Japan International Swim Meet: Land of the Rising Sun Hosts Top Times in Day One

CHIBA, Japan, August 21. DAY one of the Japan International Swim Meet boasted some impressive times as international fields looked to make some statements just a year away from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The two-per country A final rule is in effect at this meet. So, SwimmingWorldMagazine.com has decided to give full coverage to both the A and B final results. Those swimmers not making the cut for A finals are still posting some big times in the B heats.

Women's 400 IM
Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry clocked the second-fastest time of the year with a winning effort of 4:36.07 for the Zimbabwe national record. Incredibly, that effort also cut nearly four seconds from her previous personal-best time of 4:39.72 set at the 2005 World Championships. The performance also moved her into fifth all time in the world.

Australia's Stephanie Rice also chopped a bunch of time from her personal-best with a second-place 4:37.18 that also stands as the Australian record. Her previous lifetime best had been a 4:41.19 set at 2007 Worlds in Melbourne. The readout also put her just behind Coventry into sixth all time with the fourth-fastest effort of the year.

Poland's Katarzyna Baranowska wound up third in 4:40.26.

Click Here to view A final results PDF file.

South Africa's Jessica Pengelly nabbed the B final title in 4:45.45, while the United States' Kaitlin O'Brien finished second (4:46.64) and China's Yu Rui touched third (4:47.61).

Notably, Ashley Jones (4:49.14) and Jessica Schmitt (4:50.28) took fourth and fifth, respectively, in the B final.

Click Here to view B final results PDF file.

Men's 200 butterfly
Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski and Japan's Ryuichi Shibata became just the fourth and fifth men under the 1:55 mark as Korzeniowski won in a Polish-record time of 1:54.93 and Shibata placed second in 1:54.99.

Korzeniowski's time dropped his previous personal-best time of 1:55.02 set at the 2005 World Championships, while Shibata dropped down from a 1:55.81 set at 2007 Worlds.

China's Wu Peng, who already stands third in the world all-time with a 1:54.91 at the 2006 Asian Games, took third in 1:56.05.

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Japan's Takashi Yamamoto improved his season best with a B-final winning effort of 1:57.02. Previously, he'd set his top time this year with a 1:57.69 at the Japan Championships in April.

Australia's Nick D'Arcy took second in the B final with a time of 1:57.57, while the United States' tandem of Tyler McGill (1:59.04) and Mark Dylla (1:59.41) finished third and fourth, respectively.

Click Here to view B final results PDF file.

Women's 400 freestyle
Australia's Bronte Barratt cut nearly two seconds off her personal best with a winning time of 4:05.93. That eclipsed her previous best time of 4:07.69 set at the 2007 Duel in the Pool and moved her into the top 10 all time. Barratt's time also erased the oldest record in Swimming Australia's books. The previous national standard of 4:06.28 was set by Tracey Wickham on August 24, 1978 at the FINA World Championships in West Berlin.

The swimming renaissance continues as the oldest records on the books in the World, United States, Japan, Canada and Finland have all recently been wiped out.

Meanwhile, the third-fastest swimmer in the event all time, Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak picked up second-place honors in 4:06.27, well off her top-time of 4:04.23 set at 2007 Worlds.

Great Britain's Caitlin McClatchey closed out the top three with a time of 4:07.12, just shy of her personal-best time of 4:07.02 set in 2005.

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Australia's Kylie Palmer dipped under 4:10 for the first time this year with a 4:09.52 to claim the B final title. Her best time this season had been a 4:10.01 recorded in February.

China's Tan Miao placed second in 4:11.64, while Allison Schmitt of the United States took third in 4:11.93.

Click Here to view B final results PDF file.

Men's 400 freestyle
Korea's Tae Hwan Park enjoyed another head-to-head triumph over Australia's Grant Hackett, as Park closed out the middle-distance event with a first-place 3:44.77. The time sat less than a second off his best effort of 3:44.30 set at the 2007 World Championships, which also made him the fifth-quickest swimmer in the event.

Hackett, already ensconced in the second all-time slot with a 3:42.51 at the 2001 World Championships, took silver in 3:45.27, while Poland's Przemyslaw Stanczyk pocketed bronze in a Polish-record time of 3:45.71. Stanczyk chopped more than two seconds from his previous best time of 3:47.77 set at the 2006 European Championships. The third-place time also moved him into 11th all-time as the 3:45 club added a new member.

Click Here to view A final results PDF file.

Australia's Craig Stevens clipped China's Zhang Enjian to win the B final, 3:50.20 to 3:50.25, while South Africa's Troyden Prinsloo finished third in 3:54.03.

Click Here to view B final results PDF file.

Women's 100 breaststroke
Although she now has several Americans looking to track her down, Lethal Leisel Jones of Australia reminded everyone just who the world record holder is with a time of 1:06.15 to snare the gold medal.

Rebecca Soni of the United States continued her remarkable summer by becoming just the sixth member of the 1:06 club with a time of 1:06.94 for second place. That time nipped her previous best readout of 1:07.06 set at the 2007 U.S. Nationals less than a month ago.

Her teammate Tara Kirk, already the third-quickest performer in the event all-time with a 1:06.34 at 2007 Worlds, took third in 1:07.31.

Click Here to view A final results PDF file.

The United States' Jessica Hardy dominated the B final with a time of 1:08.42, while Japan's Rie Kaneto and China's Wang Qun tied for second with matching 1:10.51s.

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Men's 100 breaststroke
Japan's Kosuke Kitajima and world record holder Brendan Hansen of the United States continue to make sub-1:00 look rather pedestrian for the pair.

Hansen topped the world this year with a 59.59 at 2007 U.S. Nationals in Indy after setting the world record at 59.13 during 2006 U.S. Nationals.

Following suit, Kitajima rocketed to another 59, this time with a 59.74, much swifter than the 59.96 he'd set as his season-best effort at 2007 Worlds.

Australia's Christian Sprenger finished second with a personal-best time of 1:00.76, dropping down from his old mark of 1:00.98 set in June. Meanwhile, the United States' Jon Roberts snagged third-place honors with a 1:00.82 to touch under the 1:01 threshold for the first time in his career. Previously, his top time came with a 1:01.46 just more than a month ago.

Click Here to view A final results PDF file.

Bulgaria's Mike Alexandrov lowered his season-best time to 1:01.04 with a B final triumph to set a Bulgarian record. Previously, he'd topped out this year with a 1:01.08 at the World Championships, which tied Hugues Duboscq for 13th in the world this year.

Meanwhile, Japan's Ryo Tateishi finished second in 1:01.83, while South Africa's Cameron Van Der Burgh placed third in 1:01.93 in the B final.

Click Here to view B final results PDF file.

Women's 400 freestyle relay
The Australian team of Shayne Reese, Melanie Schlanger, Linda Mackenzie and Libby Lenton claimed the title in 3:38.84. The Aussies needed Lenton's last leg of 52.91 to overcome China's push. The Chinese contingent off Tang Yi, Zhu Yingwen, Pang Jiaying and Xu Yanwei clocked a second-place time of 3:39.91 and actually led at the 300-meter mark, 2:45.81 to 2:45.93.

The United States foursome of Kim Vandenberg, Caitlin Andrew, Christine Magnuson and Rachel Komisarz, not all known for their freestyle, finished third in 3:41.26.

Blowback from the way the United States team was assembled will come in the freestyle events. Since most World Championship team members were not included on the U.S. roster, and the qualifying standard stood as the sixth-place times in each event at the 2006 U.S. National Championships, most of the top freestylers from the U.S. did not make the trip primarily because they would have already qualified for other international trips based on sixth-place finishes in 2006.

Click Here to view final results PDF file.

Men's 400 freestyle relay
The Aussies struck again in the men's 400 free relay. The team of Eamon Sullivan, Andrew Lauterstein, Matt Targett and Kenrick Monk won in 3:14.26 with plenty of open water behind them.

Japan's squad of Daisuke Hosokawa, Makoto Ito, Takamitsu Kojima and Hisayoshi Sato set the Japanese national record in the event with a time of 3:18.38, which eclipsed the previous standard of 3:18.95.

China's team of Chen Zuo, Shaohua Huang, Lv Zhiwu and Cai Li took third in 3:18.94, while the United States' quartet of Nick Brunelli, Randall Bal, Todd Patrick and David Cromwell finished fourth in 3:19.41.

Click Here to view final results PDF file.

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