FINA World Cup, Tokyo: Japanese Swimmers Take Over Final Prelim Session of World Cup

TOKYO, Japan, November 12. ONE day after Takeshi Matsuda nearly set the first short course world record of 2011, what will the final day of competition in the 2011 FINA World Cup bring as Chad Le Clos and Therese Alshammar prepare to collect their $100,000 bonuses?

Men's 1500 freestyle
Japan posted the fastest three times of the early heats of the timed final event, with Ayatsugu Hirai swimming a 14:51.41. Hiroaki Aratini was second with a 15:00.97 and Masatoshi Asou was third with a 15:06.15.

Women's 100 freestyle
Cate Campbell of Australia put up the fastest time of the preliminaries with a 53.59. China's Tang Yi qualified second with a 53.65 and Japan's Haruka Ueda was third in 53.74. Also set to compete in the final are Australia's Merindah Dingjan (53.90) and Libby Trickett (54.34) and a trio of swimmers from Japan: Hanae Itou (54.34), Yayoi Matsumoto (54.41) and Tomoko Hagiwara (55.00).

Men's 200 freestyle
After putting a scare into the 200 butterfly world record in yesterday's final, Takeshi Matsuda posted the fastest qualifying time in the 200 free with a 1:46.17. Syogo Hihara of Japan was second with a 1:46.31 and Kyle Richardson of Australia was third with a 1:46.70.

Chad Le Clos will be looking for his first win of the Tokyo meet with a fourth-place qualifying time of 1:46.96. Pu Wenjie of China was fifth in 1:47.05. Japan took places six through eight: Hirotada Noritake (1:47.41), Masataka Mishima (1:47.54) and Syunsuke Kuzuhara (1:47.67).

Women's 50 breaststroke
Olivia Halicek and Leiston Pickett will be looking for a 1-2 Australian finish in tonight's final after taking the top two spots after prelims with times of 30.81 and 31.01, respectively. Hye Jin Kim of Korea qualified third with a 31.18, just ahead of Japan's Mina Matsushima, who was fourth in 31.19.

Also making the final were Da Rae Jeong of Korea (31.55), Saya Fujimoto of Japan (31.74), Rie Kanetou of Japan (31.76) and Miku Kanasashi of Japan (31.83).

Men's 100 breaststroke
Ryo Tateishi and Kosuke Kitajima will lead a talented field of breaststrokers into the final, qualifying first and second in 59.30 and 59.35, respectively. Christian Sprenger of Australia was third in 59.56.

Also in the final will be Japan's Naoya Tomita (59.56) and Akihiro Yamaguchi (59.59), Australia's Brenton Rickard (59.66), Kouhei Tominaga of Japan (59.67) and Ryo Kobayashi of Japan (59.70).

Women's 400 individual medley
Japan was all over the early heats of this event, with Saki Miyagi posting the fastest time with a 4:39.88. Second place went to Tomoyo Fukuda, who swam a 4:40.91, ahead of Mizuho Tanaka's 4:41.43.

Men's 100 butterfly
Takeshi Matsuda of Japan earned his second top spot for the final with a time of 51.39, leading a 1-2-3-4 Japanese showing: Ryo Takayasu (51.40), Kazuya Kaneda (51.63) and Kouhei Kawamoto (51.68). Sam Ashby of Australia (51.96), Syota Hara of Japan (52.07), Hiroki Katou of Japan (52.38), and Chris Wright of Australia (52.40) will also be in the final.

Women's 100 backstroke
Aya Terakawa qualified first in the event with a 57.89, ahead of world record holder Shiho Sakai, who swam a 58.41. Rachel Goh of Australia was third in 58.74. Also in the final will be Hanae Itou (59.03), Grace Loh (59.19), Sayaka Akase (59.25), Eri Tabei (59.45) and Momoko Nakamura (59.98).

Men's 50 backstroke
The top five qualifying spots went to Japanese swimmers, led by Junya Hasegawa with a time of 24.45. Junya Koga was second with a 24.56, Motoaki Miyama was third with a 24.65, Yamato Ujibayashi qualified fourth in 24.73 and Tetsuya Iwata was fifth with a 24.74. Ryan Pini of Papua New Guinea qualified sixth with a 24.80, with Japan's Masafumi Yamaguchi (24.82) and Seiji Taniguchi (24.85) also made the final.

Women's 200 butterfly
Japan's Natsumi Hoshi qualified first in 2:08.05. Chise Hosaka of Japan was second in 2:09.95 and Korea's Hye Ra Choi was third in 2:10.10.

Rounding out the championship final field will be Japan's Hiroko Sugino (2:10.14), Japan's Ayana Miwa (2:10.19), Martina Granstroem of Sweden (2:10.20), and Japan's Fujino Shigenobu (2:10.22) and Yai Watanabe (2:10.24).

Men's 200 individual medley
Kosuke Hagino of Japan posted the quickest time in prelims with a 1:56.00. Countryman Takuto Ueki was second in 1:56.62 and South Africa's Chad Le Clos was third with a 1:57.07.

Rounding out the top eight finishers were Kosuke Kitajima of Japan (1:57.32), Yuuya Horihata of Japan (1:57.69), Hidemasa Sano of Japan (1:57.83), Travis Nederpelt of Australia (1:57.85) and Takurou Fujii of Japan (1:57.96).

Women's 400 freestyle
Blair Evans of Australia was well ahead of the competition, posting a 4:04.60 in prelims. The second qualifier was Melissa Ingram of New Zealand with a 4:07.57, and China's Ren Luomeng was third with a 4:08.23. China's Wang Fei (4:08.27), Japan's Asami Chida (4:08.54), Japan's Marie Kamimura (4:09.23), Australia's Merindah Dingjan (4:09.96) and Atsuyo Yoshida of Japan (4:10.31) will also be in the final.

Men's 50 freestyle
Japan's Kenta Ito (21.87) and Ryo Ishii (21.98) were the top qualifiers ahead of France's Alain Bernard (22.05). The other swimmers lining up for the final will be Makoto Itou of Japan (22.08), Australia's Kyle Richardson (22.16) and three other swimmers from Japan: Shinri Shioura (22.20), Kenji Kobase (22.30) and Yuuki Kawachi (22.35).

Women's 200 breaststroke
Japan's Rie Kanetou qualified first in 2:20.75, just ahead of second-place finisher Mio Motegi of Japan (2:21.09).

Also qualifying for the final were Saya Fujimoto of Japan (2:21.30), Da Rae Jeong of Korea (2:22.93), Ayumi Koshiyama of Japan (2:23.31), Su Yeon Back of Korea (2:23.43), Keiko Fukudome of Japan (2:23.59) and Joline Hoestman of Sweden (2:23.65).

Women's 100 individual medley
Tomoko Hagiwara of Japan took the top spot in prelims with a time of 1:01.14. Her countrywoman Miho Teramura placed second in 1:01.35 and Zhao Jing of China was third in 1:01.52.

Rounding out the championship final field will be Japan's Emu Higuchi (1:01.57), Asami Kitagawa (1:01.59) and Chihiro Igarashi (1:01.75), Australia's Olivia Halicek (1:02.05) and Tomoyo Fukuda (1:02.11).

Men's 200 backstroke
Colombia's Omar Pinzon, who had nearly posted the fastest 200 back in the world last week in Beijing, qualified first with a 1:53.75. Japan took spots two through seven: Yuuki Shirai (1:53.90), Takahiro Yamazaki (1:54.51), Takashi Nakano (1:54.63), Takeshi Kawamoto (1:55.16), Masaki Kaneko (1:55.51) and Kazuki Watanabe (1:55.68). Jan-Philip Glania of Germany rounded out the top eight with a 1:56.20.

Women's 50 butterfly
Yuka Katou of Japan qualified first with a 25,85. In her only prelim swim of the day, Therese Alshammar will have one more chance to add to her assured lead in the points standings with a second place time of 26.10. Japan occupied positions three through eight in the final: Rino Hosoda (26.68), Miho Teramura (27.02), Ayako Asano (27.04), Kaho Nagai (27.10), Masako Kuroki (27.15) and Chika Dobashi (27.16).

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