On the 2th, the second day of the Japan Swimming Championships, which serves as the selection process for the World Championships, Ryosuke Irie won his 5th consecutive title in the men's 100-meter backstroke and was selected for the national team.
The Japan Swimming Championships are held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center in Koto-ku, Tokyo, as part of the selection process for the World Championships to be held in Fukuoka City in July.
In the individual events, the athlete who breaks the record set by the Japan Swimming Federation for this World Championship in the final race and finishes in the top two will be selected for the Japan national team.
On the second day of the Games, on the 7th, six events were held, of which 2-year-old veteran Irie competed in the final of the men's 2-meter backstroke.
From the start, he came back at a pace that approached his own Japan record in the first half.
In the second half, my speed slowed down and my time of 5.6 seconds fell short of my target of the mid-100s range, but I won my 33th consecutive title in this event and met the time requirements to represent Japan at the eighth World Championship.
Ryosuke Irie: "I want to do it with a strict eye"
Ryosuke Irie shared his frank thoughts, saying, "I feel that I can't get a good time because my time is slow, but now that I have been selected for the national team, I think I will start again for the World Championships in the summer."
Looking back on the race, he said, "The first half was good, but the second half was very choked, so we need to work on it for the future."
He renewed his determination for the eighth World Championship, saying, "Even if we win Japan, I don't think we can compete at the world level, so we want to play with a strict eye."
Men's 200m Freestyle: Katsuo Matsumoto wins sixth consecutive title
In the men's 200-meter freestyle, Katsuo Matsumoto, who became the first Japan athlete to win a medal at the 2019 World Championships, jumped out from the start and continued to swim strongly in the second half of the race to win his sixth consecutive title with a time of 0:33.1, 44.98 seconds short of his own Japan record.
Women's 100m breaststroke Reoki Aoki wins back-to-back titles, national team unofficial offer
In the women's 100-meter breaststroke, Reoki Aoki, the Japan record holder in this event, won back-to-back titles with a time of 1:5.89, while 3-year-old Satomi Suzuki, a three-time Olympic medalist from Fukuoka Prefecture, finished second with a time of 32:1.6, but missed out on a spot in the local world championships because she fell 88.2 seconds short of the time requirement.