TOKYO, Japan, February 21. THE short course meter Japan Open began today at the Tatsumi International Aquatic Center as several national records fell during the first evening of competition.<\/p>\n
Zhang Lin posted a Chinese national record in the men's 1500 free with a time of 14:22.47. That performance crushed his standard of 14:36.12 set in 2006. Haruka Ueda followed with a Japanese record in the women's 200 free when she won in 1:53.72. That effort wiped out the previous record of 1:54.99. China's Pang Jiaying took second in 1:54.87 to beat the 1:54.90 set by Yang Yu that stood as the Chinese record since 2003.<\/p>\n
Zhang returned in the men's 200 free to defeat American Peter Vanderkaay, 1:43.04 to 1:43.81. Zhang's time squashed his previous Chinese record of 1:45.14 set in 2004. Syogo Hihara finished third in 1:43.86 for Japan to lower his national record of 1:44.72 set in 2008. Vanderkaay had a tough swim as his suit ripped during the race and his back appeared wide open throughout most of his swim.<\/p>\n
China's Zhao Jing cleared a minute in the women's 100 IM with a 59.38 to break her prelim national record of 1:00.50. Meanwhile, Japan's Asami Kitagawa nearly broke the 1:00 barrier with a second-place 1:00.01 that beat her national record of 1:00.72 also set during prelims.<\/p>\n
Japan's Junya Koga smacked the national record in the men's 50 back with a time of 23.46. The time cleared the 23.88 set by Tomomi Morita last year. China's Sun Xiaofei tied the Chinese record with a third-place 23.73, while South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg took fifth in 24.66.<\/p>\n
Sweden's Therese Alshammar blasted her national record in the women's 50 fly with a time of 25.13 to win the event. Her previous best had been a 25.31 set in 2008. Her time also threatened the world record of 24.99 set by Marieke Guehrer last year in Berlin. Alshammar would also win the 50 free in 24.16.<\/p>\n
Japan's Ayako Doi finished second to Alshammar in the 50 fly in 25.91 to best Yuka Katou's national record of 25.95 from 2008, while China's Jiao Liuyang checked in with a third-place 25.92. That swim bettered the Chinese record of 26.30 set by Xu Yanwei in 2005.<\/p>\n
Makoto Itou stopped the clock in 21.60 in the men's 50 free for a Japanese record as he beat the 21.94 set by Hisayoshi Satou last year. Maiko Fujino followed as the first Japanese woman under 4:30 in the women's 400 IM. She posted a 4:29.77 to beat the 4:32.46 she'd set in 2006.<\/p>\n
China's Liu Weijia demolished the national record of his country with a 4:04.53 in the men's 400 IM. Wu Peng owned the old record with a 4:09.89 from 2004. Hidemasa Sano placed second in 4:05.15 to lower his Japanese record of 4:05.46 from 2006.<\/p>\n
Hanae Ito (2:03.01) and Shiho Sakai (2:03.04) both beat Reiko Nakamura's Japanese record of 2:03.24 in the women's 200 back. Additionally, Ryosuke Irie torched the Japanese record in the men's 200 back with a time of 1:49.92. Irie set the previous record with a 1:51.34 in Berlin last year. Irie split the swim 26.15, 54.02, 1:22.19. <\/p>\n
"I am happy to have broken the 1:50 barrier," Irie said. "I am still not coming into the meet on perfect taper because I have been putting a lot of mileage on now. The latter half of the race felt good. To be within the top three in the world, an underwater kick after the turn and a faster first 100 meters would be needed. I will be shooting for a medal in Rome this summer."<\/p>\n
Kitagawa returned at the end of the evening for a women's 100 breast battle with Australia's Jade Edmistone. Kitagawa hit the wall first with a 1:05.17 to 1:05.45 victory to also claim the Japanese record.<\/p>\n
With Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima taking a hiatus, his Japanese records are in play for other breaststrokers. One went down this evening as Ryo Tateishi clocked a swift time of 57.55. The readout clipped Kitajima's 57.62 set last year at this meet.<\/p>\n
"I heard the crowd, and thought I had a chance at the record," Tateishi said. "I still have a long way to go to show the same quality of performance at Kitajima, but today was really good as I settled down on the mental side. I also caught the water well during my stroke. My next goal is to be selected for the national team that will compete at the World Championships."<\/p>\n
Special thanks to Hideki Mochizuki for contributing to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n