Securing a spot in his first-ever Olympics may have brought a sense of relief, but Katsuhiro Matsumoto will not fully be satisfied until he accomplishes his ultimate goal at the Tokyo Games.

While many athletes have had to handle difficult situations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in their training, Matsumoto appears to have coped fairly well under extraordinary circumstances.

His result in Monday’s men’s 200-meter freestyle at the national championships proved that he is on the right track ahead of the Olympics. Matsumoto eclipsed his own national record — which he last renewed in January — by nearly half a second with a time of 1 minute, 44.65 seconds.