajima and others, said, "As a material, I will be one of the three fingers I have taught so far." Let's aim to win a medal.
After the race in the final, he said, "I was confident in the speed. I was able to gain strength in the second half, but I am happy to win the representative right."
For the Olympics, he said, "I don't think I can fight with this record yet. I want to race aggressively from the first half of the race and finish with good results."
High 3 Yanagimoto 800m relay representative
Konosuke Yanagimoto, who finished second in the men's 200m freestyle and was appointed as the representative of the men's 800m relay, is from Saga prefecture and is a 17-year-old third-year high school student.
My specialty is freestyle, and I have been strengthening myself at Nihon Univ. Toyoyama High School in Tokyo, where I went on to study away from my parents.
He has a dynamic swim that makes the most of his height of over 1 meter and 80 centimeters, and has a high school record in 100 meters freestyle.
At the Japan Championships in December last year, only one high school student advanced to the men's 200m freestyle final and finished fifth.
"I was thinking of doing my own race without worrying about the surroundings," he said with a breath of breath, and was delighted to say, "I'm looking forward to swimming with my great seniors on the Olympic stage."
Hagino 3rd place 800m relay representative
Kosuke Hagino, who finished third in the men's 200m freestyle and was appointed as the representative of the 800m relay, is 26 years old from Tochigi prefecture.
He participated in the 2012 London Olympics as a third year high school student and won the first bronze medal in this event in the men's 400-meter individual medley.
After entering university, he studied under Norimasa Hirai, the head coach of Japan, who raised Kosuke Kitajima, and won a gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics as a Japanese ace. Won three medals: gold, silver and bronze.
However, after that, the slump continued due to the surgery on the right elbow of the old injury, and from March, he left the competition for about 3 months and took a rest.
After returning to the race, I continued to challenge the 400-meter individual medley, which is considered to be the toughest in terms of physical strength, but I could not achieve stable results.
While aiming for the podium for the third consecutive tournament at the Tokyo Olympics, for this tournament, in consideration of the burden during the tournament, we will miss the 400-meter individual medley and give priority to becoming a representative in the 200-meter individual medley. I was making a decision.
Hagino, who responded to the interview after the race of the final, said, "The time was late, but I was able to concentrate and get higher than the semi-final. I'm glad, "he said plainly.
In addition, he is planning to participate in the second event remaining in this tournament, and he renewed his spirit, saying, "I want to set a time to compete with the world firmly in my personal medley. I want to actively do a good race including backstroke."
Takahashi who entered the representative in 4th place "I do not feel it"
Kotaro Takahashi, who finished 4th in the men's 200m freestyle and was appointed as the representative of the 800m relay, is 27 years old from Shizuoka prefecture.
He specializes in freestyle swimming and became the first Japanese national team in the adult world championships.
Naito Ehara, who belongs to the Self-Defense Forces and was in the same period, participated in the training when he participated in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics five years ago.
With regret as a spring, I steadily gained strength and extended my time, aiming to participate in the Olympic Games for the first time.
After missing out on the Rio de Janeiro Olympics five years ago, he spent his days training the Self-Defense Forces he belonged to along with training.
After the race of the final, "I was aiming to be a representative and I was confident that I could go, but I still do not realize it. It has been about two years since the Olympics have become a reality. The moment I touch it, I wonder if I can really go. I thought. Among the athletes who can go to the Olympics, I came up from the bottom, so I want to swim to give courage to everyone. "
Konishi "I still have a lot to do, so I want to do my best"
Anna Konishi, a 24-year-old from Hyogo prefecture, won the women's 100-meter backstroke, broke the standard record for dispatching medley relays, and was appointed as the Olympic representative.
I specialize in backstroke.
He has a strong swim that makes use of his tough upper body trained by weight training, and won the silver medal in the women's 100-meter backstroke at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
In the Japan Championships, he did not reach the championship in the 4th place in the adult tournament aiming for the 3rd consecutive victory in the 100-meter backstroke, and in the previous tournament in December last year, he did not reach the championship in 2nd place. I did.
After the race of the final, "I'm glad that I haven't got any results since I became a member of society, and I'm glad I can give back to the people of the company who took care of me. I was talking.
Seto 200m butterfly to the final
After the final race, the semi-finals were held in the 3rd event, and Daiya Seto, who is aiming for the 3rd event's representative offer, decided to advance to the final with the men's 200m butterfly.
In the semi-finals of the men's 200-meter butterfly, Seto, who has already been nominated as the representative of the Tokyo Olympics in the second individual medley event, has participated in this event as well.
Seto showed a strong swim from beginning to end in the first group of the semi-finals and finished at 1: 55.56, deciding to advance to the final in 1st place and 2nd place overall in this group.
Seto said, "I have pride as a Japanese record holder, and I've been fighting the world for a long time, so if I don't win here, I can't win the world. , I want to set a good time even in the current state. "
In addition, Yui Ohashi, who has been nominated as a representative in the 400-meter individual medley on the 3rd, and Rika Omoto, the representative of the adult world championship, participated in the semi-finals of the women's 200-meter individual medley, and ranked first overall. Each advanced to the final in 2nd place.
Ohashi said, "I think I was able to race as I imagined. I want to swim aggressively from the first half like today's Matsumoto and challenge my record."
Omoto said, "I was able to swim with my body moving in the qualifying, but I wanted a little more time in the semi-finals. I want to take a rest for tomorrow. In the finals, I want to update my personal best and definitely take the representative right." I was talking.