Kitajima Closes Out Japanese Nationals With Win in 100 Breast

By Hideki Mochizuki

YOKOHAMA, Japan, April 24. KOSUKE Kitajima finished a disappointing Japanese Nationals Sunday with a victory in the 100-meter breaststroke, an event in which he’s the reigning World and Olympic champion. The triumph arrived three days after Kitajima failed to qualify in the 200 breast for the World Champs in Montreal.

Splitting 28.82 at the 50-meter mark, Kitajima covered the 100 distance in 1:00.89, well off his personal-best time of 59.78. In Montreal, Kitajima will contest the 50 and 100 breast events. However, he will not have the chance to defend his crown in the 200 distance.

“Well, there should be a lot of reflection from this meet,” said Kitajima’s coach, Norimasa Hirai. “As a coach, I have to admit that something may have been lacking over the course of preparation. We were probably not as desperate like other competitors. Kosuke suffered from (the) flu and an ankle sprain in early spring and those things may have been influencing, but at the end of the day, no excuse.”

Sachiko Yamada qualified for Montreal in her last attempt, as she claimed first place in the women’s 1,500 freestyle. Yamada, who trains under Bill Rose with the Mission Viejo Nadadores, covered the metric mile in 16:20.16. Yumi Kida was second in 16:27.91.

Takeshi Matsuda won his fourth race of the competition when he bested the field in the 800 freestyle, thanks to a time of 7:58.74. Meanwhile, Reiko Nakamura won the women’s 200 backstroke in 2:10.22 and Takashi Nakano took the distance dorsal for the men (1:58.79).

Kaori Yamada won the women’s 50 free (26.12), Makoto Ito claimed the men’s sprint (22.95) and Hidemasa Sano won the men’s 200 individual medley (2:00.68). The women’s 100 butterfly went to Yuko Nakanishi (59.46) and the men’s 100 fly was dominated by Ryo Takayasu (52.67). The 100 breast for the women was captured by Sayaka Nakamura (1:09.74).

DAY FOUR RESULTS

Women’s 1500 Freestyle

1. Sachiko Yamada 82 8:40.21 16:20.16 ( 0.83)
1:02.13 2:07.19 3:12.50 4:17.80 5:23.12 6:28.73 7:34.28
8:40.21 9:46.37 10:52.07 11:58.19 13:04.04 14:10.06 15:15.94
2. Yumi Kida 85 8:41.46 16:27.91 ( 0.79)
1:03.47 2:08.65 3:13.88 4:19.38 5:24.79 6:30.08 7:35.66
8:41.46 9:47.52 10:53.81 12:00.39 13:07.43 14:14.89 15:21.81
3. Kanae Iwai 85 8:49.48 16:42.73 ( 0.75)
1:03.00 2:08.38 3:14.30 4:20.61 5:27.45 6:34.54 7:41.78
8:49.48 9:56.67 11:04.40 12:12.21 13:20.08 14:28.48 15:37.05
4. Tomoka Yonenaga 86 9:00.54 17:01.88 ( 0.87)
1:04.79 2:13.14 3:20.59 4:27.74 5:35.64 6:44.00 7:52.09
9:00.54 10:09.10 11:18.04 12:26.52 13:35.60 14:44.99 15:53.78
5. Kanako Miyabe 89 9:00.06 17:04.27 ( 0.79)
1:03.37 2:10.79 3:18.57 4:26.39 5:34.30 6:42.32 7:50.87
9:00.06 10:09.24 11:18.74 12:27.98 13:38.12 14:48.62 15:58.39
6. Yui Hashimoto 88 9:04.37 17:06.63 ( 0.82)
1:05.79 2:13.80 3:21.72 4:29.94 5:38.29 6:46.81 7:55.80
9:04.37 10:13.22 11:22.72 12:31.50 13:40.58 14:49.75 15:58.73
7. Tamaki Iioka 86 9:03.55 17:12.21 ( 0.83)
1:05.89 2:13.71 3:21.72 4:29.93 5:38.16 6:46.41 7:54.66
9:03.55 10:12.32 11:21.39 12:31.06 13:40.80 14:50.95 16:01.61
8. Haruna Iwai 85 9:05.94 17:13.70 ( 0.81)
1:06.63 2:14.63 3:22.66 4:31.02 5:39.56 6:48.48 7:56.99
9:05.94 10:15.55 11:25.57 12:35.52 13:45.86 14:56.53 16:06.22

Men’s 800 Freestyle

1. Takeshi Matsuda 84 7:58.74 ( 0.80)
56.44 1:56.06 2:56.81 3:58.00 4:59.35 6:00.50 7:01.30
2. Yota Arase 82 8:04.59 ( 0.74)
57.94 1:58.82 3:00.15 4:01.43 5:02.89 6:04.03 7:05.21
3. Takehiro Miyajima 86 8:06.38 ( 0.77)
57.11 1:58.09 3:00.20 4:02.64 5:04.26 6:06.74 7:08.40
4. Gen Ishimura 85 8:09.96 ( 0.68)
57.81 1:59.03 3:00.83 4:02.60 5:04.53 6:06.99 7:09.60
5. Kenichi Doi 88 8:11.36 ( 0.67)
58.15 1:59.29 3:01.25 4:03.66 5:06.31 6:09.14 7:11.89
6. Takenori Satake 83 8:12.41 ( 0.76)
58.62 2:00.62 3:02.50 4:04.99 5:07.52 6:10.15 7:12.81
7. Yuichi Yamada 84 8:13.11 ( 0.65)
57.92 1:59.80 3:01.65 4:04.03 5:06.16 6:09.56 7:13.42
8. Yuki Takayama 82 8:15.45 ( 0.91)
59.11 2:00.79 3:02.82 4:05.38 5:08.14 6:10.97 7:13.88

Women’s 50 Freestyle

1. Kaori Yamada 81 26.12 ( 0.74)
2. Nanami Urata 84 26.26 ( 0.72)
3. Kaoru Naito 86 26.31 ( 0.75)
3. Atsumi Yamada 82 26.31 ( 0.72)
5. Eriko Mashima 83 26.36 ( 0.76)
6. Kei Aoki 87 26.47 ( 0.80)
6. Natsuko Kazumoto 83 26.47 ( 0.70)
8. Norie Urabe 86 26.50 ( 0.66)

Men’s 50 Freestyle

1. Makoto Ito 86 22.95 ( 0.70)
2. Daisuke Hosokawa 82 23.10 ( 0.72)
3. Hitoshi Sasaki 85 23.36 ( 0.66)
4. Naoki Takeuchi 82 23.39 ( 0.69)
5. Yuta Matsuo 85 23.51 ( 0.62)
6. Naoki Nakura 81 23.52 ( 0.68)
7. Masayuki Kishida 85 23.57 ( 0.68)
8. Yuto Hoshida 82 23.62 ( 0.66)

Men’s 200 IM

1. Hidemasa Sano 84 2:00.68 ( 0.64)
25.81 56.37 1:31.83
2. Jiro Miki 83 2:01.34 ( 0.66)
26.35 57.32 1:32.08
3. Yuta Shoji 84 2:01.38 ( 0.73)
26.74 57.04 1:32.53
4. Taishi Okude 83 2:01.85 ( 0.67)
26.81 58.32 1:32.98
5. Ken Takakuwa 85 2:02.88 ( 0.63)
26.55 57.53 1:33.71
6. Takuro Fujii 85 2:03.99 ( 0.77)
26.38 58.39 1:34.33
6. Shinya Taniguchi 81 2:03.99 ( 0.79)
27.04 59.11 1:34.70
8. Shodai Fujimoto 84 2:04.04 ( 0.61)
26.65 58.38 1:34.36

Women’s 200 Backstroke

1. Reiko Nakamura 82 2:10.22 ( 0.60)
31.23 1:04.53 1:37.60
2. Hanae Ito 85 2:11.16 ( 0.63)
31.30 1:04.90 1:38.44
3. Aya Terakawa 84 2:11.82 ( 0.57)
30.77 1:03.99 1:37.99
4. Takami Igarashi 84 2:12.91 ( 0.61)
31.31 1:05.47 1:39.05
5. Yoshiko Saito 83 2:13.50 ( 0.59)
31.36 1:04.64 1:38.75
6. Tomoyo Fukuda 89 2:13.87 ( 0.63)
31.38 1:05.67 1:40.26
7. Sachi Takemura 89 2:14.02 ( 0.56)
31.24 1:05.23 1:39.93
8. Arisa Murakawa 83 2:14.91 ( 0.55)
31.69 1:05.44 1:39.86

Men’s 200 Backstroke

1. Takashi Nakano 84 1:58.79 ( 0.53)
27.96 58.01 1:28.69
2. Tomomi Morita 84 1:58.84 ( 0.50)
28.09 58.17 1:29.06
3. Kazuki Watanabe 87 2:00.62 ( 0.55)
28.27 58.99 1:30.26
4. Masafumi Yamaguchi 84 2:00.89 ( 0.60)
27.63 57.72 1:28.95
5. Yuki Takeuchi 83 2:02.09 ( 0.57)
28.87 59.83 1:31.02
6. Ryosuke Irie 90 2:02.12 ( 0.56)
28.90 59.81 1:31.41
7. Takashi Takemoto 87 2:02.44 ( 0.51)
28.85 59.89 1:31.24
8. Toshifumi Takeuchi 83 2:03.61 ( 0.54)
28.16 59.14 1:31.87

Women’s 100 Butterfly

1. Yuko Nakanishi 81 27.98 59.46 ( 0.68)
2. Kozue Watanabe 86 28.50 1:00.75 ( 0.80)
2. Ayako Doi 80 28.25 1:00.75 ( 0.74)
4. Mio Horiie 83 29.04 1:00.87 ( 0.74)
5. Rina Hayashi 87 28.78 1:01.04 ( 0.73)
6. Natsuki Akiyama 91 28.68 1:01.07 ( 0.75)
7. Reina Yoshitani 85 28.61 1:01.10 ( 0.74)
8. Ayano Kuroki 86 29.21 1:01.61 ( 0.77)

Men’s 100 Butterfly

1. Ryo Takayasu 81 24.58 52.67 ( 0.68)
2. Ryuichi Shibata 83 25.37 53.67 ( 0.64)
3. Masanori Okuno 81 25.06 53.74 ( 0.68)
4. Kohei Kawamoto 79 24.91 53.91 ( 0.65)
5. Takuma Kato 84 25.50 54.13 ( 0.65)
6. Tadahisa Hashizume 82 25.52 54.21 ( 0.66)
7. Yoshihiro Sugawara 84 25.21 54.27 ( 0.66)
8. Yuki Yokoyama 84 25.57 54.42 ( 0.69)

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

1. Sayaka Nakamura 87 33.82 1:09.74 ( 0.86)
2. Fumiko Kawanabe 84 33.50 1:10.19 ( 0.76)
3. Yuko Sakaguchi 79 33.74 1:10.34 ( 0.72)
4. Asami Kitagawa 87 33.53 1:10.42 ( 0.75)
5. Yoshimi Miwa 85 33.23 1:10.45 ( 0.84)
6. Manami Hotta 89 33.72 1:10.51 ( 0.73)
7. Nanaka Tamura 87 34.39 1:10.55 ( 0.76)
8. Megumi Taneda 86 33.88 1:10.64 ( 0.69)

Men’s 100 Breaststroke

1. Kosuke Kitajima 82 28.82 1:00.89 ( 0.71)
2. Genki Imamura 82 29.22 1:01.55 ( 0.69)
3. Makoto Yamashita 83 28.79 1:01.77 ( 0.69)
4. Yohei Nakagawa 84 29.58 1:02.34 ( 0.76)
5. Hironari Sakimoto 84 29.61 1:02.52 ( 0.69)
6. Yuta Suenaga 85 29.66 1:02.82 ( 0.71)
7. Takao Matsueda 87 29.50 1:02.93 ( 0.83)
8. Taiki Kawagoe 84 30.03 1:03.16 ( 0.76)

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