200m Breast at Japan Swim: Kosuke Kitajima 2:08.00, Ryo Tateishi 2:08.17 (With Video)

(Thanks to Swimmer's Daily and  真之介 山田 for the video)

Three things I love about this video:

1. The incredible times both Kitajima and Tateishi lay down. Both men are inside the previous textile best time.
2. How utterly exhausted both men are after the race. It broke them.
3. Kitajima going over to console 17 year old Akihiro Yamaguchi, who had just swum the race of his life to finish in 2:09.70 (4th in the world this year) and still miss the team for London. Having the world's greatest ever men's breaststroker giving you a tap on the head has got to make you feel at least a tiny bit better about things.

I said it on Twitter, but I will say it again - With every new accomplishment Kitajima picks up, he continues to move further ahead of the chasing pack when it comes to the greatest breaststroker of all time discussion. In terms of domination in one stroke, Kitajima is in very select company.

Kosuke Kitajima Races To A 58.90 100m Breast (With Race Video)

Kosuke Kitajima is a rock star, breaking his own Asian record by 0.01, which just so happened to be set in the 2008 Olympic final. The time is the 5th fastest of all-time and he becomes just the second man under 59 seconds in a textile suit.

Ryo Tateishi, 2nd in 59.60, moved to 2nd in the 2012 world rankings.

Kitajima has now put himself within range of Norway's Alexander Dale Oen and his time of 58.71 set in Shanghai last year and keeps alive the chance to become the first male swimmer to win the same event in three consecutive Olympics.

Dale Oen set his time off a scorching first 50m split of 27.20, compared to Kitajima's still rapid 27.69, but it's worth noting that the Japanese star brought the race home significantly faster, 31.21 to 31.51. An Olympic final showdown between the two is set to be one of the highlights of the London Olympics.

(Thanks to Swimmer's Daily for the video find and 真之介 山田 for the video itself)

Japanese Olympic Trials

Expect the world rankings to have a significant Japanese presence this time next week. The always fast Japan Swim (also serving as their Olympic Trials) start tomorrow.

Among the key storylines will be Kosuke Kitajima going up against the world's deepest domestic group of Breaststrokers. He will hope to keep his dream alive of becoming the first male swimmer in history to win the same event at three consecutive Olympic games.

Also watch out for Ryosuke Irie in the 200m Backstroke. Mr Consistency over the last few years, he is the biggest threat to Ryan Lochte and based on his 1:54.02 from January could be primed to take the next step up to the American's lofty heights.

Finally, look out for a number of the talented Japanese youngsters to move themselves from the potential category, to the legitimate medal contender group. Among those to watch out for are Kanako Watanabe (200m Breaststroke), Daiya Seto, Kosuke Hagino (both 400m IM), Miyu Otsuka (400m IM) and Sayaka Akase (200m Backstroke).

Start Lists & Results
Live Timing

Top 51 Swimmers of 2011 - 41 to 32

As another year of great swimming comes to a close, here is a rundown of the Top 50 Swimmers of 2011. There is no set criteria, but clearly the World Championships in Shanghai carried a big weight in the decision making process. That being said, outstanding achievements away from Shanghai were still acknowledged.

Here is the rundown from 40 to 31.

41. Brendan Hansen – 2011 Highlight – Beating world champion Daniel Gyurta at the Duel in the Pool.

Hansen makes the list not so much for his performances, which still put him in the world top 10, but for the fact that of all the comebacks during the last two years, his has been by far the most successful. To be under 2:10 in the 200m Breast at this stage of Hansen’s return is scary. Hansen v Kitajima v Gyurta should be a classic, Tomita, von Lehm and Shanteau will all try to crash the party.

40. Camille Muffat – 2011 Highlight – Missing out on two silver medals in Shanghai by a combined 0.10 seconds.

This selection may raise a few eyebrows, especially considering that Kylie Palmer who finished ahead of Muffat in the 200 Free in Shanghai missed out on the Top 50. Muffat’s inclusion was based on her impressive last 12 months. The Nice trained swimmer is a model of consistency in middle distance Freestyle. In the last year she has registered 7 of the top 25 performances in the 200m Free and 6 in the 400 Free (including 3 of the top 7). Her 4:03.23 400 Free effort at French nationals puts her in elite company with Federica Pellegrini and Rebecca Adlington.

39. Paul Biedermann – 2011 Highlight – Silencing some of his critics by taking two bronze medals in Shanghai in two of the deepest events on the men’s side.

Biedermann, like Muffat, came back from Shanghai with two bronze medals, but when you consider the swimmers he beat on his way to those medals, his place in the Top 50 should become clearer: Park Tae-Hwan, Yannick Agnel, Nikita Lobintsev, Ous Mellouli, Peter Vanderkaay, Ryan Cochrane. It is also worth remembering that Michael Phelps beat Biedermann by just 0.09 in the 200m Free. His time of 1:44.88 moved him ahead of Pieter van den Hoogenband to 4th 5th on the all-time textile ranking list.

Japan Open - Day Three - Kanako Watanabe

A New Star Is Born?

The labels we have for supremely talented youngsters are often overused, for every 'next big thing' that emerged as a world beater (ie. Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol, Ian Thorpe), you will find scores more that failed to reach the lofty heights that many pre-emptively forecasted. This weekend in Japan, 14-year-old Kanako Watanabe has set herself up for such a label. After a solid 31.83 in the 50 Breast and an exceptional 1:07.10 in the 100 Breast, Watanabe saved her best performance for last as she clocked a truly world class 2:23.90 in the 200 Breast. To put the time in some context, it is 0.4 seconds faster than Amanda Beard's fifth-placed finish at last year's Pan Pacs and moves Watanabe to second in this year's world rankings.

Unfortunately Japan has already selected their World Championship team, and Watanabe isn't on it after just missing out on selection at Japanese Nationals. She will, however, have a chance to compete at the World Junior Championships in Peru in August.

If everything goes according to plan, she should continue to improve. Leisel Jones broke through as a 15-year-old and developed into one of the greatest ever female Breaststrokers. Agnes Kovacs won silver in Atlanta aged 15, before winning gold in Sydney four years later. Amanda Beard won silver in the 100 and 200 Breast in Atlanta, aged 14, and then took Gold in Athens in the 200 Breaststroke. She is certainly not the first 14-year-old Breaststroke star to hit the big time. Women's Breaststroke, however, has also seen its fair share of youngsters who shone brightly for a short amount of time. Whether it is physiological or mental, some Breaststrokers struggle to come close to the times they were doing as 14 or 15 year olds.

Two reasons for optimism a) Japan leads the world in men's Breaststroke, clearly they have a great programme going over there, b) Watanabe has some fierce domestic competition in the forms of Satomi Suzuki and Rie Kanetou that should help her continue to progress.

Other Day Three Highlights

Japan Open - Day One - ジャパンオープン2011(50ｍ)

The Japan Open (ジャパンオープン2011(50ｍ))always seems to throw up some fast swims and the opening day was no exception. Here's a look at those who got the meet off with a bang:

• Aya Terakawa takes top billing after the joint second fastest 100m Backstroke of 2011. Her time of 59.35 sits behind only her own effort of 59.17 at Japanese Nationals. The swim also solidifies Terakawa as one of the most consistent 100 Backstrokers in the world right now. She is the only woman to have swum inside 60 seconds on three occasions this year, a feat she accomplised an incredible seven times last year. She won't go into Shanghai as the favourite, but don't be surprised to see her take home gold.

• Ryosuke Irie is another Japanese Backstroker who will be pushing for medals at Worlds. Today's effort of 53.11 is just a hundredth of a second off his own 2nd ranked time in the world. Irie's consistency on the major stage has come under scrutiny after an off performance at Pan Pacs, but in the non-Camille Lacourt tier of 100 Backstrokers, on this year's evidence, Irie is at the top of that pile.

Thoughts from Pan Pacs Swimming - Day Three and Day Four

The final two days at Pan Pacs provided a number of highlights, here are just a few...

- Ryan Lochte joined Camille Lacourt in the exclusive club of male swimmer's who have given world records a real scare this year.

Lochte's time of 1:54.43 for the 200m IM is third on the all-time list behind his own world record from last year (1:54.10) and Michael Phelps' Beijing winning time (1:54.23). Lochte now owns six of the top ten swims all-time over 200m IM, Phelps has three, Laszlo Cseh one. I think we can now say Lochte is the best in the world over 200m IM.

Phelps will be back, you know that being number two domestically is going to hurt him, but at this stage... asssuming both men are 100% fit and ready at London 2012, who wins the 200m IM? Leave a comment below with your answer.

Where I am at... My heart says Lochte, my head says Phelps.

- Rebecca Soni's 2:20.69 was the second swim of Day 4 that rattled a world record. Going into the meet there had been a fair amount of hype surrounding Soni breaking Annamay Pierse's global standard. Unfortunately for Soni she came up half a second short.

In terms of the swim itself, Soni didn't have the best of starts, although that usually isn't the strongest part of her race and was 0.33 seconds down at the 50m mark, 0.30 down at 100m, 0.49 down at 150m and finished up 0.57 seconds down on the WR at the finish.

It's a fantastic swim in a textile suit but interestingly (and I'm sure frustratingly for Soni) she did not get past Leisel Jones' best textile time of 2:20.54 set in 2006.

There's no doubt Soni has the talent to break 2:20, she has been close to it all-year. Still... 1:04.9 in the 100m, 2:20.6 on the 200m and proving herself as the undisputed best female breaststroker in the world represents a great Pan Pacs for Rebecca Soni.

- So Michael Phelps is the fastest 100m Freestyler in the world. That's something I did not expect. Its not like we're early in the season either, all the main players (with the possible exception of Eamon Sullivan) have shown their strongest hand and Phelps beat them all. Here's a list of names Phelps is faster than in 2010. Cesar Cielo. Alain Bernard. Brent Hayden. Fabien Gilot. Eamon Sullivan. Nathan Adrian. Jason Lezak.

Much has been made of Phelps' lack of fitness, including what amounts to being thrown under the bus by Bob Bowman in this Washington Post article. I don't see Pan Pacs as a bad meet for Phelps at all, quite the opposite. I believe we've seen what direction he will now take on his journey towards 2012. He swum the 400m IM and didn't get out of the heats. He swam the lead-off leg of the 100m Free and shot to the top of the world rankings. I didn't think Phelps could win gold in the 100m Free at Olympics, I felt the size and speed of Bernard, Cielo, Adrian etc. would be too much to overcome.... but that all changed when he went 48.13 on that lead-off leg of the relay. Now, 48.13 will not win gold in London, but if Phelps can get down to Pieter VDH's textile best time of 47.84 things will start to get very interesting.

Shot in the dark on 2012 Olympic Schedule for Phelps (depending on the scheduling of events)

100m Freestyle
100m Butterfly
200m Freestyle
200m Butterfly
200m IM
4 x 100m Medley Relay
4 x 100m Free Relay
4 x 200m Free Relay

= 8 Events

- Emily Seebohm became the first clean athlete to break 2:10 in a textile suit. Wu Yanyan had swum 2:09.72 back in 1997 before a later positive doping test. Turning level with Ariana Kukors at 150m, Seebohm proved to have the strongest freestyle leg to win in 2:09.93 to Kukors' 2:10.25.

Seebohm, 18, winner of the 100m Back and 200m IM and silver medallist in the 50m Fly and 100m Free, isn't too far away from becoming one of swimming's biggest stars on the women's side.

- I told myself earlier this year never to write off Kosuke Kitajima. Never. In any Breaststroke event. Guess what... I wrote him off on the 200m Breaststroke at Pan Pacs... and he swum an incredible 2:08.36 (breaking Brendan Hansen's textile best time of 2:08.50 in the process).

Lesson learnt.

- Nathan Adrian beating Cesar Cielo was a big surprise. Both men had great times, 21.55 and 21.57 respectively.... but fascinatingly, Cielo got a great start and looked like he was up on Adrian at the breakout. So that means that Adrian's flat out sprint freestyle speed was considerably faster than Cielo's. (Seems like an obvious point but not many people imagined that to be the case coming into Pan Pacs).

- If Park Tae Hwan, Paul Biedermann and Yannick Agnel raced each other tomorrow on the 400m Free I'm picking Park to win. He demolished the field on the final 100m at Pan Pacs. His last split.... 53.85, the fastest 100 of the entire race. When Ian Thorpe swam 3:40.08 his final 100m split was 54.65... (Thorpe did go out in 1:49.57). Biedermann came back in 52.90 in Rome last year when he swam 3:40.07 but hasn't looked comfortable over 400m all year.

- Congratulations to Chloe Sutton on winning her first Gold medal in an international pool competition on the 400m Freestyle. A real talent who should add many more to her tally. Next year at Worlds she gets to face the best Europe has to offer, Federica Pellegrini and Rebecca Adlington.

NOVAQUATICS - SPEEDO Grand Challenge

The NOVAQUATICS - SPEEDO Grand Challenge takes place from May 28th to May 30th. The field is stacked with quality swimmers and we should see a number of top times as world swimming starts to enter its summer season.

Swimmers to Watch

Vladimir Morozov

Morozov is coming off his recent National High School records in the 50y and 100y Freestyle. This meet will give the swimming world a chance to see what he can do over LC metres. One thing is for sure, Morozov is in top form. He has the added incentive of being able to show some of his future USC teammates what they can expect next year. Morozov has a tough 6-event schedule (200 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Back, 100 Free). The good news for US Swimming... Although born and raised in Russia, he wants to represent the USA in international competition.

(Check out highlights of his recent swims in the video below - Hat tip to OC Varsity for the video)



Cindy Tran

Morozov isn't the only recent National High School record breaker. Cindy Tran also set a new mark in the 100y Back. Like Morozov, Tran has a busy schedule and is down to compete in the 50m Free, 100m Fly, 200m Back, 100m Back and 100m Free. Tran, who will head to California-Berkeley next year, looks to have a real chance in the 100m Back at this meet.

Rebecca Soni & Jessica Hardy

Training partners Rebecca Soni and Jessica Hardy will continue their friendly rivalry. Soni has been one of world swimming's top performers in 2010 with stunning (untapered) times in the 100m (1:05.90) and 200m Breast (2:22.21).

Hardy on the other hand has just been given the excellent news that she successfully fended off the appeal from WADA to increase her anti-doping ban to 2 years. Whilst her participation in the 2012 Olympics is still in the balance this news should give Hardy a huge psychological lift going into this weekend. For those wanting a much better insight into what Hardy has been going through, I suggest reading Dominik Meichtry's blog.

Kosuke Kitajima

For as long as Kitajima continues to swim he will appear as a 'swimmer to watch' in every meet he competes in. The Japanese Breaststroke star has a few questions to answer after some mixed results at the Japanese Nationals. After setting a new Japanese record in the 50m Breast semis (27.30) and a strong showing in the 100m Breast (59.91) there is no problem with his speed. However, the wheel's came off in the 200m Breast final and it was not his first loss of the year in that event. Competition will come from NCAA Champ Damir Dugonjic. Irish fans should keep an eye on what kind of form Andrew Bree is in.

Thiago Perreira/Markus Rogan/Tyler Clary

World Class swimmers Pereira, Rogan and Clary will face each other in a variety of events. 200 IM (Rogan & Pereira), 200 Back (Rogan & Clary), 400 IM (Clary & Pereira). Rogan and Pereira have been in fine form so far in 2010. Clary took silver in the 400 IM at the World Champs in Rome last year.

Nathan Adrian & Jason Lezak

Adrian and Lezak will lock horns in the 50m and 100m Free. It will be fascinating to see where Adrian and Lezak will end up in the 2010 world rankings. Setting the pace this year are Fred Bousquet with 21.71 in the 50m Free and Alain Bernard with 48.32 in the 100m Free.

Chloe Sutton vs Katie Hoff

Sutton and Hoff will resume their battle in the 400m Free. Sutton has prevailed in the 400 Free meetings so far in 2010. The 400m Free is an event with a logjam in the world rankings with a number of swimmers between 4:05 and 4:10. Sutton's best time of 2010 is 4:07.41 (9th) whilst Hoff has posted 4:10.57 (23rd), both women can move up several places with slight improvements on those times.

UPDATE - From Twitter - @csutswim - Speedo Grand Challenge tomorrow! Getting there at 630 to do a workout for 2 hours then swimming the 400. I'll be scratching finals.

British Interest

British distance freestyler Richard Charlesworth goes into the 1500m ranked second behind the tough American Chad La Tourette. Michael Klueh will also pose a threat having been in good form this year on the US Grand Prix circuit.


Psych Sheet - Here

Live Results - Here

Japan Swim 2010 Recap

The Japanese nationals have produced some outstanding swims and not all of them from the swimmers you would expect.

My star of the meet

Ryo Tateishi



A clean sweep of the Breaststroke events was expected at this competition, but Kosuke Kitajima was the man tipped for the feat. Instead Ryo Tateishi took the honours in the 50m, 100m and 20m Breast. In doing so he vaulted himself to the top of the world rankings in the 100m and 200m and into the consciousness of world swimming.

Tateishi's times were as follows - 50m - 27.62 (third in the world this year), 100m - 59.84 (first in the world), 200m - 2:09.21 (first in the world).

With the exception of the 200m, where the double-double Olympic champion had a poor second half of the race, Tateishi beat an in-form Kitajima.

Kitajima has long flown the flag alone for male Japanese breaststrokers, but he now has some serious company. It should drive both men onto great things in the next few years.

Japan Swim 2010

Fast times have been posted on the first day of the Japanese Nationals. Results (in English) can be found here.

Kosuke Kitajima set a new national record in the heats of the 50m Breast with a time of 27.30. The time moves Kitajima to the top of the world rankings, taking out Brenton Rickard's 27.40 set at last month's Aussie Champs. Kitajima's effort was just 0.12 seconds shy of Oleg Lisogor's textile best time and beat his previous best of 27.65 set in June 2008. Surprisingly, Kitajima could only manage second in the final with a time of 27.71. Ryo Tateishi won in a time of 27.66.

Rickard still holds the fastest times in the world in both the 100m and 200m Breast with 1:00.19 and 2:09.31. With the kind of speed shown in the 50m, Kitajima must be in with a good chance of being the first man under 60 seconds this year.


Other notable swims:-

Masayuki Kishida posted a swift 22.39 in the semis of the 50m Free. Fred Bousquet remains the only man to have broken 22 seconds this year.

Takeshi Matsuda took victory in the 400m Free in a time of 3:46.59. Tae Hwan Park still leads the world this year with 3:45.03.