Olympic Champs Kitajima and Shibata Upset on Day One of Japanese Nationals

By Hideki Mochizuki

TOKYO, April 20. THE 82nd Japanese National Swimming Championships opened Thursday at the Tatsumi International Aquatic Center in Tokyo. The four-day championship will serve as the selection meet for the Pan Pacs, the Asian Games in December and the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne.

The first surprises were not long in coming when Kosuke Kitajima and Ai Shibata – both gold medalists from the Athens Olympic Games – failed to win their events. Kitajima, who led his race for the first 190 meters before fading in the final 10, ended up with a fourth place finish in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:12.76.

Afterward, he said: “It was lamentable, but I will forget about today and make some positive changes for my next race.”

Kitajima, his coach said, has constant pain in his right elbow and both knees, which led to some difficulties in tapering properly.

Genki Imamura – last year’s winner of this event and a medalist from the Montreal World Championships – was second, only three-hundredths of a second behind Daisuke Kimura, and just .01 ahead of Yuuta Suenaga in third.

“I thought I was winning at 150 meters but I probably paid too much attention to Kosuke (Kitajima),” Imamura said.

Kimura split 30.56 –1:04.07 – 1:38.20 – 2:12.54

Like Kitajima, Ai Shibata was not in gold medal form in her first event, the 400m freestyle, as she finished in 4:12.37, almost three seconds behind Sachiko Yamada’s 4:09.63. The two women swam stroke-for-stroke through the first 200 meters, then Shibata slowly dropped off the pace, falling farther behind with each lap.

“My body did not move, really,” she said after the race. Last March, she was forced to stop training for five days due to lower back pain. Thursday she was unable to pick up the pace on the back half of her race.

Only one Japanese record fell on Day One. Ryo Takayasu clocked 23.91 in the 50m butterfly, lowering the record of 23.94 he set in the prelims. That swim had taken down Kohei Kawamoto’s national record of 24.07 from 2002. In second place, Takuya Kitamoto was also under Kawamoto’s old mark with a 24.04. Kawamoto placed third in 24.14.

In the women’s 50 fly, veterans Yuka Katou and Ayako Doi tied for first at 27.13. The 400 IM went to the defending champion Maiko Fujino in 4:45.86 ahead of fast-closing 15-year-old Izumi Katou, 4:47.90. Asami Kitagawa was fifth at the halfway mark and fourth at the final turn of the women’s 200 meter breaststroke. But she had the most left for the final lap and took the gold in a strong 2:27.90.

In the men’s 100 free, Takamitsu Kojima overtook Daisuke Hosokawa with about 15 meters to go, to win in 50.16. Hosokawa was second in 50.39.

Japan is currently planning to dispatch a full team and contest every event at the Pan Pacs in Victoria, Canada and the Asian Games in Qatar. To select the national team roster, the federation set two qualifying standards. Standard I is extremely fast – equivalent to a medal-winning time at the Olympics.

For the Pan Pacs, the federation can select the top three swimmers per event, provided they all better the Standard II qualifying time. Kitajima today finished fourth in the 200 breast today, but if he betters the Standard II time in the upcoming 50 or 100m breaststroke, he may be able to swim the 200 at Pan Pacs, as there is no limit to the number of swimmers a country can enter in the prelims of each event.

For the World Championships, if a swimmer beats Standard I at this Japan Nationals, the swimmer will automatically be selected for Melbourne.

RESULTS
JAPAN SWIM 2006
Tatsumi International Pool
TOKYO, Japan

WOMEN

WOMEN 400m Freestyle Final WR 4:03.85
NR 4:06.74
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
50m 100m 150m 200m 250m 300m 350m
1 YAMADA SACHIKO JPN 82 4:09.63 ( 0.76)
29.29 1:00.76 1:32.48 2:04.32 2:35.87 3:07.76 3:38.98
2 SHIBATA AI JPN 82 4:12.37 ( 0.88)
29.43 1:00.73 1:32.36 2:04.53 2:36.56 3:08.81 3:40.90
3 YANO YURIE JPN 88 4:14.62 ( 0.80)
29.51 1:01.34 1:33.04 2:05.18 2:37.45 3:10.20 3:42.71
4 KIDA YUMI JPN 85 4:16.82 ( 0.71)
30.36 1:02.24 1:34.62 2:06.88 2:39.33 3:11.89 3:44.75
5 ONO TOMOE JPN 89 4:17.93 ( 0.74)
30.22 1:02.93 1:35.79 2:08.98 2:41.56 3:14.50 3:46.81
6 OCHI MADOKA JPN 85 4:18.13 ( 0.89)
31.09 1:03.87 1:36.58 2:09.33 2:41.97 3:14.48 3:46.77
7 TAKANABE EMI JPN 85 4:18.26 ( 0.77)
29.87 1:02.55 1:35.45 2:08.56 2:41.51 3:14.56 3:47.11
8 YONENAGA CHIKA JPN 86 4:18.45 ( 0.80)
30.64 1:02.58 1:35.21 2:07.69 2:40.60 3:13.58 3:46.88

Event No. 12 WOMEN 50m Butterfly Final WR 25.57
NR 26.75
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
1 KATOU YUKA JPN 86 27.13 ( 0.67)
1 DOI AYAKO JPN 80 27.13 ( 0.74)
3 OSHIMI MASAE JPN 86 27.34 ( 0.85)
4 YAMASHITA YUME JPN 84 27.53 ( 0.66)
5 NAKAMURA MOTOMI JPN 88 27.55 ( 0.75)
6 MIYATAKE YUKI JPN 86 27.61 ( 0.68)
7 HORIKE MIO JPN 83 27.80 ( 0.69)
8 WATANABE KOZUE JPN 86 28.18 ( 0.75)

Event No. 16 WOMEN 400m Individual Medley Final WR 4:33.59
NR 4:35.96
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
50m 100m 150m 200m 250m 300m 350m
1 FUJINO MAIKO JPN 83 4:45.86 ( 0.77)
30.33 1:04.88 1:41.28 2:16.90 2:57.68 3:38.93 4:12.40
2 KATOU IZUMI JPN 90 4:47.90 ( 0.85)
31.37 1:06.85 1:44.34 2:20.81 3:01.40 3:42.00 4:15.64
3 FUJITA SAWAMI JPN 84 4:48.69 ( 0.70)
29.98 1:04.34 1:41.61 2:18.36 3:00.30 3:42.94 4:16.71
4 INOUE MEGUMI JPN 86 4:49.18 ( 0.78)
30.15 1:04.46 1:41.33 2:17.04 2:59.46 3:42.44 4:16.91
5 AMANO MISA JPN 86 4:49.99 ( 0.77)
31.54 1:06.17 1:44.22 2:22.63 3:03.71 3:45.09 4:17.92
6 KAYOU FUMIKA JPN 91 4:52.43 ( 0.79)
31.02 1:06.33 1:45.61 2:23.94 3:04.15 3:44.71 4:19.11
7 NAKAMURA SAKIKO JPN 90 4:55.74 ( 0.81)
31.01 1:06.69 1:44.78 2:22.56 3:05.34 3:48.62 4:22.84
8 YAMASHINA SAKI JPN 88 4:58.51 ( 0.87)
31.41 1:06.74 1:47.50 2:27.53 3:09.09 3:51.13 4:25.78

Event No. 20 WOMEN 200m Breaststroke Final WR 2:21.72
NR 2:24.12
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
50m 100m 150m
1 KITAGAWA ASAMI JPN 87 2:27.90 ( 0.79)
34.85 1:12.77 1:50.37
2 MIWA YOSHIMI JPN 85 2:28.41 ( 0.80)
34.18 1:11.42 1:50.02
3 TAMURA NANAKA JPN 87 2:28.52 ( 0.75)
34.53 1:12.02 1:49.68
4 KAWANABE FUMIKO JPN 84 2:28.95 ( 0.72)
34.34 1:11.94 1:50.21
5 KANETOU RIE JPN 88 2:29.00 ( 0.87)
34.81 1:12.59 1:50.81
6 MURAKAMI YUUMI JPN 90 2:29.08 ( 0.63)
34.91 1:13.20 1:51.35
7 HASHIMOTO CHIKA JPN 89 2:30.92 ( 0.75)
34.70 1:12.91 1:51.51
8 HITOMI SHINO JPN 85 2:31.61 ( 0.66)
35.28 1:13.80 1:52.78

MEN

Event No. 14 MEN 50m Butterfly Final WR 22.96
NR 23.94
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
1 TAKAYASU RYO JPN 81 23.91 NR ( 0.68)
2 KITAMOTO TAKUYA JPN 84 24.04 ( 0.65)
3 KAWAMOTO KOUHEI JPN 79 24.14 ( 0.65)
4 YOKOYAMA YUUKI JPN 84 24.59 ( 0.65)
5 SUGAHARA YOSHIHIRO JPN 84 24.60 ( 0.66)
6 HOTTA KAZUHISA JPN 86 24.62 ( 0.62)
7 TAKAMATSU YASUTAKE JPN 82 24.65 ( 0.64)
8 ABE DAISUKE JPN 82 24.70 ( 0.66)

Event No. 18 MEN 100m Freestyle Final WR 47.84
NR 49.71
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
50m
1 KOJIMA TAKAMITSU JPN 81 24.16 50.16 ( 0.72)
2 HOSOKAWA DAISUKE JPN 82 23.85 50.39 ( 0.66)
3 YAMAMOTO HIROAKI JPN 87 24.36 50.48 ( 0.70)
4 HARA HIDEAKI JPN 74 24.37 50.57 ( 0.64)
5 MATSUNO KEISUKE JPN 83 24.99 50.68 ( 0.63)
6 SATOU HISAYOSHI JPN 87 24.23 50.70 ( 0.71)
7 OKUMURA YOSHIHIRO JPN 83 24.84 50.90 ( 0.70)
8 FUJII TAKUROU JPN 85 24.70 50.99 ( 0.71)

Event No. 22 MEN 200m Breaststroke Final WR 2:09.04
NR 2:09.42
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
50m 100m 150m
1 KIMURA DAISUKE JPN 81 2:12.54 ( 0.81)
30.56 1:04.07 1:38.20
2 IMAMURA GENKI JPN 82 2:12.57 ( 0.68)
30.13 1:03.85 1:38.23
3 SUENAGA YUUTA JPN 85 2:12.58 ( 0.77)
30.03 1:03.94 1:38.39
4 KITAJIMA KOUSUKE JPN 82 2:12.76 ( 0.66)
29.80 1:03.54 1:38.12
5 OKAZAKI KOUICHIROU JPN 86 2:13.10 ( 0.71)
30.69 1:05.08 1:39.63
6 SATOU YUUKI JPN 86 2:14.04 ( 0.74)
30.71 1:04.97 1:39.29
7 NARISAWA YUUICHI JPN 84 2:14.46 ( 0.70)
30.53 1:04.31 1:39.22
8 TAKITA HARUMICHI JPN 85 2:14.52 ( 0.68)
30.45 1:04.28 1:39.49

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