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Narita clocks 4:36.03 400 IM, Honda clocks 1:54.68 200 Fly at Kanagawa tune-up meet

Narita clocks 4:36.03 400 IM, Honda clocks 1:54.68 200 Fly at Kanagawa tune-up meet

10th SUMMER CHALLENGE MEETING (JPN)

  • Saturday June 29 and Sunday June 30
  • Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan
  • LCM (50 m)
  • Day 1 Recap
  • Results

Several Japanese stars participated in the 10th Summer Challenge Meet to hone their skills and prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games which will begin in about a month.

A handful of them repeated the events they competed in yesterday, including the 17-year-old Tatsuya Murasa who competed in the 200m freestyle both days.

Yesterday, the teenager recorded a winning result of 1:46.59 to set a new lifetime best and a Japanese national high school record.

Tonight, Murasa was half a second off that mark, clocking a still impressive 1:47.09.

This brought him to the wall in front of the national champion Katushiro Matsumoto who settled for silver in 1:48.41. Konosuke Yanagimoto also reached the podium with a time of 1:48.72 for bronze.

33 Years Satomi Suzuki She won the women’s 200m breaststroke on the first day with a time of 2:25.30 and repeated the event tonight.

The Olympic qualifier touched in 2:24.56 to go just under a second faster, decisively winning the race as the only swimmer to dip under the 2:30 barrier. She won this event at the Japanese Olympic Trials with a time of 2:23.09.

Teenager My Narita posted an impressive time of 4:36.03 en route to the top step of the podium in the women’s 400m individual medley.

This took the advantage over the finalist Waka Kobori who clocked 4:38.56 while Ageha Tanigawa took bronze in 4:45.04.

At just 17 years old, Narita is the third-fastest Japanese athlete in the women’s 400m individual medley in history. She clocked 4:35.40 at the Olympic trials in Japan, so tonight’s outing fell just over half a second off the teenager’s all-time fastest with Paris on the horizon .

Finally, in the men’s 200m butterfly, Olympic silver medalist Tomoru Honda improved on his 1:55.72 from yesterday.

Tonight, the 22-year-old clocked 1:54.68 to get the job done, splitting 25.29/28.66 (53.95)/29.71/31.02 (1:00.73).

After the race, Honda told Asian media: “I swam well up to 150 (meters). If I can get things in order in the last 50 meters, I think I can compete in real life.

I would like to achieve a time of around 1 minute 51 seconds in the (Olympic) final and win the gold medal. (Nikkan Sports)

Additional notes

  • Genki Terakado squeezed into the wall ahead of Matsumoto in the men’s 100m butterfly, the former touching in 51.66 to the latter’s 51.70.
  • The men’s 200m breaststroke saw Yu Hanaguruma clocked 2:09.76 and won the gold medal.