102nd JAPANESE INTERCOLLEGIATE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Thursday, September 3rd – Sunday, September 6th
Osaka, Towa Pharmaceutical Lactab Dome
LCM (50m)
Results

The 102nd Japanese Intercollegiate Swimming Championships concluded tonight in Osaka, with some of the nation’s best swimmers diving in for a tune-up chance ahead of this month’s Asian Games.

Following up on his monster 400m IM performance of 4:05.83 from night one, Olympic silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita put up another solid outing to take gold in the 200m IM.

21-year-old Matsushita stopped the clock at a speedy result of 1:55.51 to beat the back by well over two seconds.

The ace split 25.11/29.33 (54.44)/33.53/27.54 en route to defeating Yuta Watanabe and Kosuke Makino, who picked up the minor medals in times of 1:57.94 and 1:58.34, respectively.

This performance checked in as a new lifetime best for Matsushita, overtaking his former PB of 1:55.60 established last November at the Japan Open.

He now ranks #1 in the world this season, represents Japan’s 2nd-fastest man in history and is the 14th-best performer all-time worldwide.

Top 5 Japanese Men’s LCM 200 IM Performers All-Time

Kosuke Hagino – 1:55.07, 2016
Tomoyuki Matsushita – 1:55.51, 2026
Daiya Seto – 1:55.55, 2020
Kosuke Makino – 1:55.85, 2025
Yumeki Kojima – 1:56.53, 2026

2Yuta
WatanabeJPN1:57.9409/033Kosuke
MakinoJPN1:58.3409/034Ryo
KatoJPN1:59.3909/035Riki
AbeJPN1:59.7209/03View Top 6»

A trio of men delved under the 52-second barrier in the 100m butterfly, with Yoshitoku Narushima leading the field in a mark of 51.27.

Trailing in 3rd place at the halfway mark, Narushima turned on the jets to keep Shoon Mitsunaga at bay, with Mitsunaga settling for silver less than half a second behind in 51.57.

Seiya Shinkai rounded out the podium in 51.62.

Mitsunaga is Japan’s 5th-swiftest performer of all time in this event, courtesy of the 51.08 he put on the books at the Japan Swim in March.

Narushima’s time at this competition sliced .04 off his previous best-ever of 51.31, while Shinkai also notched a new PB with his 51.62 erasing the 51.78 logged at the Japan Swim.

Not to be overlooked was the fact that 21-year-old Mitsunaga put up two spicy replay splits during the course of the meet.

Yesterday, he clocked a head-turning anchor of 47.26 on his squad’s medley relay and the day before that he turned in a remarkable 47.33.

Additional Notes

World Championships medalist Mio Narita dominated the women’s 200m IM, posting 2:10.51 to get to the wall over two seconds ahead of her competitors. Her time of 2:09.16 from last year’s World Championships remains her lifetime best, ranking her 4th among Japan’s all-time performers.
The men’s 400m free saw its competition record go down at the hands of Asaki Nishikawa. The 20-year-old Junior Pan Pacific Championships multi-medalist cracked a mark of 3:46.07 to overtake the former meet mark of 3:47.59. Kazushi Imafuku was right behind in 3:56.51, as Daichi Yamamoto also landed on the podium in 3:48.77, good enough for bronze.
20-year-old Kotomi Kato got it done for gold in the women’s 200m breast, with her outing of 2:21.72 clearing the pack by nearly three seconds.
After nabbing a new Japanese national record of 47.83 in the men’s 100m freestyle earlier in the competition, World Championships bronze medalist Tatsuya Murasa notched a solid split of 1:45.12 as 2nd leg on his squad’s 4x200m free relay.