Kosuke Kitajima On The Record

By Hideki Mochizuki, Swimming World Japanese correspondent

TOKYO, Japan, April 3. DURING the second day of the Japanese Olympic Trials, Kosuke Kitajima once again showed his quest to be the best in the world in 100m breast at London besting his personal best by one hundredth of second in its 27.69-58.90 effort. The following is excerpt that he had to say after the race.

– It gives me a satisfactory feeling tonight compared to Trials of 4 or 8 years ago. I could show high level performance tonight. It was so frustrating last year at the World (ending up 4th in 100m breast) and it was good that I did not give up on this.

– Personal best tonight will boost my confidence for sure however I don't think 58.90 would not be enough to win at London Games and I still need fix some weakness. Well, actually I want to adjust everything.

– Preparing for this Trials was not an easy path in environment where people take it for granted that I go to Olympics all the time. Training in the US surrounded by great teammates is playing a big role here. In that sense, Yes. I am relieved. I remember that Trials of 4 years ago was mentally easier.

– I can now improve my time every 4 years (laugh) and tonight I praise for myself. I think that is the Olympics that drives me and gave me one hundredth of second improvement. But once again, from third party perspectives, it is hard to win the gold in London with this time. Especially, there are rivals out there going out faster than me (27.69) so I will consider more how to beat the World Record. Anyhow, putting this much effort and I improved one hundredth of second. I value now differently about that one hundredth of second. I could make an appeal to the world where I am and certainly I enjoyed its tense and process.

– About the race itself, I died a bit at the end but movement of actions were smooth. Till 85m, I felt really good. First 50m was good too. Paid much attention to first 3 strokes not to rush. It is good because I thought my time would have been around 59.2 or 59.3. So, I feel that I can go faster. This feeling is a lot better than last year both quality of training and mental state.

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