Japanese Long Course National Championships: First Night Features National Records

By Hideki Mochizuki, Swimming World's Japanese Correspondent

HAMAMATSU, Japan, April 16. THE Japanese Long Course National Championships and World Championship Trials began today in Hamamatsu, Japan. Overall, 1,075 swimmers are registered to compete this week compares to last year's 689. That's a 56 percent jump from last year, and is seen as a result of the recent introduction of speedsuits throughout Japan.

During the preliminary session, Nanaka Tamura clocked a Japanese record in the women's 200 breast with a time of 2:23.29. That effort beat Magumi Taneda's 2007 standard of 2:23.85. Tamura split the race 33.27, 1:09.32, 1:46.50, 2:23.29. Another notable preliminary swim came in the men's 200 breast when Ryo Tateishi posted a time of 2:10.00.

Finals did not hold to seeds in the 200 breaststroke events. Rie Kaneto broke Tamura's short-lived Japanese record with a time of 2:22.33 by splitting the race 33.59, 1:09.94, 1:46.08, 2:22.33. Tamura wound up second in 2:23.12.

"To prepare to the 2012 London Games, I wanted to go at least 2:22," Kaneto said after the record performance. "That's exactly what I wound up doing."

Kaneto is currently a junior at Tokai University and missed the Beijing Games after finishing second in the event just a year ago at Olympic Trials.

On the men's side of the 200 breast, Yuta Suenaga vowed that he is the next Kosuke Kitajima by winning the event in a swift time of 2:08.77. He split the race 29.49, 1:02.01, 1:35.26, 2:08.77 to crush his personal best of 2:10.17. Suenaga graduated from Hosei University last year, and joined Decente, which distributes Arena swim wear in Japan. The top four swimmers broke the 2:10 barrier, but Naoya Tomita grabbed second in 2:09.32. Kitajima still holds the world-record standard with a 2:07.51 from Tokyo last summer.

Takuro Fujii marked a new Japanese record in the men's 100 free with a time of 48.73. He flipped at 23.54 en route to lowering Hisayoshi Sato's national record of 48.91 set in 2007. Fujii is considered to be one of the aces on the Japanese men's team, as he has been quickly improving since last year in both the 100 free and fly.

Ryo Takayasu completed the men's 50 fly in a national-record time with a 23.45. That swim cleared the 23.60 set by Kohei Kawamoto last September in Niigata.

Other event winners included Natsumi Iwashita in the women's 400 free (4:11.60), Yuka Katou in the women's 50 fly (26.47) and Maiko Fujino in the women's 400 IM (4:40.47).

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