Former world record holder Kosuke Kitajima's final preparation for the world championships ended with two national records in the Japan Open short course swimming championships on Sunday.
The 24-year-old former dual world champion from Tokyo broke his own previous mark by setting 27.14 seconds in the men's 50-metre breaststroke, beating Oleg Lisogor of Ukraine and Christian Sprenger of Australia.
Kitajima wound up the two-day competition by winning the 200m race in 2:04.96, beating his previous mark of 2:06.00, ahead of fellow Japanese Hiroyuki Shirai and Ryou Tateishi.
"These results give me a lot of confidence for the world championships. It was a good preparation. I feel like I can swim better in the long course," said Kitajima.
"I'm going to peak for the championships. My goal in Melbourne is to set my personal bests. The world records are above my records, so I target those records and beating my rivals," he added.
The world championships will be held in Melbourne from March 17 to April 1. A total of nine new national records were set Sunday, led by Athens Olympic 200m backstroke bronze medallist Reiko Nakamura and men's 100m backstroke bronze medallist Tomomi Morita.
Nakamura, the Asian Games dual gold medallist in Doha, clocked 58.10 to win the women's 100m backstroke beating Hanae Ito and Sydney Olympic silver medallist Mai Nakamura. Morita, also the bronze winner of the 4x100m medley relay in Athens, created a new mark of 51.55 to win the men's 100m backstroke, beating Junichi Miyashita and Shohei Uchida.
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