 |
|
| Runa
IMAI |
| Sport |
Swimming |
| NOC |
Japan
|
| Gender | Women |
| Born | 15 Aug 2000
in Gifu, JPN |
| Height | 1.64 m |
|
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|
Sport Specific Information |
Club / Team |
Tokyo Dome Sports: Japan |
General Interest |
Famous relatives |
Her older brother Hikaru has competed in swimming at national level in Japan. (cyclestyle.net, 04 Mar 2016) |
Sport Specific Information |
Why this sport? |
She was influenced by her older brother. She was also inspired by Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima after watching him win gold in the 100m breaststroke at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. "I really liked water. I began thinking about the Olympics seriously because of Kitajima. He is our forever legend." |
Name of coach |
Masao Iizuka [club], JPN; Yoshimitsu Shimoyama [national], JPN |
When and where did you begin this sport? |
She began swimming at age three in Gifu, Japan. She took up the sport competitively in grade four of primary school. |
International Debut |
Year |
2013 |
Competing for |
Japan |
Tournament |
East Asian Games |
Location |
Tianjin, CHN |
Further Personal Information |
Languages |
Japanese |
General Interest |
Awards and honours |
In 2019 she was given the Gifu Honorary Award in Japan. (gifu-np.co.jp, 15 Feb 2019)
She received an Excellence Award at the 2017 Japan Aquatic Awards. (swim.or.jp, 22 Jan 2018) |
Hero / Idol |
Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima. (cocacola.co.jp, 12 Mar 2019) |
Most influential person in career |
Coach Yasuhiro Shibatsuji, who coached her for 10 years before she entered high school. (ctv.co.jp, 02 Jun 2022) |
Ambitions |
To compete in breaststroke at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (jiji.com, 06 Sep 2022) |
Other information |
CHANGE OF ENVIRONMENT
After failing to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she decided to leave her training base at Toyo University and began working with coach Masao Iizuka at Tokyo Dome Sports. "I was surrounded by many great swimmers in such a good environment [at Toyo University], but now I think that it affected me mentally. I didn't really want to swim, so I sometimes just left the pool and skipped training sessions. I hated training and didn't even want to eat, so at some point I became very skinny. I decided to change myself, and I decided to change my environment first. Coach Masao Izukawa never lies, and he believed in my abilities in breaststroke. At that time I needed someone like him." (ctv.co.jp, 02 Jun 2022) |
Olympic Games |
| Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
| Semifinal |
2016 |
Rio de Janeiro, BRA |
200m Individual Medley |
2:12.53 |
World Championships |
| Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
| 9 |
2023 |
Fukuoka, JPN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:24.68 |
| 5 |
2017 |
Budapest, HUN |
200m Individual Medley |
2:09.99 |
| Heats |
2017 |
Budapest, HUN |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
|
World Championships Short Course |
| Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
| 2 |
2018 |
Hangzhou, CHN |
100m Individual Medley |
57.85 |
| Heats |
2018 |
Hangzhou, CHN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:21.85 |
| Semifinal |
2018 |
Hangzhou, CHN |
100m Breaststroke |
1:06.22 |
| 4 |
2018 |
Hangzhou, CHN |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
3:31.68 |
| 4 |
2018 |
Hangzhou, CHN |
4 x 50m Freestyle Relay |
1:29.51 |
| 5 |
2018 |
Hangzhou, CHN |
4 x 50m Freestyle Relay |
1:37.35 |
World Cup |
| Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
| 4 |
2019 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:25.41 |
| 4 |
2019 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Individual Medley |
2:13.17 |
| 4 |
2018 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:20.11 |
| 4 |
2018 |
Tokyo, JPN |
100m Breaststroke |
1:05.36 |
| 37 |
2017 |
|
Overall |
|
| 4 |
2017 |
Beijing, CHN |
200m Individual Medley |
2:09.50 |
| 4 |
2017 |
Beijing, CHN |
100m Individual Medley |
59.00 |
| 2 |
2017 |
Beijing, CHN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:19.77 |
| 4 |
2017 |
Singapore, SGP |
100m Breaststroke |
1:05.91 |
| 5 |
2017 |
Singapore, SGP |
200m Individual Medley |
2:07.09 |
| 4 |
2017 |
Singapore, SGP |
400m Individual Medley |
4:36.50 |
| 8 |
2017 |
Tokyo, JPN |
100m Breaststroke |
1:06.27 |
| 5 |
2017 |
Tokyo, JPN |
100m Butterfly |
57.59 |
| 4 |
2017 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:19.47 |
| 5 |
2016 |
Tokyo, JPN |
4 x 50m Medley Relay |
1:43.04 |
| 7 |
2016 |
Tokyo, JPN |
4 x 50m Freestyle Relay |
1:38.22 |
| 25 |
2014 |
|
Overall |
|
| 6 |
2014 |
Beijing, CHN |
100m Breaststroke |
1:06.73 |
| 8 |
2014 |
Beijing, CHN |
400m Individual Medley |
4:41.79 |
| 2 |
2014 |
Beijing, CHN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:21.74 |
| 3 |
2014 |
Beijing, CHN |
4 x 50m Medley Relay |
1:46.75 |
| 5 |
2014 |
Singapore, SGP |
100m Breaststroke |
1:06.32 |
| 7 |
2014 |
Singapore, SGP |
400m Individual Medley |
4:39.25 |
| 2 |
2014 |
Singapore, SGP |
200m Breaststroke |
2:20.61 |
| 5 |
2014 |
Singapore, SGP |
50m Breaststroke |
31.43 |
| 4 |
2014 |
Singapore, SGP |
4 x 50m Medley Relay |
1:46.63 |
| 3 |
2014 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:21.02 |
| 8 |
2013 |
Tokyo, JPN |
100m Breaststroke |
1:07.70 |
| 5 |
2013 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:23.58 |
Asian Championships |
| Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
| 2 |
2016 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Individual Medley |
2:12.58 |
Asian Games |
| Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
| 3 |
2023 |
Hangzhou, CHN |
200m Breaststroke |
2:26.41 |
| |
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