Japan Open: National Record Book Takes Another Pounding; Ryosuke Irie Joins 1:54 Club in 200 Back

TOKYO, Japan, June 7. THE second night of swimming at the Japan Open featured another national record onslaught. Meanwhile, Ryosuke Irie rocketed up from his darkhorse candidacy for an Olympic medal and into being a true contender with a 1:54 in the 200 back.

The first national record of the day fell in the women's 50 fly. Yuka Katou blasted a time of 26.34 to whack half-a-second from her own national record of 26.72 set last summer. The time is the fifth best in the world this year. Inge Dekker (25.89), Therese Alshammar (25.91), Chantal Groot (26.03) and Anna-Karin Kammerling (26.32) are the only better times.

Kosuke Kitajima then added his second national record of the meet with a blistering time of 27.65 in the men's 50 breast. That performance surpassed his 27.78 set at the 2005 World Championships. The time is the seventh best in the world this year, behind Cameron van der Burgh's 27.59 and ahead of Matiaz Markic's 27.72.

Takeshi Matsuda followed in the men's 400 free when he lowered his national standard to 3:47.26. That clipped his previous best of 3:47.28 also set at the 2005 World Championships.

The next event, Reiko Nakamura snatched her second record of the meet in the women's 200 back. She clocked a time of 2:08.34, downing her previous standard of 2:08.54 set at the 2007 World Championships. Nakamura's time also is among the top five in the world this year, behind Alexianne Castel's 2:07.94 and ahead of Zhao Jin's 2:08.41. Meanwhile, Shiho Sakai broke the national high school record with a second-place time of 2:09.58.

The men's 200 back also featured a record when Irie destroyed the previous record with a 1:54.77. He cut two seconds from his previous best of 1:56.53 set in January, and became just the fourth member of the 1:54 club as he finished just half-a-second off Ryan Lochte's world record of 1:54.32. Only Aaron Peirsol (1:54.44) and Michael Phelps (1:54.65) have faster times.

Other titles went to Izumi Katou in the women's 400 IM (4:40.52), Ryuichi Shibata in the men's 400 IM (4:17.73), Kouhei Kawamoto in the men's 50 fly (23.87), Nanaka Tamura in the women's 50 fly (32.34), Ai Shibata in the women's 400 free (4:11.63), Haruka Ueda in the women's 100 free (55.05) and Takurou Fujii in the men's 100 free (49.01).

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