Updated

Updated · SwimSwam · Aug 14

Pan Pacific Day 2 Shatters 8 Meet Records in Irvine as McIntosh, Alexy and Berkoff Strike Gold

Updated

Updated · SwimSwam · Aug 14

Pan Pacific Day 2 Shatters 8 Meet Records in Irvine as McIntosh, Alexy and Berkoff Strike Gold

Q: How did a rising Japanese star finally shatter Ryan Lochte’s seemingly untouchable 16-year-old Pan Pac record in the 400 IM?

Tomoyuki Matsushita broke it by controlling the race from the start and then surviving Carson Foster’s late charge, touching in 4:06.75 to erase Ryan Lochte’s 16-year-old Pan Pac championship record of 4:07.59. The Japanese standout had signaled the record was vulnerable in the morning, when he swam 4:07.61 in prelims, just 0.02 off Lochte’s mark in the same Irvine pool. In the final, Matsushita led throughout, building his race through the butterfly and backstroke and staying steady enough on breaststroke to keep Foster from drawing even before the freestyle. Foster made his move on the last 100 meters, out-splitting Matsushita by roughly half a second on the closing leg, and the two finished almost side by side. But Matsushita had created just enough of a cushion earlier in the race to hold on by 0.36 seconds, with Foster taking silver in 4:07.11. Bobby Finke was third in 4:07.59, matching the old record but still finishing behind the new standard. The swim confirmed Matsushita’s rise from contender to world-class force in the event. Already the Olympic and world silver medalist, he had gone sub-4:07 for the first time earlier in the year, and this performance made him the ninth-fastest performer in history. It also underscored Japan’s remarkable depth in the 400 IM, with Matsushita backed by countrymen Asaki Nishikawa and world junior record-holder Yumeki Kojima during a loaded day for the Japanese squad.

Q: Why did a brutal preliminary swim-off eliminate a potential swimming medalist before the championship finals even began in Irvine?

A potential medal contender was knocked out before the Pan Pac finals because of the meet’s two-per-country rule, which forced an extra 400 IM swim-off among Japanese teammates after the prelims. In the men’s 400 individual medley heats, Japan actually produced the three fastest swimmers overall: Tomoyuki Matsushita in 4:07.61, then Yumeki Kojima and Asaki Nishikawa tied at 4:08.69. But Pan Pacific rules allow only two swimmers from each nation into the championship final. Since Kojima and Nishikawa were tied for Japan’s second qualifying spot, they had to race again in a same-day swim-off to decide who advanced. That extra race was the “brutal” part. Instead of swimming the event twice in one day — prelims and final — one of them had to swim it three times if he reached the final. Nishikawa won the swim-off in 4:13.84, while Kojima faded to 4:27.43 and was relegated to the B final, despite being one of the three fastest men in the morning. So the swimmer eliminated was not beaten by the international field in prelims; he was beaten by the format. Kojima had even set a new world junior record in prelims, yet still could not make the medal race because Japan’s depth triggered the nationality cap. That is why a genuine medal threat was gone before the championship final even started in Irvine.

3 articles · Updated · SwimSwam · Aug 14

Eight championship records fell on Day 2 in Irvine, led by Summer McIntosh’s 4:28.01 in the women’s 400 IM and Tomoyuki Matsushita’s 4:06.75 in the men’s race.
Sprint finals kept the record run going: Jack Alexy won the men’s 100 free in 47.14, Meg Harris upset Gretchen Walsh in the women’s 100 free at 52.60, and Van Mathias took the men’s 100 breast in 58.02.
Katharine Berkoff delivered the night’s biggest national mark, winning the women’s 50 back in 26.90 to break her own American record, while Quintin McCarty captured the men’s 50 back in a meet-record 24.51.
Close finishes shaped other medals: McKenzie Siroky won the women’s 100 breast in a career-best 1:05.32, Agostina Hein set an Argentine record of 4:32.54 for 400 IM bronze, and Shin Ohashi lowered the world junior 100 breast mark to 58.54.
The results underscored U.S. depth across strokes and distances, but Australia, Canada, Japan, China, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico all reached the podium on a record-heavy second night.