Courtesy SwimNews

Kosuke Kitajima completed a sweep of breaststroke victories in national-record time at the Japanese short-course championships in Tokyo yesterday. First up, the quadruple Olympic champion of 2004 and 2008 clocked 2:02.95 in the 200m at Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, then followed up with a 26.68sec win in the dash.

Over 200m, Naoya Tomita lost his record (2:03.12 for the world s/c title in December) took silver in 2:04.27, with Yuta Suenaga third in 2:04.60. On Saturday, Kitajima set a national mark of 57.34 in the 100m.

Kitajima's latest efforts prompted Tomita to say he believes he has "no chance" against the Olympic champion long-course, while Suenaga emerged from the 200m to say "I quit".

"I'm good at swimming in a 25-meter pool, but look how I trailed like that. That makes me think I have no chance in a 50-meter pool against him," Tomita said. A tearful Suenega, 25, told Kyodo: "I don't have a desire to try hard to make the London Olympics. I'm glad I raced with Kosuke-san in my last race. I had a great swimming career."

Kitajima had not raced at short-course nationals since 2008. Japanese Trials for world long-course titles in Shanghai this year unfold April 5 to 10.

Of Suenega, Kitajima told Kyodo: "Is he really retiring? If so, I respect his decision. I was thankful that he was trying to catch up with me for years. It was good to go to the Beijing Olympics together. I hoped I could try to make another Olympics with him."

Elsewhere today at s/c nationals in Tokyo, Junya Koga, world 100m back champion, clocked 50.66 to win his specialist event ahead of Masafumi Yamaguchi (52.04) and Kazuki Watanabe (52.08).

Olympic and world 200 butterfly bronze medalist Takeshi Matsuda won the men's 400 freestyle in 3:40.34, while Shiho Sakai claimed the 100m backstroke crown in 56.43.

Results at a glance:

Men 100m freestyle
1. Takuro Fujii 47.87; 2. Kenta Ito 48.50; 3. Makoto Ito 48.59

400m freestyle
1. Takeshi Matsuda 3:40.34; 2. Shogo Hihara 3:43.69; 3. Sho Uchida 3:43.90

100m backstroke
1. Junya Koga 50.66; 2. Masafumi Yamaguchi 52.04; 3. Kazuki Watanabe 52.08

50m breaststroke
1. Kosuke Kitajima 26.68; 2. Koichiro Okazaki 27.11; 3. Akihide Kawakubo 27.23

200m breaststroke
1. Kosuke Kitajima 2:02.95; 2. Naoya Tomita 2:04.27; 3. Yuta Suenaga 2:04.60

100m butterfly
1. Kohei Kawamoto 50.71; 2. Kazuya Kaneda 50.75; 3. Takashi Tomiyama 51.40

200m individual medley
1. Hidemasa Sano 1:54.41; 2. Kosuke Hagino 1:55.08; 3. Daiya Seto 1:55.45 Women

100m freestyle
1. Tomoko Hagiwara 54.20; 2. Misaki Yamaguchi 54.35; 3. Natsuki Hasegawa 54.47

400m freestyle
1. Aya Takano 4:06.49; 2. Misato Iwanaga 4:08.53; 3. Natsumi Iwashita 4:08.57

100m backstroke
1. Shiho Sakai 56.43; 2. Sayaka Akase 57.55; 3. Miyuki Takemura 58.70

50m breaststroke
1. Mina Matsushima 31.13; 2. Manami Fukuda 31.21; 3. Hitomi Nose 31.32

200m breaststroke
1. Naoko Fukudome 2:19.80; 2. Satomi Suzuki 2:20.95; 3. Mio Motegi 2:20.99

100m butterfly
1. Rino Hosoda 57.45; 2. Nao Kobayashi 58.70; 3. Sayaka Nakabo 59.03

200m individual medley
1. Tomoyo Fukuda 2:09.30; 2. Izumi Kato 2:09.99; 3. Ayaka Komatsubara 2:10.59