TOKYO, Japan, April 17. THE top names in the sport of swimming in Japan served notice that they are still alive and kicking with some great efforts at the Japan Long Course Nationals.<\/p>\n
Ryosuke Irie has thrown down the early gauntlet to the rest of the world's elite 100 backstrokers with the top three times in the world thus far. After clocking a 1:55.11 in February for the early top-ranked time, Irie won the event today with a 1:55.52 \u2013 the second best so far. Irie also turned in a 1:56.81 earlier in the meet this week. Kuninori Tada placed second tonight in 1:58.84, while Kazuki Watanabe wound up third in 1:58.87.<\/p>\n
Maiko Fujino won the women's 800 free in 8:34.91 to pick up the 12th spot in the world rankings in the event. Yumi Kida placed second in 8:36.78, while Asami Chida claimed third in 8:37.86. <\/p>\n
Aya Terakawa followed with a win in the women's 200 back when she hit the wall in 2:08.60. She claimed fifth in the world rankings with the effort. Shiho Sakai finished second in 2:08.79, while Marie Kamimura took third in 2:10.49. Sakai's time moved her to seventh, while Kamimura earned 11th in the world this year.<\/p>\n
Kosuke Kitajima will be looking to be the first man under 1:00 during finals tomorrow after clocking a 1:00.41 during the men's 100 breast semis today. Only Brenton Rickard has been faster this year with a 1:00.19 from last month in Australia. Ryo Tateishi also beat 1:01 during semis with a second-seeded 1:00.95 that put him fifth in the world rankings. Yuuta Suenaga finished third in 1:01.13 to jump to seventh in the world this year.<\/p>\n
The men's 200 fly semifinal round demonstrated some serious depth in Japan as the top three qualifiers all moved into the top five in the world rankings. Hidemasa Sano posted a top-seeded time of 1:56.40, while Takeshi Matsuda finished second in 1:56.41. Ryusuke Sakata touched third in 1:56.63. The performances moved the three up to third through fifth in the world rankings this year. Add in Yuta Kimura's 1:56.71 from February and Japan owns four of the top six spots in the rankings this year behind a pair of Aussies (Nick D'Arcy: 1:54.61; Christopher Wright: 1:56.23). <\/p>\n
Satomi Suzuki checked in with a 1:08.56 during the women's 100 breast semifinal round. That performance moved her into an eighth-place tie with Annamay Pierse in the world rankings. Fumiko Kawanabe (1:08.67) and Mina Matshushima (1:08.78) also cleared 1:09 in semis to reside among the top 15 in the world this year. <\/p>\n
Takurou Fujii moved up to 10th in the world rankings during the men's 100 free semis with a 49.12. Yoshihiro Okumura joined him under 50 seconds in qualifying with a second-seeded effort of 49.70. <\/p>\n
Natsumi Hoshi cruised in the women's 200 fly semis to the top-seeded time of 2:10.09. She has been much faster this year with a 2:07.99 in January, which ranks her fourth in the world this year behind only Jessicah Schipper (2:07.66), Ellen Gandy (2:07.70) and Samantha Hamill (2:07.75). <\/p>\n
Haruka Ueda earned the top seed in the women's 100 free finale with a 55.06. Quickly thereafter, Yayoi Matsumoto touched in 55.16 for the second seed out of semis. Hanae Ito (55.99) was the only other swimmer to clear 56 seconds in the semifinal round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOKYO, Japan, April 17. THE top names in the sport of swimming in Japan served notice that they are still alive and kicking with some great efforts at the Japan<\/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-24010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n