Japanese Olympic Trials, Day 4: Morita and Yamada Set Japanese Records

By Hideki Mochizuki

TOKYO, April 23. TWO more records were washed away today, the fourth day of the Japanese Olympic Trials in Tokyo. Tomomi Morita and Sachiko Yamada accounted for the new standards.

The first Japanese record to fall today came, once again, in the menfs backstroke. And omnce again it was Tomomi Morita who did the record-smashing. Morita took out Hajime Itoifs 1992 record of 1.59.49 by touching in 1.59.10.

Moritafs splits: 27.91, 58.10, 1.29.30, 1:59.10.

Using his spectacular sprint talent at the start, Morita was about his short height (169cm) ahead of the pack when he surfaced and he just kept adding to his lead.

Morita broke the 100m backstroke Japanese record just two days ago, recording 54.40. Tonight he also confirmed his participation in the 200m backstroke in Athens as he bettered the Japanese federation standard for the Games. In the past, Morita has specialized only in the 100 meters but now he has emerged as the top backstroker over 200 meters –at least in Asia.

Morita commented: hI still donft know if 1.59 will be good enough, so I want to go under 1.59 in tomorrowfs final.h

On the womenfs side, Sachiko Yamada swam the 800 meters in an impressive 8.23.68, a new Japanese record. Coming within a whisker of Hannah Stockbauer's world-leading time of 8.23.66, Yamada said, gI was fighting with an invisible rival during the race. I decided to go out fast from the beginning. The strategy was to hang in there from 600m, which was successful tonight.h

In the World Championships in Barcelona, Yamada failed even to qualify for the finals in all the races she swam. She was absolutely devastated and almost quit swimming. However, at last Decemberfs US Open, she won both the 400 and 800m freestyle. This helped her regain her confidence and she began training vigorously again.

Yamada was pushed all the way by Ali Shibata, who touched in a fast PR of 8:27.61.

In the men's 200m butterfly, Takeshi Matsuda stopped Takashi Yamamotofs bid for a third consecutive win in this event at the National Championships, 1:56.14 to 1:56.26 But both men confirmed their Olympic tickets.

Yamamoto commented: gI felt really light after semis, so I went out quite fast (his splits: 25.79-54.97-1.25.06-1.56.26) but died just a bit at the end. But I donft care so much about this loss. The most important thing was to grab a ticket to the Athens. Now, perhaps Matsuda and I are both strong contenders for medals.h

Matsuda used a gcome-from-behindh strategy and outswam Yamamoto in the last 5 meters. Hiis splits: 26.27, 55.40, 1.25.58, 1:56.14. Yesterday he broke the Japanese record in the 1500m freestyle in 15.09.52. His strength lies in the latter half of the race.

gI am so happy that I could win tonight. I was believing in my capability and gave it everything for the last 50m.h

Matsuda is famous for his training volume as he swims 30K a day in his peak training period.

He changes the side on which he breathes, from right to left, every 25 meters.

In an interview, he told SwimInfo: gI changed my breathing technique since the end of last season. Now both sides of my body are balanced. This was one of the causes for my improvement in the 1500m.h

Women 100m freestyle
Tomoko Hagiwara, although she owns Japan record in 100m freestyle, 200 IM and 200m backstroke, decided to focus on only 50m and 100m freestyle. In todayfs semifinal, she placed second with 56.45.

SEMIFINALS

Women's 100m Freestyle Semi-Final (Japan record: 54.97) Top 8 swimmers
1 Tomoko Nagai 1981/05/10 26.90 55.60
2 Tomoko Hagiwara 1980/04/13 27.28 56.45
3 Norie Urabe 1986/12/02 27.25 56.50
4 Kei Aoki 1987/09/03 27.56 56.80
5 Kaori Yamada@1981/09/20 27.43 57.15
6 Haruka Ueda 1988/04/27 28.10 57.52
7 Atsumi Yamada 1982/05/07 27.86 57.57
8 Kaoru Naito 1986/06/09 27.92 57.65

Men's 100m Freestyle Semi-Final Top 8 swimmers(Japan record:50.32)
1 Daisuke Hosokawa 1982/04/18 24.33 50.68
2 Hideaki Hara 1974/09/15 24.61 50.77
3 Takamitsu Kojima 1981/05/25 24.63 50.85
4 Yoshihiro Okumura 1983/05/09 24.94 50.86
5 Ken Takakuwa 1985/03/25 24.40 51.08
6 Makoto Ito 1986/02/27 24.45 51.12
7 Naoki Nakura 1981/12/21 24.58 51.18
8 Yuji Sakurai 1984/09/13 25.23 51.19

Women's 200m Butterfly Semifinal Top 8 swimmers (Japan record:2:08.08)
1 Yuko Nakanishi 1981/04/24 2:09.83
29.72 1:02.68 1:36.35
2 Maki Mita 1983/04/22 2:11.49
29.35 1:02.63 1:36.84
3 Yurie Yano 1988/06/24 2:12.07
29.78 1:03.86 1:38.25
4 Yukiko Osada 1981/05/14 2:12.86
30.16 1:04.19 1:38.74
5 Kozue Watanabe 1986/04/10 2:12.95
30.27 1:04.31 1:38.86
6 Megumi Sasaki 1986/07/29 2:13.92
30.20 1:04.59 1:39.16
7 Saori Haruguchi 1987/01/20 2:14.04
30.35 1:04.02 1:38.51
8 Asako Kitada 1983/04/27 2:14.26
30.23 1:04.16 1:38.79

Men's 200m backstroke Semifinal (Japan record: 1:59.49)
1 Tomomi Morita 1984/08/22 1:59.10 NEW JAPAN RECORD
27.91 58.10 1:29.30
2 Takashi Nakano 1984/07/21 1:59.90
28.49 58.57 1:29.13
3 Kenta Yamanoi 1982/09/23 2:01.41
28.74 59.03 1:30.20
4 Naoya Sonoda 1982/12/31 2:01.61
28.65 59.60 1:31.08
5 Toshifumi Takeuchi 1983/05/09 2:02.32
28.48 59.50 1:31.32
6 Yuki Takeuchi 1983/03/24 2:02.39
28.91 59.75 1:30.94
7 Junichi Miyashita 1983/10/17 2:02.43
28.55 59.88 1:31.65
7 Shohei Uchida 1987/01/09 2:02.43

Men's 200m Breaststroke Semifinal (Japan record:2:09.42)
1 Kosuke Kitajima 1982/09/22 2:14.03
29.61 1:03.24 1:38.07
2 Genki Imamura 1982/03/17 2:14.60
30.39 1:04.55 1:39.26
3 Taiki Kawagoe 1984/01/24 2:15.12
30.73 1:04.74 1:39.96
4 Hiroshi Amamitsu 1981/11/09 2:15.29
31.11 1:06.08 1:40.61
5 Yusuke Nakayama 1983/07/30 2:16.00
31.07 1:05.66 1:40.76
6 Yuki Sato 1986/09/30 2:16.11
31.44 1:06.11 1:40.64
7 Yuta Suenaga 1985/04/07 2:16.20
30.88 1:05.58 1:40.82
8 Daisuke Kimura 1981/08/23 2:16.42
30.94 1:05.07 1:40.13

FINALS
Men's 200m Butterfly FINAL (Japan record:1:55.52)
1 Takeshi Matsuda 1984/06/23 1:56.14
26.27 55.40 1:25.58
2 Takashi Yamamoto 1978/07/23 1:56.26
25.79 54.97 1:25.06
3 Makoto Muto 1984/10/29 1:57.46
26.90 56.76 1:27.05
4 Ryuichi Shibata 1983/12/14 1:59.10
26.34 55.51 1:26.26
5 Yu Kondo 1981/06/02 1:59.32
27.06 57.42 1:28.03
6 Kentaro Usuda 1983/06/16 1:59.67
26.34 56.26 1:27.43
7 Yusuke Aihara 1982/10/04 1:59.75
26.71 56.92 1:27.82
8 Ryusuke Sakata 1985/12/25 2:00.29
27.47 57.90 1:28.70

Women's 200m IM FINAL (Japan record: 2:12.84)
1 Misa Amano 1986/10/15 2:16.57
30.96 1:05.96 1:44.67
2 Yukako Akagi 1985/03/11 2:17.36
30.44 1:05.93 1:44.68
3 Aoi Mizushima 1983/05/31 2:17.70
30.49 1:05.83 1:45.34
4 Tsukushi Irita 1987/04/22 2:17.76
30.67 1:06.62 1:45.88
5 Chiemi Shigeta 1985/04/27 2:18.07
29.49 1:05.43 1:46.83
6 Rina Ueda 1990/01/11 2:18.08
30.39 1:06.25 1:45.78
7 Sawami Fujita 1984/04/25 2:18.50
29.84 1:04.92 1:46.87
8 Hiromi Takeuchi 1986/01/07 2:19.65
30.19 1:04.72 1:46.63

Women's 800m Freestyle FINAL (Japan record:8:25.62)
1 Sachiko Yamada 1982/10/15 8:23.68 NEW JAPAN RECORD
1:00.57 2:04.05 3:07.40 4:10.88 5:14.34 6:17.89 7:21.29

2 Ai Shibata 1982/05/14 8:27.61
1:01.20 2:04.89 3:08.74 4:12.59 5:16.64 6:20.80 7:24.83

3 Yumi Kida 1985/06/30 8:39.57
1:01.79 2:05.85 3:10.56 4:15.84 5:21.52 6:27.71 7:34.10

4 Tomoka Yonenaga 1986/07/10 8:46.38
1:02.60 2:08.15 3:14.42 4:21.57 5:28.14 6:34.56 7:41.39

5 Ai Mizoguchi 1986/04/21 8:49.58
1:02.96 2:08.75 3:15.15 4:21.93 5:28.92 6:35.98 7:42.99

6 Kanae Iwai 1985/07/27 8:51.85
1:02.00 2:07.60 3:14.38 4:21.45 5:29.28 6:37.36 7:45.33

7 Madoka Ochi 1985/03/24 8:56.01
1:03.52 2:10.24 3:17.03 4:24.19 5:31.66 6:39.46 7:47.85

8 Yukiko Tsukurimichi 1986/02/05 8:58.93
1:03.97 2:10.37 3:16.95 4:23.95 5:31.21 6:39.47 7:49.54

Men 1500m Freestyle FINAL (Japan record:15:09.52)
1 Takeshi Matsuda 1984/06/23 8:08.58 15:15.00
58.45 1:59.73 3:01.45 4:02.65 5:04.22 6:05.81 7:07.10
8:08.58 9:09.86 10:10.96 11:12.20 12:13.88 13:16.07 14:17.73

2 Yota Arase 1982/01/19 8:07.49 15:26.73
57.95 1:58.95 3:00.33 4:01.51 5:02.83 6:04.26 7:05.74
8:07.49 9:09.87 10:11.80 11:14.81 12:18.52 13:22.85 14:26.21

3 Yuki Takayama 1982/08/11 8:15.09 15:30.45
59.07 2:00.84 3:03.10 4:05.36 5:07.84 6:10.24 7:12.74
8:15.09 9:17.55 10:20.17 11:22.57 12:25.16 13:27.70 14:29.97

4 Gen Ishimura 1985/09/24 8:17.88 15:32.77
59.05 2:01.28 3:04.38 4:06.87 5:09.87 6:12.41 7:15.29
8:17.88 9:20.55 10:23.12 11:25.90 12:28.84 13:32.16 14:34.53

5 Shunichi Fujita 1982/05/27 8:11.64 15:35.70
57.01 1:57.96 2:59.74 4:01.77 5:04.03 6:05.85 7:08.61
8:11.64 9:14.97 10:18.64 11:22.40 12:26.91 13:30.78 14:34.48

6 Yu Inoue 1982/09/07 8:14.50 15:36.97
58.10 1:59.65 3:01.84 4:04.21 5:06.71 6:08.74 7:11.44
8:14.50 9:17.83 10:20.77 11:23.89 12:26.83 13:29.78 14:33.58

7 Takehiro Miyajima 1986/01/19 8:20.51 15:51.79
57.26 1:59.94 3:02.15 4:04.43 5:08.32 6:12.44 7:16.50

8:20.51 9:25.01 10:29.38 11:34.41 12:39.00 13:43.93 14:48.75
Atsushi Nagano 1983/12/22 DQ

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