On the heels of the Japanese Swimming Federation (JASF) revealing its 27-strong lineup for this summer time’s Olympic Video games, the group additionally nominated two athletes as captain and vice-captain for the squad.
Naoki Mizunuma would be the head athlete for Paris, supported by Katsuhiro Matsumoto.
Mizunuma and Matsumoto completed 1-2 within the males’s 100m butterfly on the Japanese Olympic Trials which concluded late final week.
27-year-old Matsumoto clocked a time of fifty.96 with 27-year-old Mizunuma proper behind in a results of 51.23. Each males dipped underneath the JASF-mandated choice normal of 51.43 wanted to qualify for Paris.
Swimming committee chairman Takayuki Umehara stated of the duo, “These two have a number of expertise. We nominated them as a result of we judged them to have the power to deliver issues collectively.”
Paris marks the 2nd Olympic look for each athletes whereas they every have received World Championships medals of their careers.
Mizunuma took 100m fly silver on the 2022 version in Budapest whereas Matsumoto earned 200m free silver on the 2019 Worlds in Gwangju.
Final yr’s Asian Video games noticed Mizunuma seize bronze as a member of Japan’s bronze medal-earning males’s medley relay and Matsumoto topped the boys’s 100m fly podium.
Upon being nominated for the captain position, Mizunuma acknowledged, “That is my first time being the captain of the nationwide workforce.
“There are a number of younger swimmers, so I would like to have the ability to successfully talk with them. I hope we are able to create a workforce the place everybody feels snug.” (Every day Japan)
A complete of 13 swimmers on the Japanese roster for Paris can be first-time Olympians, together with Yu Hanaguruma and Airi Mitsui.
3 swimmers are simply 17 years of age in Mio Narita, Tatsuya Murasa and Mizuki Hirai.