Maiko Fujino and Miyu Ohtsuka wins gold medal on day one: 2011 Japan National Open Swimming Championships
Maiko Fujino and Miyu Ohtsuka won gold medals in their events on day one of the 2011 Japan National Open Swimming Championships.
The session included the finals of 800m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 100m breast-stroke and the 100m back-stroke in the Women’s category.
The session started with the 800m freestyle final, where the 27-year-old Fujino dominated the event by conquering the gold medal in 8:35.88 minutes. She was almost 12 seconds slower from the National Record of 8:23.68 minutes and was followed by Asami Chida,
who touched the wall for a silver medal with a timing of 8:40.19 minutes. 18-year-old Miho Takahashi followed them on the podium for the bronze medal by posting a time of 8:40.46 minutes.
In the 200m butterfly, Miyu Ohtsuka occupied the gold medal by producing a wonderful swim of 2:10.96 minutes. Her time was almost four seconds away from the Japanese Record of 2:06.05 minutes and was 0.17 seconds faster from her following swimmer, Hiroko
Sugino. Sugino, who remain engaged in a neck-to-neck swim with Kei Hoshiba, out-touched Hoshiba with a timing of 2:11.13 minutes for the silver medal. Moments later, Kei reached the podium for the bronze medal, clocking a time of 2:11.99 minutes.
Next was the 200m freestyle final, where the 22-year-old Haruka Ueda earned the gold medal but remained only two seconds away from the National Record of 1:57.37 minutes. Ueda posted a time of 1:59.55 minutes for the gold spot and was 1.30 seconds faster
than Risa Sekine, who appeared on the podium for the silver medal in 2:00.85 minutes. 16-year-old Aya Takanao, who failed to sustain her fastest qualification spot and settled third in 2:00.90 minutes, secured the third spot on the podium.
The fourth event of the session was 100m back-stroke final, where the 26-year-old Aya Terakawa proved her eligibility for the gold medal, posting 59.35 seconds effort. Terakawa was the only swimmer to post a sub 1:00.00 minutes effort and remained only 0.23
seconds away from improving the national record of 59.13 seconds. She was followed by Shiho Sakai and Eri Tabei, who emerged on the podium for the silver and bronze medal by touching the wall in a time of 1:00.76 and 1:00.93 minutes, respectively.
The last event of the session was 100m breast-stroke, where the 14-year-old Kanako Watanabe obtained the gold medal for displaying a remarkable effort of 1:07.10 minutes. She comfortably improved the Japanese Junior Record and was followed by Mina Matsushima,
who stepped on the podium for the silver medal in 1:08.11 minutes. Naoko Fukudome touched the wall for bronze medal, posting a time of 1:08.80 minutes.
The championships will continue for two more days, where the national swimmers will have the chance to compete with each other for the national titles.
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