TOKYO, Japan, April 15. THE Japanese Long Course Nationals have not disappointed as world-class times have continued to go up on the scoreboard so far this week. This evening in Tokyo was no different.<\/p>\n
Satomi Suzuki and Rie Kanetou put together a swift final in the women's 200 breast. Suzuki won in 2:24.27, while Kanetou finished second in 2:24.57. The efforts put Suzuki and Kanetou into third and fourth in the world this year. Only Rebecca Soni (2:22.91) and Leisel Jones (2:23.45) have been faster. Fumiko Kawanabe finished third in 2:25.79, moving into a 10th-place tie with Spain's Marina Garcia in the world rankings.<\/p>\n
Kosuke Kitajima finished a surprising fourth place in the men's 200 breast with a 2:12.53. He's already been faster this year with a 2:11.33 from the Missouri Grand Prix, which would have moved him to third tonight. Ryo Tateishi clocked the fastest time in the world so far with a sterling 2:09.21, while Yuuta Suenaga touched a close second in 2:09.57 to jump into third in the world rankings. Naoya Tomita finished third overall in 2:11.37.<\/p>\n
Aya Terakawa joined just a handful of swimmers to break 1:00 in the women's 100 back with a winning time of 59.72. She now stands behind only Emily Seebohm (59.21), Elizabeth Simmonds (59.43) and Gemma Spofforth (59.46) in the world rankings this year. Miyuki Takemura placed second in 1:00.46, while Shiho Sakai (1:00.62) and Noriko Inada (1:00.95) took third and fourth. Those three swimmers moved to sixth, seventh and eighth in the world rankings.<\/p>\n
In what is continuing to be one of the best national rivalries in the sport, Junya Koga and Ryosuke Irie did battle once again in the men's 100 back. This time, Koga won a touch-out triumph, 53.49 to 53.61. Masafumi Yamaguchi wound up third in 54.66.<\/p>\n
Takurou Fujii turned in the second fastest time in the world this year in the men's 100 fly semifinals with a swift 51.99. Andrew Lauterstein (51.79) is the only other swimmer to have cracked 52 seconds in the event this year.<\/p>\n
During semifinals, Haruka Ueda led the way in the women's 200 free with a 1:59.07. Hanae Ito (2:00.57) and Risa Sekine (2:01.65) will bracket Ueda in the finale. Takeshi Matsuda, fresh off a strong men's 400 free earlier in the meet, topped the men's 200 free semis with a 1:48.21. Syunsuke Kuzuhara (1:48.59) and Yoshihiro Okumura (1:48.93) qualified second and third.<\/p>\n
Four swimmers broke 1:00 during semis of the women's 100 fly to move on to finals. Yuka Katou (59.39), Tomoyo Fukuda (59.57), Chika Dobashi (59.83) and Natsumi Hoshi (59.84) grabbed the top four spots in the finale. <\/p>\n
Yousuke Miyamoto posted the fastest time in the men's 1500 free preliminary qualifying with a 15:21.02. Junpei Higashi placed second in 15:22.99. The finale will take place tomorrow during finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOKYO, Japan, April 15. THE Japanese Long Course Nationals have not disappointed as world-class times have continued to go up on the scoreboard so far this week. This evening in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n