Nakamura Swims World-Leading 100m Back on Second Day of Japanese Nationals

By Hideki Mochizuki

YOKOHAMA, Japan. April 20. DAY TWO of the 77th Japanese National Championships/Fukuoka World Championship Trials brought disappointment among coaches and Japanese swimming media gathered in Yokohama, as results fell far below expectations. Some
coaches and officials are fearful that a lack of preparation has led to the top Japanese swimmers being behind the swimmers from other strong swimming nations.

Many Japanese swimmers who competed in Sydney took long breaks from the pool and skipped the heavy winter training. It appears that they have not been able to offset this lack of preparation since returning to training as late as December or January.

Plus many coaches at poolside detect a lack of energy that they attribute, in part, to the absence of big names such as Yasuko Tajima, Miki Nakao, and Masami Tanaka.

More importantly, some observers believe Japan may have blown its chances in the way it hand;ed the so-called "After Olympic Burn-Out Syndrome." Last December, the Japanese Swimming Federation gave special treatment to three individual medalists from the Sydney Games–Tajima, Nakao and Mai Nakamura–allowing them to represent Japan at the World Championships without swimming at these Trials. But two of the three (Tajima and Nakao) have chosen not to swim ib the World Championships, even though it takes place in their homeland.

As a result, the federation has felt humiliated because the offer to the three swimmers was made only a few months after a notorious legal battle in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the federation refused to name Suzu Chiba to the Olympic team.

Despite the gloomy atmosphere, Olympians Kosuke Kitajima and Mai Nakamura swam very well here today.
Kitajima set a national record of 28.05 seconds in winning the men's 50m breaststroke. Nakamura won the women's 100m backstroke in 1:01.28–the world's fastest time this year.

Other veterans swimming well included Sumika Minamoto,
who breezed to victory in the women's 100m free in a solid 55.28 and Yuko Nakanishi, who won the 200m fly in a strong 2:10.11.

The men's 200m fly saw a four-way battle in which only a second separated first from fourth. Hisayoshi Tanaka upset Asian record-holder Takashi Yamamoto, 1:59.11 to 1:59.14, with Susumu Tabuchi, better known as a medley swimmer, third in 1:59.81, followed by
Kohei Kawamoto in 2:00.11.

Still, the focus has been on the newcomers who are beating Olympic veterans. Among the promising new names are Sanae Nawata and Ryoko Maruyama, who went one-two in the women's 50m breast (32.05 and 32.30);
and Atsushi Nishikori, who won the men's 100m back in 55.96.

DAY TWO RESULTS

Men 1500m FR Final
1. Shunichi Fujita 15:24.48
2. Masato Hirano 15:27.70
3. Takeshi Matsuda 15:29.26
4. Koji Azuma 15:33.93
5. Eiji Katayama 15:36.22
6. Yu Inoue 15:40.12
7. Yota Arase 15:42.47
8. Masahiro Murata 15:46.83

Women 100m FR Final
1. Sumika Minamoto 55.28
2. Tomoko Nagai 56.17
3. Eri Yamanoi 56.41
4. Kaori Yamada 57.61
5. Ayari Aoyama 57.70
6. Natsumi Mizuochi 58.02
7. Norie Urabe 58.03
8. Akari Indo 58.11

Men 100m FR Final
1. Shunsuke Ito 50.84
2. Yoshihiro Okumura 50.90
3. Daisuke Hosokawa 51.00
4. Naoki Nakura 51.11
5. Tomohiro Yamanoi 51.21
6. Tomohiro Okuno 51.22
7. Issei Nakanishi 51.29
8. Ken Yamamuro 51.57

Women 50m Breast Final
1. Sanae Nawata 32.05
2. Ryoko Maruyama 32.30
3. Kaori Sato 32.99
4. Junko Isoda 33.02
5. Reina Miyazaki 33.03
6. Kirie Suzuki 33.15
7. Sayaka Nakamura 33.27
8. Megumi Taneda 33.38

Men 50m Breast Final
1. Kosuke Kitajima 28.05 Japanese Record
2. Akira Hayashi 28.42
3. Ryosuke Imai 28.44
4. Toshiki Saito 29.01
5. Yoshihisa Yamaguchi 29.27
6. Mitsuhiro Maru 29.32
7. Hideaki Togo 29.51
8. Masayuki Matsuda 29.67

Women 100m Back Final
1. Mai Nakamura 1:01.28
2. Hanae Ito 1:01.74
3. Aya Terakawa 1:02.10
4. Reiko Nakamura 1:02.11
5. Chihiro Ikeda 1:02.91
6. Arisa Murakawa 1:03.42
7. Nozomi Nobe 1:03.77
8. Seiko Kobayashi 1:04.12

Men 100m Back Final
1. Atsushi Nishikori 55.96
2. Haruki Takeuchi 56.19
3. Toshifumi Takeuchi 56.24
4. Mizuki Wakabayashi 56.50
5. Takafumi Oishi 56.53
6. Kouichi Watanabe 56.61
7. Junichi Miyashita 56.98
8. Yosuke Ueda 57.09

Women 200m Butterfly Final
1. Yuko Nakanishi 2:10.11
2. Asako Kitada 2:11.44
3. Maki Mita 2:11.79
4. Hitomi Kashima 2:12.29
5. Saori Haruguchi 2:12.32
6. Yukiko Osada 2:12.42
7. Noriko Maekawa 2:14.05
8. Yumi Hatta 2:14.93

Men 200m Butterfly Final
1. Hisayoshi Tanaka 1:59.11
2. Takashi Yamamoto 1:59.14
3. Susumu Tabuchi 1:59.81
4. Kohei Kawamoto 2:00.11
5. Shunsuke Koba 2:00.95
6. Akio Kusano 2:01.29
7. Hidemasa Sano 2:02.61
8. Yusuke Ishiguro 2:02.64

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