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Rikako Ikee, Japan swim star, moves up return from leukemia

Related Topics: Rikako Ikee, Japan, Tokyo, swimming

Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee moved up her return to competition from leukemia from October to later this month, according to Japanese media.

Ikee, who was a Tokyo Olympic medal contender before her February 2019 diagnosis, is entered in a 50m freestyle at a meet in Tokyo on Aug. 29, according to the reports.

Ikee, a 20-year-old who was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 100m butterfly in 2018, has repeated that her goal for an Olympic return is the 2024 Paris Games.

“I think my swimming ability has returned to about the level in my first or second year of junior high school,” Ikee said last month, according to a Kyodo News translation.