3 National Records Established On Day 3

3 national records established today with some of the fastest times in the world so far this season.

In the women's 100 breaststroke final, Masami Tanaka bettered her own previous record of 1:07.38 with 1:07.27. It was the second fastest in the record chronology. Tanaka said,'I could swim well today. I am satisfied with the record. I would like to swim with the same time in Sydney."

The second and third spots in the race were very close with Fumiko Kawanabe finishing second in 1:10.25 just ahead of Junko Isoda who finished third in 1:10.29. Junko and Fumiko had traded 2nd and 3rd places throughout the prelims and semi-finals.

Mai Nakamura set her second new national mark with 1:00.78 in women's 100 backstroke. "This record is something I intended to do. But I was not satisfied with the second half." Noriko Inada was second with 1:01.11.

Tomoko Hagiwara added the third national record of the day, in the women's 200 IM final with a time of with 2:12.84. She bettered the old national record of 2:14.22 by Hitomi Mehara in 1993. " I was really excited about this. I wanted to go fast from the start and do my best." Yasuko Tajima was second with 2:16.05 , a personal best for her. In third was 27 year old Hideko Hiranaka-Ando who finished in 2:18.49.

In the only mens event of the day the 100 backstroke Takafumi Oishi 56.28 just touched ahead of Keitaro Konnai 56.33 to win the event by only 5/100 of a second. Keitaro had beaten Takafumi in both the prelim and semi finals for the event. Finishing in third not far behind the leaders was Yosuke Ueda who finished with a time of 56.76.