TOKYO, Japan, February 27. THE first day of the short course meter Japan Open featured some sterling swims, including two Chinese records and one for the home nation. Tang Yi and Jiao Liuyang lowered Chinese records, while Hidemasa Sano gave the home crowd something to cheer for with a Japanese record.
Tang Yi lowered the Chinese record in the women's 200 free with a winning time of 1:54.76. That performance clipped the 1:54.87 set by Pang Jiaying previously. Japan's Haruka Ueda (1:55.51) and Hanae Ito (1:56.50) rounded out the top three. South Africa's Darian Townsend touched out a hard-charging Syogo Hihara of Japan, 1:44.29 to 1:44.48, for the men's 200 free title. Denmark's Mads Glaesner wound up third in 1:46.52.
China's Liu Jing claimed the women's 100 IM title in 1:00.49, while Japan's Tomoyo Fukuda touched second in 1:00.88. Teammate Emi Takabatake finished third in 1:01.27. Japan went 1-2-3 in the men's 100 IM by way of Takurou Fujii (53.47), Ken Takakuwa (53.94) and Yuuma Kosaka (53.96).
China's Gao Chang topped the women's 50 back in a smoking 25.92, just off the Chinese record of 25.82 set by Zhao Jing at the 2009 Stockholm stop of the World Cup. Today's effort wasn't far off from the world record of 25.70 held by Sanja Jovanovic. Japan's Aya Terakawa finished second in 26.88, while teammate Shiho Sakai took third in 27.14. Japan's Junya Koga followed with a winning time of 23.48 in the men's 50 back. Randall Bal of the U.S. took second in 23.95, while Japan's Masafumi Yamaguchi placed third in 24.11.
World record holder Therese Alshammar of Sweden (24.38) cruised with a winning time of 25.51 in the women's 50 fly. China's Jiao Liuyang lowered her Chinese record in the event with a 25.89 for second. That time clipped her 25.92 set last year at this meet. Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen finished third in 25.91. Japan swept the podium in the men's 50 fly. Ryo Takayasu won in 23.11, while Kouhei Kawamoto (23.15) and Takashi Tomiyama (23.26) finished second and third.
Alshammar went back-to-back with a 24.47 in the women's 50 free for the win. Ottesen took second overall in 24.63, while Li Zhesi finished third in 24.67. Japan's Kazuhisa Hotta paced the men's 50 free in 21.70, while China's Lu Zhiwu tied Townsend for second with matching 22.14s.
Izumi Katou snagged the women's 400 IM crown in 4:33.04, while Maiko Fujino finished second in 4:35.07. Eri Morikawa completed the Japanese podium sweep with a 4:36.74 for third. Japan swept the podium again in the men's 400 IM. Yuuya Horihata (4:08.84), Kousuke Hagino (4:09.89) and Satoshi Yamazaki (4:11.07) went 1-2-3.
Marie Kamimura set a Japanese junior national record with a winning time of 2:03.48 in the women's 200 back. Terakawa touched second in 2:04.34, while Sakai finished third in 2:05.06. Austria's Markus Rogan faced down Japan's Ryosuke Irie, 1:50.02 to 1:50.71, in an epic battle in the men's 200 back finale. Kazuki Watanabe finished third in 1:52.40.
Sweden's Petra Granlund held off Japan's Natsumi Hoshi, 2:06.22 to 2:06.51, in the women's 200 fly. Nakanishi rounded out the top three in 2:06.56. Japan's Hidemasa Sano became the first man from Japan to clear the 1:51 barrier in the men's 200 fly with a Japanese record time of 1:50.97. That swim broke Ryuichi Shibata's national mark of 1:51.30 set back in 2007. Kazuya Kaneda and Matsuda tied for second with matching 1:52.25s.
Mina Matsushima won the women's 100 breast in 1:05.67, while Japanese teammates Satomi Suzuki (1:06.07) and Fumiko Kawenabe (1:06.25) finished second and third. Ryo Tateishi just missed his Japanese record in the men's 100 breast with a 57.50 for the win. He owns the national standard with a 57.35 set at this meet a year ago. Naoya Tomita (58.09) and Yuuta Suenaga (58.12) finished the marathon day with second and third-place finishes.
In timed final distance events, Denmark's Lotte Friis cruised in the women's 800 free for the win in 8:20.50, while Japan's Yurie Yano claimed second in 8:26.45. Japan's Maiko Fujino completed the top three in 8:27.06. Denmark took the second distance title up for grabs when Glaesner clocked a 14:49.74 for the men's 1500 free victory. Japan's Ryoji Sononaka placed second in 14:51.99, while Japan's Youhei Takiguchi touched third in 14:55.65.