The swimming competition to select representatives for the Paris Olympics began on the 17th.
In the women's 100m butterfly qualifying round, Rikako Ikee, who is aiming for her third consecutive Olympic appearance, advanced to the semi-finals with her personal best time after her recovery from illness.
This year's competition is a "one-shot contest" in which participants who can beat the time set by the Japan Swimming Federation called the "Dispatch Standard Record" in the final and finish in the top two will be selected to represent the individual event at the Paris Olympics. It will be a battle.
The tournament opened on the 17th at the Tokyo Aquatics Center in Koto-ku, Tokyo, with qualifying rounds held in the morning.
In the women's 100m butterfly qualifying round, Ikee, who is aiming for her third consecutive Olympic appearance, and Mizuki Hirai, a rapidly growing 17-year-old swimmer, swam in the same group.
In the race, Ikee led the way for the first 50 meters, but Hirai swam at speed in the second half and took the lead, passing the preliminaries in first place with a time of 57.23 seconds.
Second place in qualifying was Ikee, whose time of 57.54 seconds was her personal best time since her recovery from leukemia.
Hirai said, ``I swam well.In the semifinals, I want to gain momentum from the first half and make it my personal best.''
Ikee also said, ``I had a good race because I felt excited and nervous and it was fun, and I'm happy that I got this time. I think it's happening," he said.
The tournament will be held for eight days, ending on the 24th of this month, and NHK will be broadcasting the semi-finals and finals live on General TV and E-Tele.