World 50-metre bronze medallist Aya Terakawa set a new Japanese record to win the women's 100m backstroke and qualify for the London Olympics on Thursday. Terakawa clocked 59.10 seconds to beat Shiho Sakai into second in 1:00.50 and Noriko Inada into third in 1:00.57.
"I waited for four years to make this situation. I'm really happy to qualify for the Olympics. My target was to swim under 58.00, so it was a bit disappointing," she said. Natsumi Hoshi and Izumi Kato also secured their Olympic places by winning the women's 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley respectively. Hoshi set a national record of 2:04.69 to beat Masami Uchikoshi and Yuka Kato.