Kitajima Qualifies for Pan Pacs; Has Another Chance to Reach World Champs

By Hideki Mochizuki

TOKYO, Japan, April 23. THE final day of the Japanese Nationals ended with total of nine new Japanese records during the four-day meet. Only four male and six female swimmers swam faster than the Standard I time required to automatically qualify for the World Championship team roster. The rest will now be dependent on the results at the Pan Pacific Championships this summer in Vancouver.

Kosuke Kitajima made the national team to the Pan Pac Champs, but failed to make the World Champs team by .01. Kitajima won men's 100 breaststroke on the final day of action with a time of 1:00.71. He split 28.55 at the 50-meter mark and made Pan Pacs as his times under the Standard II mark of 1:01.54. However, he failed to make the World Championships as he narrowly missed the Standard I time of 1:00.70.

Kitajima still has a chance to qualify for the World Championships, provided he swims faster than the standard I time at the Pan Pacific Champs. "I was definitely on the edge of cliff this time," Kitajima said. "But, I know I will be back to the condition where I should be by this summer."

The struggles of Ai Shibata continued Sunday when she finished third in the 1500 freestyle with a time of 16:26.16. Like Kitajima, Shibata needs to prove herself again at Pan Pacs to make the World Championships. The winner of the 1,500 was Sachiko Yamada in 16:10.62. She had already won the 400 and 800 freestyles.

Hanae Itou set a new Japanese record in the 200 backstroke with a performance of 2:09.15. That swim edged Reiko Nakamura, who took second place in 2:10.05. This was Itou's first Japanese record and arrived by beating the bronze medalist from Athens in this event. The two led the race from start to finish, turning at the 100 in 1:03.36, which was .34 faster than old Japanese record pace.

In the men's 100m butterfly, Takashi Yamamoto won the race with a strong showing of 52.53. Meanwhile, another Japanese record was set by Takeshi Matsuda in the men's 800 freestyle with a 7:55.11 outing.

World Championships Team
as of today, the following athletes dipped under the Standard I times set by the Japanese Federation.

Men
Tomomi Morita (backstroke)
Junya Koga (backstroke)
Masafumi Yamaguchi (backstroke)
Ryuichi Shibata (butterfly)

Female
Mai Nakamura (backstroke)
Hanae Itou (backstroke)
Reiko Nakamura (backstroke)
Yurie Yano (butterfly)
Yuko Nakanishi (butterfly)

It's pretty surprising not to see Ai Shibata's name on that list as well.

ETA: It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time! (thank you Terrie)