Shibata Snares Third Victory at Japanese Nationals; Kitajima Bounces Back

By Hideki Mochizuki

YOKOHAMA, Japan, April 23. DAY Three of the Japanese Nationals, also the countryfs World Championship Trials, opened with Ai Shibata winning her third gold medal of the competition. The reigning Olympic titlist in the 800 free, Shibata won that event in 8:32.64. In Athens, Shibata was clocked in 8:24.54.

gHaving won three events means a lot to me,h said Shibata, also the victor in the 200 and 400 freestyles. gBut, I cannot be satisfied with the time tonight. I felt a little heavy all the way from warmups. I need to prepare from scratch for Montreal.h

Sachiko Yamada, who was searching for her eighth straight national crown in the event, finished second in 8:35.09. That mark was outside the automatic qualifying time for Montreal.

Two days after finishing third in the 200 breast and missing out on a trip to Montreal, Kosuke Kitajima rebounded with a win in the 50-meter breast, as he posted a time of 28.03. The double-gold medalist in Athens in the 100 and 200 distances, Kitajima won the race for the fifth consecutive time.

The bronze medalist from Athens in the 100 backstroke, Tomomi Morita notched the first Japanese record of the meet, as he won the 50 backstroke in 25.61. The 400 freestyle was won by Takeshi Matsuda in 3:48.93, who was followed by Sho Uchida in a new Japanese high school record of 3:51.11.

Mai Nakamura, who won silver in the 100 back at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, won the 50 back in 28.78 and qualified for her fourth World Championships. Other winners were Sayaka Nakamura in the womenfs 50 breast (32.20), Maiko Fujino in the 200 individual medley (2:16.35) and Norie Urabe in the 100 free (56.40).

DAY THREE RESULTS

Womenfs 800 Freestyle

1. Ai Shibata 82 8:32.64 ( 0.86)
1:01.45 2:05.51 3:09.83 4:14.61 5:19.55 6:24.53 7:29.00
2. Sachiko Yamada 82 8:35.09 ( 0.82)
1:01.98 2:06.40 3:10.82 4:15.55 5:20.47 6:25.71 7:31.19
3. Yumi Kida 85 8:39.53 ( 0.80)
1:02.77 2:07.35 3:12.33 4:17.68 5:22.89 6:28.29 7:34.29
4. Kanae Iwai 85 8:47.00 ( 0.75)
1:01.93 2:06.76 3:13.86 4:21.30 5:28.95 6:36.79 7:43.82
5. Tomoka Yonenaga 86 8:48.39 ( 0.87)
1:03.48 2:10.26 3:16.97 4:24.49 5:31.37 6:37.54 7:43.38
6. Madoka Ochi 85 8:49.67 ( 0.88)
1:04.57 2:11.45 3:18.33 4:25.03 5:31.81 6:38.69 7:45.22
7. Manami Okubo 86 8:51.67 ( 0.78)
1:04.46 2:11.48 3:18.90 4:26.19 5:33.16 6:40.28 7:46.68
8. Megumi Inoue 86 8:59.26 ( 0.85)
1:03.98 2:11.48 3:18.71 4:26.27 5:34.18 6:42.27 7:50.89

Womenfs 50 Backstroke

1. Mai Nakamura 79 28.78 ( 0.61)
2. Hanae Ito 85 28.91 ( 0.62)
3. Reiko Nakamura 82 29.04 ( 0.60)
4. Masaki Oikawa 84 29.10 ( 0.54)
5. Chihiro Ikeda 82 29.84 ( 0.57)
6. Mika Ikeda 90 29.86 ( 0.57)
7. Runa Kobayashi 83 29.99 ( 0.58)
8. Kazumi Takahashi 87 30.00 ( 0.56)

Menfs 50 Backstroke

1. Tomomi Morita 84 25.61 ( 0.49)
2. Junichi Miyashita 83 25.79 ( 0.58)
3. Junya Koga 87 25.96 ( 0.51)
4. Kenta Yamanoi 82 26.08 ( 0.55)
5. Masafumi Yamaguchi 84 26.10 ( 0.57)
6. Tomoya Fukui 86 26.27 ( 0.50)
7. Manabu Sasaki 86 26.35 ( 0.55)
8. Takanori Mori 84 26.53

Womenfs 50 Breaststroke

1. Sayaka Nakamura 87 32.20 ( 0.82)
2. Yoshimi Miwa 85 32.62 ( 0.85)
3. Yuko Sakaguchi 79 32.75 ( 0.71)
4. Kahori Sato 81 32.88 ( 0.71)
5. Sanae Nawata 85 32.95 ( 0.74)
6. Asami Wada 88 33.52 ( 0.71)
7. Yumeka Nagai 86 33.59 ( 0.79)
8. Mina Matsushima 91 33.84 ( 0.85)

Menfs 50 Breaststroke

1. Kosuke Kitajima 82 28.03 ( 0.69)
2. Takehiko Mizuta 83 28.67 ( 0.64)
3. Genki Imamura 82 28.79 ( 0.73)
4. Mitsuhiro Yoshida 82 28.94 ( 0.68)
5. Hironari Sakimoto 84 29.03 ( 0.69)
6. Toshiki Saito 81 29.05 ( 0.72)
7. Kosuke Nakakura 87 29.10 ( 0.77)
8. Takehito Shimizu 83 29.20 ( 0.72)

Womenfs 200 IM

1. Maiko Fujino 83 2:16.35 ( 0.81)
29.73 1:04.00 1:43.54
2. Hiromi Takeuchi 86 2:17.41 ( 0.74)
29.77 1:03.24 1:44.84
3. Aiko Morishita 84 2:17.50 ( 0.76)
29.96 1:04.37 1:45.39
4. Misa Amano 86 2:18.12 ( 0.81)
30.74 1:06.48 1:45.87
5. Tsukushi Irita 87 2:18.13 ( 0.76)
30.67 1:06.03 1:45.78
6. Izumi Kato 90 2:18.17 ( 0.76)
29.93 1:05.32 1:45.29
7. Yukako Akagi 85 2:19.48 ( 0.73)
30.49 1:06.77 1:46.24
8. Megumi Inoue 86 2:19.85 ( 0.85)
29.83 1:04.75 1:46.44

Womenfs 100 Freestyle

1. Norie Urabe 86 27.52 56.40 ( 0.67)
2. Atsumi Yamada 82 27.71 56.99 ( 0.75)
3. Kei Aoki 87 27.28 57.02 ( 0.80)
4. Kaori Yamada 81 27.46 57.04 ( 0.81)
5. Eriko Mashima 83 27.61 57.33 ( 0.75)
6. Mai Aoyagi 83 28.19 57.54 ( 0.74)
7. Kaoru Naito 86 28.29 57.90 ( 0.78)
8. Kanako Shinmaki 84 28.31 57.93 ( 0.80)

Menfs 400 Freestyle

1. Takeshi Matsuda 84 3:48.93 ( 0.79)
27.08 56.32 1:26.02 1:55.74 2:24.68 2:53.54 3:21.75
2. Sho Uchida 87 3:51.11 ‚ZV( 0.68)
27.44 56.77 1:26.34 1:56.22 2:25.53 2:54.71 3:23.42
3. Yuji Sakurai 84 3:55.25 ( 0.72)
26.67 55.81 1:26.27 1:57.06 2:27.31 2:57.15 3:27.20
4. Yota Arase 82 3:55.37 ( 0.73)
27.25 56.70 1:26.53 1:56.66 2:26.76 2:56.62 3:26.78
5. Yuichi Yamada 84 3:57.66 ( 0.67)
27.61 57.54 1:27.64 1:58.02 2:28.10 2:58.30 3:28.99
6. Takehide Satake 83 3:58.00 ( 0.77)
27.19 56.55 1:26.77 1:57.23 2:27.93 2:58.47 3:28.92
7. Hisato Matsumoto 84 3:59.64 ( 0.76)
27.43 56.62 1:26.56 1:57.02 2:27.54 2:58.34 3:29.40
8. Yasunori Mononobe 85 4:01.07 ( 0.78)
27.59 57.18 1:27.39 1:57.61 2:28.41 2:59.21 3:30.55

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