Izumi Katou and Aya Terakawa secure fastest spot in Women’s preliminary rounds - 2011 Japan Open
Izumi Katou and Aya Terakawa dominated the preliminary rounds on the third day of the 2011 Japan Open National Swimming Championships. The championship provides a second chance to national swimmers, to prove their qualification into the Japanese team for
the 2011 Shanghai World Championships, this July.
The session concluded with the preliminary rounds of the 200m Individual Medley (IM), 50m back-stroke, 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly and the 200m breast-stroke in the Women’s category.
The session started with the 200m IM heats, where 20-year-old Katou, stunned the Japanese crowd by producing a marvellous time of 2:13.80 minutes. Her stupendous effort was only 2.90 seconds away from the national record of 2:10.90 minutes, but placed her
almost two seconds ahead of her following finisher, Miyu Ohtsuka. Ohtsuka qualified as the second fastest swimmer into the finals with a timing of 2:15.30 minutes and out-touched his closest rival, Youko Nakaoka by 0.34 seconds. Nakaoka finished his swim in
2:15.64 minutes for the third fastest qualification spot.
The next category was the 50m back-stroke, where 26-year-old Terakawa, occupied the fastest berth into the finals by clocking a time of 28.59 seconds. Terakawa was only 0.86 seconds away from the national mark of 27.73 seconds and over-whelmed her closest
swimmer, Miyuki Takemura by 0.23 seconds. Takemura and Eri Tabei followed her into the finals, touching the wall in 28.72 and 28.97 seconds for the second and third fastest qualifications, respectively.
In the 50m freestyle, Yayoi Matsumoto transpired as the fastest swimmer to enter the finals, posting a 25.79 seconds effort. She was followed by Miki Uchida and An Yumoto, who touched the wall for second and third fastest qualifications, with a timing of
25.95 and 26.05 seconds, respectively.
The fourth event of the session was the 100m butterfly, where Rino Hosoda proved her eligibility for the fastest qualification spot by clocking a 58.69 seconds effort. She was almost a second away from Natsumi Hoshi, who finished her swim in the second
fastest place, posting a time of 59.47 seconds. Tomoyo Fukuda followed them into the finals, completing her swim in 59.66 seconds.
The last event of the session was the 200m breast-stroke, where Kanako Watanabe remained undisputed with a 2:25.68 minutes effort. Keiko Fukudome and Megumi Taneda settled as the second and third fastest swimmers behind Watanabe, with timings of 2:26.94
and 2:27.34 minutes, respectively.
The finals will take place in the second session, where the winners will earn awards and accolades for their performances.
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