Yamada, Kitajima Lead the Way on Day One of Japanese Nationals

By Hideki Mochizuki and Takahisa Ide

TOKYO, April 22. SACHIKO Yamada and Kosuke Kitajima turned in sparkling performances as the 79th Japanese National Swimming Championships got underway today at Tokyofs 50-meter Tatsumi International Pool. The six-day meet also serves as the selection trials for the upcoming World Championships in July and World University Games.

Only two finals were contested today: the women's and men's 400m freestyle.

Sachiko Yamada breezed to her fifth-straight 400 meter title, clocking 4:08.67, the world's fastest time this year, and winning by almost four-and-a-half seconds.

Shunichi Fujita had almost as easy a time in taking the men's 400, as his 3:50.81 was more than three seconds faster than his nearest challenger.

Two hundred meter breaststroke world record-holder
Kosuke Kitajima set a Japanese record in the 50m breast. Swimming in the semifinals, Kitajima knocked 6-hundredths of a second from from the previous record with a time of 27.99 seconds, taking 24 strokes in the one-lapper.

"I am a bit relieved to have gone under 28 seconds. Being in much better condition compared to last year, I think I can go somewhere around 27.5 in tomorrowfs final. If I could do that, I can break 28 seconds in the first 50m of 100m breast.

The meet marked the return of Masami Tanaka, Japan's top women's breaststroker, who trained in the U.S. for about two years. Tanaka had the fastest seimfinal time in the women's 50m breast, 32.04.

Also returning, after a brief retirement was Junko Onishi, medalist from the 2001 Fukuoka World Champs in the 100m butterfly. Onishi swam the only sub-one minute 100m fly in the semis, touching in 59.78. Backstroke ace Mai Nakamura also returned to the scene after flirting with retirement.

RESULTS

Women 400m Freestyle Final
Rank Name time
1 Sachiko Yamada 4:08.67
2 Ai Shibata 4:13.07
3 Yumi Kida 4:14.03
4 Sawami Fujita 4:17.21
5 Madoka Ochi 4:17.46
6 Yukiko Sakumichi 4:19.33
7 Shigemi Yamaguchi 4:19.48
8 Tomoka Yonenaga 4:21.61

Men 400m Freestyle Final
Rank Name time
1 Shunichi Fujita 3:50.81
2 Takeshi Matsuda 3:53.86
3 Hisato Matsumoto 3:54.19
4 Gen Ishimura 3:54.23
5 Yu Inoue 3:57.89
6 Yuta Amano 3:58.46
7 Yasuhiro Kurita 3:59.50
8 Masashi Adachi 4:03.77

Women 100m Butterfly Semi-Final
Rank Name Time
1 Junko Onishi 0:59.78
2 Yuko Nakanishi 1:00.35
3 Ayako Doi 1:00.72
4 Yurie Yano 1:01.42
5 Saori Haruguchi 1:01.47
6 Kozue Watanabe 1:01.48
7 Yukiko Osada 1:01.60
8 Haruna Kawasaki 1:01.90
9 Junko Nakamura 1:02.21
10 Ayano Kuroki 1:02.27
11 Rina Hayashi 1:02.36
12 Yuka Kato 1:02.41
13 Ayaka Okumura 1:02.50
14 Kitada Asako 1:02.79
15 Aya Nakanishi 1:02.85
16 Taeko Sakan 1:02.86

¡ Men 100m Butterfly Semi-Final
Rank Name Time
1 Ryo Takayasu 53.20
2 Takashi Yamamoto 53.48
3 Kohei Kawamoto 53.64
4 Masahiro Okuno 54.26
5 Kentaro Usuda 54.42
6 Ryuichi Shibata 54.59
7 Yosuke Shimizu 54.81
8 Daisuke Abe 55.07
9 Eiji Sawamura 55.09
10 Takashi Fuji 55.12
11 Yohei Kato 55.18
11 Tadahisa Hashizume 55.18
13 Hiroaki Ino 55.19
14 Kazumasa Matsushita 55.41
14 Hajime Nakajima 55.41
16 Yasutake Takamatsu 55.49

Women 50m Breast Semi-Final
Rank Name Time
1 Masami Tanaka 32.04
2 Ryoko Maruyama 32.34
3 Yuki Hayashi 32.69
4 Sayaka Nakamura 32.75
5 Yoshimi Miwa 32.79
6 Sanae Nawata 32.97
7 Reina Miyazaki 33.15
8 Sayaka Hayashi 33.23
9 Kahori Sato 33.25
10 Migumi Taneda 33.28
11 Yukako Akagi 33.30
12 Nanaka Tamura 33.32
13 Asami Kitagawa 33.35
14 Mai Kiyonobu 33.74
15 Kae Futuma 34.04
16 Yukari Kondo 34.07

Men 50m Breask Semi-Final
Rank Name Time Note
1 Kosuke Kitajima 27.99 NR
2 Hiromasa Sakimoto 28.46
3 Toshiki Saito 28.70
4 Ryosuke Imai 28.82
5 Kazuki Otsuka 28.84
6 Yoshihisa Yamaguchi 28.99
7 Makoto Yamashita 29.05
8 Yoshiyuki Abe 29.12
9 Genki Imamura 29.14
10 Kosuke Nakakura 29.27
11 Hideaki Togo 29.28
12 Taro Ueno 29.30
13 Mitsuhiro Maru 29.40
14 Akihide Kawakubo 29.43
15 Nobuyuki Matsuda 29.48
16 Chikara Nakashita 29.64

Women 50m Freestyle Semi Final
Rank Name time
1 Kaori Yamada 26.19
2 Nanami Urata 26.30
3 AtsumiYamada 26.36
4 Eri Mashima 26.47
5 Natsumi Mizuochi 26.59
6 Haruka Mukai 26.60
7 Nozomi Nakamura 26.68
8 Yu Iwasaki 26.72
9 Norie Urabe 26.75
10 Erina Tsuji 26.77
11 Haruka Aoki 26.78
12 Yuki Kashiya 26.79
13 Natsuko Kazumoto 26.80
14 Megumi Kita 26.91
15 Miho Okuhara 26.96
16 Kaoru Naito 27.02

Men 50m Freestyle Semi Final
Rank Name
1 Tomohiro Yamanoi 22.99
2 Yu Hoshida 23.46
2 Shunsuke Ito 23.46
4 Mizuki Wakabayashi 23.52
5 Naoki Nakura 23.54
6 Issei Nakanishi 23.60
7 Tomohiro Okuno 23.75
8 Nobuyuki Kishida 23.79
8 Ken Yamamuro 23.79
10 Kazuaki Ogasawara 23.87
11 Kiyoshi Sasaki 23.88
12 Yuta Matsuo 23.89
13 Naoki Takeuchi 23.91
14 Yuki Mori 23.93
15 Daisuke Abe 24.01
16 Junpei Kosaki 24.03

Men 200 backstroke semi-final
Rank Name time
1 Takashi Nakano 2:01.09
2 Naoya Sonoda 2:02.20
3 Junichi Miyashita 2:02.40
4 Nobutatsu Okabe 2:03.04
5 Kenta Yamanoi 2:03.23
5 Toshifumi Takeuchi 2:03.23
7 Haruki Takeuchi 2:03.36
8 Tomoaki Giga 2:03.38
9 Yuki Takeuchi 2:03.78
9 Masamu Otsuka 2:03.78
11 Tsuyoshi Kitashita 2:03.82
12 Mizuki Wakabayashi 2:03.86
13 Toru Segawa 2:04.16
14 Tomomi Morita 2:04.31
15 Yasuaki Mori 2:04.53
16 Yamamura Shojiro 2:06.77

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