Naoya Tomita defeats Kosuke Kitajima at the 2011 International Swimming Competitions Selection Trial
Naoya Tomita defeated the four times Olympic breast-stroke champion Kosuke Kitajima in the 200m breast-stroke on the third day of 2011 International Swimming Competitions Selection Trial in Japan. The Japanese National Trials were scheduled to take place
in Hammatsu last month but they were delayed due to the destruction caused by earthquake and tsunami.
Kitajima failed to overcome the 2:08.25 minutes effort from his rival Tomita on Monday. Kosuke touched the wall for the silver medal in a time of 2:09.26 seconds to qualify for the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai this July.
Kitajima is the undisputed champion of the 100m breast-stroke and the 200m breast-stroke at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. He also earned the gold medals for the 50m, 100m and the 200m breast-stroke events at the 2011 Japan National Swimming Championships
in March.
With his wonderful victory, Tomita has now achieved the top of early world rankings for 2011. His time is well under Kitajima’s 2:08.36 minutes for gold medal at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships and is the best time posted by any swimmer.
Kitajima was in a slight lead from Tomita until the first half of the race, where he clocked 1:01.29 minutes. Then, on the third turn, Tomita’s considerably faster turn provided him a 0.02 seconds lead from the defending champion. He then enhanced his lead
from the former world record holder Kitajima, who posted 2:07.51 minutes in full body suits in 2008. Kazuki Ohtsuka followed them on the podium for a bronze medal with a timing of 2:09.94 minutes
Furthermore, Yuka Katou improved her own Japanese Record in the Women’s 100m butterfly with a timing of 57.80 seconds. Rino Hosoda and Natsumi Hoshi, followed her on the podium for silver and bronze medal in a time of 58.88 and 59.05 seconds respectively.
While, Junya Koga earned the title for the Men’s 50m backstroke, clocking a time of 24.97 seconds ahead of the Ryosuke Irie and Masafumi Yamaguchi, who touched the wall in 25.07 and 25.26 seconds respectively for the silver and bronze medal.
The winner of every event at the tournament will be allowed to represent Japan at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai.
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