By Hideki Mochizuki<\/p>\n
YOKOHAMA, April 21. ONLY one day after Japanese coaches and officials were predicting disaster for the future of that nation's swimming, three national records were broken on the third day of the Japanese National Championships\/World Championship Trials in Yokohama.<\/p>\n
Eighteen year-old Koji Kitajima led the way when he won the men's 100m breaststroke in 1:01.26, bettering his own mark of 1:01.31 set at the Olympic Games in Sydney last year. The 5'9", 150-pound Kitajima split his first 50m in a swift 28.56. <\/p>\n
"I tested today how fast I could go for the first 50 meters but I died coming home," he said in an interview right after the race. Yesterday Kitajima set a Japanese record in winning the 50m breast (28.05), and he looks to be one of the most promising of Japan's up-and-coming men.<\/p>\n
After his upset win over his arch-rival, Akira Hayashi, at the 2000 Olympic Trials, Kitajima went on to finish fourth in Sydney, missing the bronze medal by 43-hundredths of a second.<\/p>\n
The youngsters future appeared in jeopardy when he broke his right ankle last October in ahigh school PE
\nclass, but he was back in the water in January. "I was
\nnot in a hurry. Actually it was a good rest after Sydney." <\/p>\n
Twenty-two year-old Sumika Minamoto turned in a powerful performance, winning the women's 50m freestyle in 25.14 seconds, a national record. <\/p>\n
The men's record in the same event fell as well when
\nTomohiro Yamanoi touched in 22.59.<\/p>\n
Other strong women's performances were turned in by Sachiko Yamada, whose 8:34.11 in the 800m free was more than ten seconds faster than anyone else; Reiko Nakamura, who won the 200m back in 2:11.53; newcomer Yuko Sakaguchi, who took the 100m breast in 1:09.88; Junko Onishi, who added to her 200 fly win with a victory in the 100 (59.26); and Ayane Sato, who won her first national title by taking the 400 Im in 4:48.44.<\/p>\n
Mai Nakamura, Olympic silver medalist in the 100m back and yesterday's winner of that same event in the world's fastest time this year, was a disappointment today when she failed to final in the 200m backstroke.<\/p>\n
On the men's side, Takashi Yamamoto attoned for his upset loss in the 200m fly by winning the 100 in 53.11 seconds; while Susumu Tabuchi outlasted Jiro Miki in the 400 IM, 4:16.24 to 4:16.65.<\/p>\n
Women 800m FR Final<\/p>\n
1.\tSachiko Yamada\t8:34.10
\n2.\tYumi Kita\t8:44.43
\n3.\tAi Shibata\t8:49.34
\n4.\tS. Yamaguchi\t8:51.78
\n5.\tShiho Yoshimura\t8:52.17
\n6.\tReina Iwata\t8:52.28
\n7.\tMasae Maehara\t8:54.92
\n8.\tMadoka Ochi\t9:01.48<\/p>\n
Women 200m Backstroke Final
\n1.\tReiko Nakamura\t2:11.53
\n2.\tAya Terakawa\t2:13.70
\n3.\tToshie Abe\t2:14.16
\n4.\tArisa Murakawa\t2:15.16
\n5.\tTomomi Yagasaki\t2:15.65
\n6.\tHanae Ito\t2:16.05
\n7.\tSeiko Kobayashi\t2:16.06
\n8.\tMisa Kamezaki\t2:16.23<\/p>\n
Men 200m Backstroke Final
\n1. Kozan Hashimoto\t2:01.98
\n2. Takashi Nakano\t2:02.10
\n3. Toshifumi Takeuchi\t2:02.33
\n4. Haruki Takeuchi\t2:02.39
\n5. Tsuyoshi Kitashita\t2:02.48
\n6. Naoya Sonoda\t\t2:02.57
\n7. Takafumi Oishi\t2:02.98
\n8. Kotatsu Okabe\t2:04.67<\/p>\n
Women 100m Breast Final
\n1.\tYuko Sakaguchi\t1:09.88
\n2.\tJunko Isoda\t1:10.02
\n3.\tFumiko Kawanabe\t1:10.09
\n4.\tNanaka Tamura\t1:10.95
\n5.\tSanae Nawata\t1:11.23
\n6.\tRyoko Maruyama\t1:11.33
\n7.\tEriko Furukawa\t1:11.36
\n8.\tKazue Nakashima\t1:12.65<\/p>\n
Men 100m Breast Final
\n1. Kosuke Kitajima\t1:01.26 Japanese Record
\n2. Ryosuke Imai\t\t1:02.16
\n3. Akira Hayashi\t1:02.40
\n4. Yoshihisa Yamaguchi\t1:03.12
\n5. Yoshiaki Okita\t1:03.19
\n6. Shigenori Sato\t1:03.21
\n7. Chikara Nakashita\t1:03.31
\n8. Taiki Kawagoe\t1:03.58<\/p>\n
Women 100m Butterflly Final
\n1. Junko Onishi\t\t0:59.26
\n2. Saori Haruguchi\t1:00.25
\n3. Hitomi Kashima\t1:00.82
\n4. Kozue Watanabe\t1:01.05
\n5. Ayako Doi\t\t1:01.11
\n6. Ayari Aoyama\t\t1:01.48
\n7. Noriko Maekawa\t1:01.58
\n8. Yukiko Osada\t\t1:02.09<\/p>\n
Men 100m Butterfly
\n1. Takashi Yamamoto\t53.11
\n2. Ryo Takayasu\t\t54.15
\n3. Kohei Kawamoto\t54.41
\n4. Yoshihiro Okumura\t54.91
\n5. Okuno Masahiro\t55.09
\n6. Tomoaki Tasaka\t55.17
\n7. Makoto Itagaki\t55.20
\n8. Yasutake Takamatsu\t55.58<\/p>\n
Women 400m IM Final
\n1. Ayane Sato\t 4:48.44
\n2. Yuko Nakanishi\t4:49.38
\n3. Chika Yonenaga\t4:51.92
\n4. Megumi Inoue\t\t4:52.39
\n5. Chiemi Yamamoto\t4:53.06
\n6. Riho Sasaki\t\t4:53.86
\n7. Sawami Fujita\t4:55.43
\n8. Yuka Katayama\t4:56.09<\/p>\n
Men 400m IM Final
\n1. Susumu Tabuchi\t4:16.24
\n2. Jiro Miki\t\t4:16.65
\n3. Takahiro Mori\t4:19.85
\n4. Shinya Taniguchi\t4:21.26
\n5. Yasuaki Mori\t\t4:24.06
\n6. Hidemasa Sano\t4:25.78
\n7. Daisuke Tachibana\t4:27.77
\n8. Taishi Okude\t\t4:28.58<\/p>\n
Women 50m FR Final
\n1. Sumika Minamoto\t25.14 Japanese Record
\n2. Tomoko Nagai\t\t26.22
\n3. Kaori Yamada\t\t26.47
\n4. Motomi Nakamura\t26.63
\n5. Erina Tsuji\t\t26.68
\n6. Yuki Kashiwae\t27.01
\n7. Emi Yamamoto\t 27.02
\n8. Yume Yamashita\t27.17<\/p>\n
Men 50m FR Final
\n1. Tomohiro Yamanoi\t22.59 Japanese Record
\n2. Issei Nakanishi\t23.18
\n3. Naoki Nakura\t\t23.39
\n4. Shunsuke Ito\t\t23.40
\n5. Takashi Nishiyama\t23.51
\n6. Kazuhiro Asanuma\t23.65
\n7. Yu Hoshida\t\t23.73
\n8. Katsuhiko Morita\t24.00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Hideki Mochizuki YOKOHAMA, April 21. ONLY one day after Japanese coaches and officials were predicting disaster for the future of that nation's swimming, three national records were broken on<\/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":[4],"tags":[3493,14030,14055,13907,14068,14082,14084,14072,14076,3905,14091,10246,14035,11469,13912,696,5913,5863,5845,5934,13910,14083,13905,14041,14081,14074,13908,14075,983,14079,5918,14085,14070,14054,4044,14033,6541,14078,5932,14044,3903,13903,14037,4023,6528,5844,142,45,5861,14073,14086,13909,3501,48,14077,13897,14071,14080,5919,474,13899,5922,14050,14047,14087,14069,14056,5921,14089,14090,14088],"class_list":["post-2450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz","tag-akira-hayashi","tag-arisa-murakawa","tag-aya-terakawa","tag-ayako-doi","tag-ayane-sato","tag-chika-yonenaga","tag-daisuke-tachibana","tag-emi-yamamoto","tag-erina-tsuji","tag-fumiko-kawanabe","tag-furukawa","tag-hanae-ito","tag-haruki-takeuchi","tag-hideki-mochizuki","tag-hitomi-kashima","tag-japan","tag-jiro-miki","tag-junko-isoda","tag-junko-onishi","tag-kaori-yamada","tag-katsuhiko-morita","tag-kazue-nakashima","tag-kazuhiro-asanuma","tag-kohei-kawamoto","tag-koji-kitajima","tag-kozan-hashimoto","tag-kozue-watanabe","tag-madoka-ochi","tag-mai-nakamura","tag-makoto-itagaki","tag-masae-maehara","tag-megumi-inoue","tag-misa-kamezaki","tag-naoki-nakura","tag-naoya-sonoda","tag-noriko-maekawa","tag-reiko-nakamura","tag-reina-iwata","tag-ryo-takayasu","tag-ryoko-maruyama","tag-sachiko-yamada","tag-saori-haruguchi","tag-seiko-kobayashi","tag-shunsuke-ito","tag-sumika-minamoto","tag-susumu-tabuchi","tag-swimming","tag-sydney","tag-takafumi-oishi","tag-takahiro-mori","tag-takashi-nakano","tag-takashi-nishiyama","tag-takashi-yamamoto","tag-the-olympic-games","tag-tomoaki-tasaka","tag-tomoko-nagai","tag-tomomi-yagasaki","tag-toshie-abe","tag-tsuyoshi-kitashita","tag-world-championship","tag-yasutake-takamatsu","tag-yoshiaki-okita","tag-yoshihiro-okumura","tag-yoshihisa-yamaguchi","tag-yuka-katayama","tag-yuki-kashiwae","tag-yukiko-osada","tag-yuko-nakanishi","tag-yuko-sakaguchi","tag-yume","tag-yumi-kita"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n