Another Disappointing Swim for Kitajima at Japanese Nationals

By Hideki Mochizuki

TOKYO, Japan, April 22. THE struggles continue for Kosuke Kitajima, as the double-gold medalist from the Athens Olympics finished second in the 50-meter breaststroke on Saturday at the Japanese National Championships. The five-time defending champ, Kitajima was timed in 28.30, off the winning pace of 28.27, produced by Hiromasa Sakimoto.

Neither swimmer met the Standard I time (27.81) set by the Japanese Swimming Federation, consequently leaving both swimmers short of qualifying for next year’s World Championships in Melbourne. Earlier in the meet, Kitajima placed fourth in the 200 breaststroke and the former world-record holder in the 100 and 200 breast distances is dangerously close to failing to qualify for this summer’s Pan Pacific Championships in Vancouver.

To qualify for Pan Pacs, Kitajima must place in the top three in the 100 breaststroke and meet at least the Standard II time of 1:01.54. Kitajima’s effort in the 50 breast was off the standard II mark of 28.04. If Kitajima doesn’t elevate his performance, there’s a good chance he will be absent from the Melbourne World Champs.

“I don’t have much comment tonight. The result is just so bad,” Kitajima said. “I now only have one chance.”

Duplicating the results of the 400 free, Sachiko Yamada defeated Ai Shibata, the Olympic champ, in the 800 freestyle. Yamada checked in with a time of 8:28.07, easily ahead of the 8:36.74 registered by Shibata. Yamada has qualified for Pan Pacs and the World Champs. The men’s 400 free went to Takeshi Matsuda in a solid time of 3:48.08.

In the men’s 50 backstroke, Tomomi Morita smashed the Japanese record with a time of 25.39. Morita had earlier set a Japanese record in the 100 backstroke by becoming the first man from his nation to crack the 54-second barrier. On the female side, Mai Nakamura also broke the Japanese record with time of 28.56. She was the silver medalist in the 100 backstroke at the Sydney Olympic Games. Nakamura has been focusing on only the 50 backstroke since last year.

Following the Melbourne World Championships, there appeared to be a lull in major international competition leading into the Beijing Olympics. As a result, Japan is planning on hosting a premier event in September of 2007 in the Tokyo area.

Event No. 53 WOMEN 800m Freestyle Final WR 8:16.22
NR 8:23.68
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
100m 200m 300m 400m 500m 600m 700m
1 YAMADA SACHIKO JPN 82 8:28.07 ( 0.75)
1:01.36 2:05.26 3:09.13 4:12.95 5:16.84 6:21.22 7:25.58
2 SHIBATA AI JPN 82 8:36.74 ( 0.86)
1:02.34 2:06.86 3:11.16 4:16.01 5:20.62 6:26.19 7:31.94
3 KIDA YUMI JPN 85 8:45.06 ( 0.70)
1:03.12 2:08.47 3:14.16 4:19.95 5:26.34 6:32.68 7:39.31
4 OCHI MADOKA JPN 85 8:48.48 ( 0.87)
1:04.13 2:10.13 3:16.36 4:22.66 5:28.54 6:35.57 7:42.53
5 YONENAGA CHIKA JPN 86 8:49.45 ( 0.80)
1:02.43 2:07.79 3:13.99 4:20.83 5:28.53 6:36.55 7:44.01
6 IWAI KANAE JPN 85 8:49.88 ( 0.74)
1:02.51 2:08.19 3:15.46 4:22.83 5:30.55 6:37.86 7:45.31
7 KOBAYASHI YUUEN JPN 86 8:52.36 ( 0.87)
1:03.58 2:09.59 3:16.15 4:23.53 5:30.69 6:38.13 7:46.19
8 MIYABE KANAKO JPN 89 8:54.79 ( 0.70)
1:03.25 2:09.65 3:16.99 4:24.43 5:32.31 6:40.42 7:49.07

Event No. 55 WOMEN 50m Backstroke Final WR 28.19
NR 28.62
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
1 NAKAMURA MAI JPN 79 28.56 NR ( 0.59)
2 NAKAMURA REIKO JPN 82 28.85 ( 0.60)
3 ITOU HANAE JPN 85 29.00 ( 0.61)
4 TAKEMURA MIYUKI JPN 89 29.23 ( 0.57)
5 TAKAHASHI SATOMI JPN 87 29.56 ( 0.61)
6 SUZUKAWA ASAMI JPN 90 29.68 ( 0.59)
7 OIKAWA MASAKI JPN 84 29.70 ( 0.56)
8 SAKAI SHIHO JPN 90 29.71 ( 0.50)

Event No. 57 MEN 50m Backstroke Final WR 24.80
NR 25.53
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
1 MORITA TOMOMI JPN 84 25.39 NR ( 0.50)
2 KOGA JUNYA JPN 87 25.49 ( 0.54)
3 YAMAGUCHI MASAFUMI JPN 84 25.53 ( 0.57)
4 OHBAYASHI KAZUKI JPN 89 25.55 HR ( 0.59)
5 MIYASHITA JUNICHI JPN 83 25.63 ( 0.58)
6 UCHIDA SYOHEI JPN 87 26.01 ( 0.51)
7 WATANABE KAZUKI JPN 87 26.04 ( 0.48)
8 AOKI HIDEAKI JPN 85 26.39 ( 0.52)

Event No. 59 WOMEN 50m Breaststroke Final WR 30.45
NR 31.75
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
1 MIWA YOSHIMI JPN 85 32.11 ( 0.74)
2 NAKAMURA SAYAKA JPN 87 32.54 ( 0.79)
3 HASHIMOTO CHIKA JPN 89 32.67 ( 0.72)
4 SATOU KAORI JPN 81 32.72 ( 0.67)
5 MATSUSHIMA MINA JPN 91 32.76 ( 0.80)
6 KAWANABE FUMIKO JPN 84 32.77 ( 0.71)
7 TAMURA NANAKA JPN 87 33.15 ( 0.73)
8 KOITO NODOKA JPN 88 33.36 ( 0.78)

Event No. 61 MEN 50m Breaststroke Final WR 27.18
NR 27.78
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
1 SAKIMOTO HIROMASA JPN 84 28.27 ( 0.66)
2 KITAJIMA KOUSUKE JPN 82 28.30 ( 0.70)
3 OKAZAKI KOUICHIROU JPN 86 28.53 ( 0.68)
4 HONDA YUUKI JPN 85 28.82 ( 0.59)
5 IMAMURA GENKI JPN 82 28.83 ( 0.66)
6 SYONAKA TASUKU JPN 80 28.86 ( 0.63)
7 YOSHIDA MITSUHIRO JPN 82 28.88 ( 0.72)
8 OHSAKI TAKUROU JPN 88 28.90 ( 0.69)

Event No. 63 WOMEN 200m Individual Medley Final WR 2:09.72
NR 2:12.84
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
50m 100m 150m
1 KITAGAWA ASAMI JPN 87 2:15.14 ( 0.75)
30.34 1:06.92 1:44.60
2 FUJINO MAIKO JPN 83 2:16.01 ( 0.73)
29.95 1:03.42 1:43.26
3 MORISHITA AIKO JPN 84 2:16.55 ( 0.63)
29.67 1:04.24 1:44.12
4 AKAGI YUKAKO JPN 85 2:16.78 ( 0.73)
30.61 1:05.85 1:44.64
5 KINOSHITA MIHO JPN 87 2:16.82 ( 0.75)
29.77 1:04.39 1:44.31
6 AMANO MISA JPN 86 2:17.49 ( 0.77)
30.77 1:06.12 1:45.54
7 KATOU IZUMI JPN 90 2:18.00 ( 0.87)
30.11 1:05.86 1:45.66
8 NAKAMURA SAKIKO JPN 90 2:18.85 ( 0.71)
30.01 1:04.49 1:46.42

Event No. 65 WOMEN 100m Freestyle Final WR 53.52
NR 54.97
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
50m
1 URABE NORIE JPN 86 27.52 56.43 ( 0.68)
2 MITA MAKI JPN 83 27.85 56.56 ( 0.75)
3 UEDA HARUKA JPN 88 27.92 56.71 ( 0.79)
4 IWASAKI YUU JPN 85 27.57 56.87 ( 0.82)
5 YAMADA KAORI JPN 81 27.70 57.00 ( 0.82)
6 AOKI KEI JPN 87 27.44 57.01 ( 0.78)
7 TANAKA HIRO JPN 88 27.47 57.25 ( 0.75)
8 SHIGETA CHIEMI JPN 85 27.93 57.64 ( 0.70)

Event No. 67 MEN 400m Freestyle Final WR 3:40.08
NR 3:47.28
Rank Name Nat. YB Time ( R.T.)
50m 100m 150m 200m 250m 300m 350m
1 MATSUDA TAKESHI JPN 84 3:48.08 ( 0.74)
26.26 54.44 1:23.33 1:52.31 2:21.52 2:51.09 3:20.28
2 MATSUMOTO HISATO JPN 84 3:53.17 ( 0.79)
27.32 56.06 1:25.47 1:54.86 2:24.26 2:54.09 3:23.94
3 UCHIDA SYO JPN 87 3:55.05 ( 0.72)
27.95 57.28 1:26.94 1:56.74 2:26.35 2:56.57 3:26.25
4 DOKI KENICHI JPN 88 3:55.90 ( 0.67)
27.39 57.01 1:26.81 1:56.74 2:27.01 2:57.31 3:27.47
5 SAKURAI YUUJI JPN 84 3:56.03 ( 0.66)
26.12 55.06 1:25.08 1:55.91 2:26.40 2:57.09 3:27.49
6 KURITA YASUHIRO JPN 86 3:56.07 ( 0.61)
26.80 55.90 1:25.68 1:55.72 2:25.97 2:56.35 3:26.82
7 MONONOBE YASUNORI JPN 85 3:56.18 ( 0.74)
26.73 55.74 1:25.71 1:55.94 2:26.12 2:56.69 3:26.54
8 MURASAKI YUUTA JPN 85 4:01.81 ( 0.67)
27.70 57.81 1:28.40 1:59.28 2:30.38 3:01.71 3:32.85

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