By Hideki Mochizuki
TOKYO, April 20. TIMES were fast and one Japanese national record was wiped off the books as the six day-long Japanese Olympic Trials got underway today at the Tatsumi International Aquatic Center in Tokyo.
The highlight of the first night came in the men's 400m IM when Jiro Miki smashed the Japanese record with a 4.14.79. The time is is also an Asian record.
Taking the lead at 150m mark with 1.30.41, Miki swam a swift breaststroke leg, clocking 1.12.31, to confirm his lead over the rest of the field. Second place went to Susumu Tabuchi, who also secured an Olympic berth, as his 4:15.74 bettered the time standard set by the Japanese Swimming Federation.
Tabuchi tried hard to catch Miki on the freestyle leg, but Miki just escaped, touching in 4.14.79. Former Asian and Japanese record-holder Takahiro Mori sank to third place with a 4.17.85 and now must rely on the 200 IM — a stronger race for him — to fulfill his Olympic dream.
Miki’s 4.14.79 was equal to the world's third-fastest time in 2003. Right after the race, he told SwimInfo: "I just thought about going out fast right from the start. The race went just as my coach had planned it."
In the men's 100m breaststroke semifinals, world record-holder Kosuke Kitajima turned in a mediocre (for him) 1:00.99. After turning at the 50 meter mark in 28.72 seconds, Kitajima looked sluggish and only swam 32.27 in the back half of his race.
The other seven finalists all swam 1:02s.
After the race, Kitajima's coach commented: "He usually becomes like a beast when he is 'on,' but tonight he could not pull it off. Tomorrow’s final will be a different race.”
In the women's 400m freestyle, short course world record-holder over 800 meters, Sachiko Yamada posted a solid 4.07.62, just nipping Ai Shibata at 4:07.71. These are the world's two fastest times thus far this year.
Yamada noted: "It was good that I secured my ticket to Athens but the race itself was not the one I planned and I died at the end. In Athens, I want to go to the final with 10 percent of my power.”
In today's other finals, Takeshi Matsuda took the men's 400m free in 3:50.88 while 17 year-old Misa Amano went 4:43.72 to win the women's 400m IM.
Swmifinals
In semifinal action, 29 year-old Junko Onishi clocked 59.09 in the 100m fly, just 3-tenths off the national record. Yuko Nakanishi went 59.71 to record the only other sub-minute time.
Tomomi Morita sits comfortably in first after the men's 100m back semis, as his 54.82 leads the field by more than half a second.
RESULTS
Womens 100m Butterfly Semi-Final (Japan record: 58.79) Top 8 finishers
1 Junko Onishi 1974/10/18 27.93 59.09
2 Yuko Nakanishi 1981/04/24 28.30 59.71
3 Yurie Yano 1988/06/24 28.40 1:00.04
4 Ayako Doi 1980/06/29 28.63 1:00.27
5 Kozue Watanabe 1986/04/10 28.31 1:00.38
6 Maki Mita 1983/04/22 28.65 1:00.59
7 Saori Haruguchi 1987/01/20 28.36 1:00.96
8 Yukiko Osada 1981/05/14 28.69 1:01.07
Men 100m Backstroke Semi-Final (Japan record: 54.54) Top 8 finishers
1 Tomomi Morita 1984/08/22 26.74 54.82
2 Atsushi Nishikori 1978/05/22 27.09 55.38
3 Junichi Miyashita 1983/10/17 26.99 55.52
4 Mizuki Wakabayashi 1981/06/22 27.07 55.64
5 Shohei Uchida 1987/01/09 27.38 56.14
6 Junya Koga 1987/07/19 27.16 56.19
7 Masafumi Yamaguchi 1984/12/07 27.28 56.26
7 Toshifumi Takeuchi 1983/05/09 27.27 56.26
Men 100m Breaststroke Semi-Final (Japan record: 59.78) Top 8 finishers
1 Kosuke Kitajima 1982/09/22 28.72 1:00.99
2 Makoto Yamashita 1983/05/27 29.36 1:02.22
3 Genki Imamura 1982/03/17 29.82 1:02.23
4 Yoshihisa Yamaguchi 1982/06/27 29.06 1:02.31
5 Mitsuhiro Yoshida 1982/11/22 29.41 1:02.57
6 Takehiko Mizuta 1983/07/27 29.59 1:02.82
7 Yohei Nakagawa 1984/07/05 29.90 1:02.88
8 Shigenori Sato 1979/11/15 29.85 1:02.90
Men 400m IM Final (Japan record: 4:15.29)
1 Jiro Miki 1983/05/31 4:14.79 Japanese, Asian Record
26.94 57.63 1:30.41 2:02.84 2:38.67 3:15.15 3:45.74
2 Susumu Tabuchi 1980/07/02 4:15.74
27.50 58.05 1:31.15 2:04.03 2:39.90 3:16.29 3:46.27
3 Takahiro Mori 1980/03/02 4:17.85
27.10 58.44 1:32.21 2:05.10 2:40.77 3:17.17 3:47.79
4 Shinya Taniguchi 1981/03/23 4:19.35
27.79 58.91 1:33.63 2:07.16 2:43.21 3:19.21 3:50.04
5 Hidemasa Sano 1984/05/28 4:19.99
27.11 57.49 1:31.74 2:05.52 2:43.24 3:21.16 3:51.56
6 Yuta Shoji 1984/10/20 4:21.69
27.43 58.61 1:31.93 2:04.83 2:43.27 3:21.83 3:53.15
7 Yasuaki Mori 1983/04/22 4:22.01
27.88 59.34 1:33.17 2:05.64 2:43.45 3:21.67 3:52.44
8 Jun Yoshii 1982/07/14 4:24.68
26.93 57.82 1:32.43 2:06.63 2:42.99 3:19.84 3:52.02
Men 400m Freestyle Final (Japan record: 3:50.36)
1 Takeshi Matsuda 1984/06/23 3:50.88
26.19 54.70 1:24.05 1:53.64 2:23.43 2:53.27 3:22.69
2 Shunichi Fujita 1982/05/27 3:51.13
26.29 55.04 1:24.37 1:53.77 2:23.47 2:53.39 3:22.72
3 Hisato Matsumoto 1984/10/05 3:51.40
26.96 55.72 1:25.00 1:54.55 2:24.03 2:53.78 3:23.29
4 Naoya Sonoda 1982/12/31 3:55.43
27.06 56.32 1:26.12 1:56.08 2:26.07 2:56.76 3:27.07
5 Yasunori Mononobe 1985/05/30 3:57.26
27.31 56.32 1:26.04 1:56.14 2:26.51 2:57.20 3:27.93
6 Sho Uchida 1987/09/28 3:57.30
27.09 55.86 1:25.30 1:55.20 2:25.39 2:56.00 3:26.97
7 Yasuhiro Kurita 1986/07/11 3:58.12 ( 0.72)
26.89 56.34 1:26.40 1:56.82 2:27.20 2:57.82 3:28.63
8 Gen Ishimura 1985/09/24 3:58.79
27.16 56.36 1:26.09 1:56.31 2:26.48 2:57.18 3:28.02
Womens 400m IM Final (Japan record: 4:35.96)
1 Misa Amano 1986/10/15 4:43.72
31.35 1:06.10 1:43.53 2:20.28 2:59.34 3:39.18 4:11.61
2 Sawami Fujita 1984/04/25 4:46.90
29.60 1:03.41 1:40.21 2:16.03 2:57.93 3:40.58 4:13.86
3 Megumi Inoue 1986/01/05 4:48.05
30.22 1:04.64 1:41.61 2:17.48 2:59.91 3:42.08 4:16.56
4 Maiko Fujino 1983/05/23 4:48.43
30.79 1:05.92 1:43.47 2:19.05 3:00.36 3:42.85 4:16.19
5 Tsukushi Irita 1987/04/22 4:50.54
31.32 1:06.78 1:45.35 2:22.88 3:04.04 3:45.26 4:18.67
6 Shino Hitomi 1985/09/01 4:50.92
31.40 1:06.34 1:45.96 2:25.03 3:03.85 3:43.66 4:18.06
7 Chika Yonenaga 1986/07/10 4:52.32
31.78 1:07.30 1:45.03 2:21.66 3:03.64 3:46.63 4:19.99
8 Ayane Sato 1982/10/26 4:55.37
32.06 1:08.39 1:47.19 2:24.42 3:05.70 3:47.37 4:22.11
Women 400m Freestyle FINAL (Japan record: 4:07.23)
1 Sachiko Yamada 1982/10/15 4:07.62
28.95 59.69 1:30.85 2:02.31 2:33.77 3:05.53 3:36.79
2 Ai Shibata 1982/05/14 4:07.71
29.19 59.96 1:31.06 2:02.48 2:33.82 3:05.55 3:37.18
3 Yumi Kida 1985/06/30 4:12.00
29.65 1:00.69 1:32.10 2:03.79 2:35.60 3:07.69 3:40.02
4 Ai Mizoguchi 1986/04/21 4:18.05
30.74 1:02.89 1:35.63 2:08.50 2:41.14 3:13.84 3:46.57
5 Kanae Iwai 1985/07/27 4:18.65
29.87 1:01.85 1:34.79 2:08.00 2:41.51 3:14.62 3:47.00
6 Manami Yamamoto 1984/06/12 4:20.37
30.94 1:03.19 1:36.01 2:09.03 2:42.04 3:15.21 3:48.33
7 Madoka Ochi 1985/03/24 4:20.66
30.82 1:03.40 1:36.17 2:09.21 2:42.34 3:15.43 3:48.60
8 Shiho Yoshimura 1987/03/19 4:21.34
30.40 1:02.54 1:35.33 2:08.66 2:41.85 3:15.62 3:48.88