IMAI Runa

Date of Birth: 15 Aug 2000

Age: 23

Gender: Female

Height (m/ft): 1.66/5'5''

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
Additional Information
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Swimming	Women's 200m Breaststroke	3
	Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
Followed by	Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena	Women's 200m Breaststroke - Heat 2	Finished
	Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena	Women's 200m Breaststroke Final	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Rank	Event	Year	Location	Result
Olympic Games
Semifinal	Women's 200m Individual Medley	2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA	2:12.53
World Championships
5	Women's 200m Individual Medley	2017	Budapest, HUN	2:09.99
Semifinal	Women's 200m Breaststroke	2023	Fukuoka, JPN	2:24.68
Heats	Mixed 4 x 100m Medley Relay	2017	Budapest, HUN	3:53.69
Asian Championships
2	Women's 200m Individual Medley	2016	Tokyo, JPN	2:12.58
East Asian Games
3	Women's 100m Breaststroke	2013	Tianjin, CHN	1:09.08
3	Women's 200m Breaststroke	2013	Tianjin, CHN	2:26.03
World Championships Short Course
2	Women's 100m Individual Medley	2018	Hangzhou, CHN	57.85
4	Mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay	2018	Hangzhou, CHN	1:29.51
4	Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay	2018	Hangzhou, CHN	3:31.68
5	Women's 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay	2018	Hangzhou, CHN	1:37.35
Semifinal	Women's 100m Breaststroke	2018	Hangzhou, CHN	1:06.22
Heats	Women's 200m Breaststroke	2018	Hangzhou, CHN	2:21.85
Mare Nostrum
3	Women's 200m Breaststroke	2016	Barcelona, ESP	2:25.53
4	Women's 100m Breaststroke	2016	Canet-en-Roussillon, FRA	1:08.93
4	Women's 200m Breaststroke	2016	Canet-en-Roussillon, FRA	2:25.60
5	Women's 200m Individual Medley	2016	Barcelona, ESP	2:13.77
6	Women's 200m Individual Medley	2016	Canet-en-Roussillon, FRA	2:14.28
11	Women's 400m Individual Medley	2016	Canet-en-Roussillon, FRA	4:51.68
43	Women's 100m Freestyle	2016	Barcelona, ESP	58.19
DNS	Women's 400m Freestyle	2016	Canet-en-Roussillon, FRA	DNS

Toyo University , Tokyo, JPN

Languages spoken:

Tokyo Dome Sports [Japan]

Masao Iizuka [club], JPN; Yoshimitsu Shimoyama [national], JPN

Sporting relatives:

Her older brother Hikaru has competed in swimming at national level in Japan. (cyclestyle, 04 Mar 2016)

2013 for Japan, East Asian Games in Tianjin, People's Republic of China (sportiva, 07 Sep 2013)

She began swimming at age three in Gifu, Japan. She took up the sport competitively in grade four of primary school. (nikkan-gendai, 31 Dec 2020; cyclestyle, 04 Mar 2016; sportiva, 07 Sep 2013)

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." (Elle Japan YouTube channel, 17 Feb 2020; cocacola, 12 Mar 2019)

To compete in breaststroke at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (jiji, 06 Sep 2022)

Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima. (cocacola, 12 Mar 2019)

Coach Yasuhiro Shibatsuji, who coached her for 10 years before she entered high school. (ctv, 02 Jun 2022)

In 2019 she was given the Gifu Honorary Award in Japan. (gifu-np, 15 Feb 2019)

She received an Excellence Award at the 2017 Japan Aquatic Awards. (swim, 22 Jan 2018)

Additional Information

General
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, 02 Jun 2022)

Legend

:: Bronze Medal
:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event