Japanese Young Guns Shin Ohashi and Yumeki Kojima On Show At NSW Sydney Open and Unisport Nationals
2026 NSW SYDNEY OPEN AND UNISPORT NATIONALS EVENT PAGE
A 16-strong all-star Japanese Team featuring teenage sensations Shin Ohashi and Yumeki Kojima will headline this weekend’s 2026 NSW Sydney Open and Unisport Nationals Meet at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.
Swimmers from over 120 Clubs and Universities will converge on the 2000 Olympic venue (May 15-17) which will also play host to this year’s Australian Trials from June 7-13.
Boom 17-year-old Japanese youngsters, breaststroker Ohashi and IMer Kojima will be joined by established stars Katsuhiro Matsumoto, Tatsuya Murasa, Tomoyuki Matsushita and Ippei Watanabe.
Ohashi and Kojima recently set new World Junior records at Japan Swim in March – Ohashi in the men’s 100 and 200m breaststrokes and Kojima in the men’s 200m individual medley.
Ohashi set a new WJR and Japanese National record in the 100 breaststroke, with his 58.67, before lowering his junior standard in the 200m breaststroke with a dominant 2:06.59 – also just shy of Shoma Sato’s Japanese record of 2:06.40 – becoming the seventh fastest 200m breaststroker in history.
Ohashi’s 58.67 would have won him gold at the Paris Olympics, and he now sits on top of the world rankings in both the 100 and 200m breaststrokes as he and his teammates set their sights on the Pan Pacs in Irvine in August.
Ohashi sliced .32 off his former record touching more than two seconds ahead of former world record holder and the first swimmer under 2:07, Ippei Watanabe, now 29, the runner-up in 2:08.57.
The 200m breaststroke on day one of the meet will again feature both Ohashi, Watanabe and emerging Australian Joshua Collett (Bond, QLD) while 2024 World 50 champion and Paris Olympian Sam Williamson (Melbourne Vicentre (VIC) will join the trio in the 100m breaststroke on Day Two.
While in 10 heats of the 50m breaststroke will see all four joined by sprint specialist Grayson Bell (Somerville House, QLD).
MEN’S 200M BREASTSTROKE – WORLD ALL-TIME TOP TEN
| 2:05.48 | Haiyang Qin (CHN)) |
| 2:05.85 | Leon Marchand (FRA) |
| 2:05.95 | Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS) |
| 2:06.12 | Anton Chupkov (Russia) |
| 2:06.40 | Shoma Sato (JPN) |
| 2:06.54 | Matthew Fallon (USA) |
| 2:06.59 | Shin Ohashi (JPN)) |
| 2:06.67 | Ippei Watanabe (JPN) |
| 2:06.67 | Matthew Wilson (Aus) |
| 2:06.85 | Arno Kamminga (NED) |
In the 200IM final at Japan Swim, it was the Olympic and World Championship silver medallist over 400IM, Matsushita and Kojima who put on a real show.
Matsushita, winning in the fastest time of 2026 with his 1:55.71.
But it was the 1:56.53 of the 17-year-old Kojima who bettered the WJR of Hungary’s Hubert Kos, who went 1:56.99 during his junior days, adding to his WJR in the 400IM.
The 200IM in Sydney will see Matsushita up against top Australian hope, World Championship finalist David Schlicht (MLC Aquatic, VIC).
The men’s freestyle events will see local Australian hopes Ollie Moclair (Cranbrook, NSW), Bond University Olympians Flynn Southam and Ben Armbruster up against Japanese and Asian record holder Shuya Matsumoto in 14 heats of the 50m freestyle.
Matsumoto and Moclair the only swimmers in the field to have clocked under 22 seconds – Matsumoto coming in as the fastest entrant with his 21.64 and Moclair with his 21.73, the new Australian 18 Years record he set at the recent Australian Age Championships.
Southam is the fastest entrant for the 100m freestyle on 47.69, followed by Japan’s Matsumoto on 48.27 and Queensland’s Ed Sommerville (Brisbane Grammar, QLD) 48.37.
But it’s the 200m freestyle that promises to be one of the hottest contested events on the program with a host of Japanese swimmers led by 19-year-old young gun Tatsuya Murasa, the 2025 World Championship silver medallist, who will be up against local hopes Sommerville and Southam.
The women’s events will feature Bond University’s 2025 World Championship debutant Hannah Casey in the 50, 100, 200 and 400m freestyles.
Casey, a member of Australia’s all-conquering 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay groups, a heat swimmer in the both gold medal teams from Singapore World’s last year is the top ranked swimmer in the 100m freestyle on 53.83 and the 200m with her 1:56.09.
Japan’s triple Olympian Rikako Ikee and Manly, NSW’s rising star Lillie McPherson will also line up in the 100m freestyle with the pair facing off the 50 and 100m butterfly events.
The women’s backstoke will see Zoe Amundsen (Nudgee College, QLD) in the 50, 100, 200m – joined by Ainsley Trotter (Bond, QLD) in the 50 and 100m and Japan’s Olympic 400 IM finalist and Singapore silver medallist Narita Mio in the 100m.
Mio will be the star attraction in the 200 and 400IM alongside fellow country woman Shiho Matsumoto, a semi-finalist over 200IM at the Paris Olympics.
2026 NSW SYDNEY OPEN AND UNISPORT NATIONALS EVENT PAGE