DOLPHINS IN NARROW DUEL WIN OVER JAPAN
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AIS, Canberra, May 10: Australia has hung on to beat Japan in a nail-biting finish to today's Duel In The Pool at the AIS in Canberra but Japanese sensation Ryosuke Irie stole the show with a new world record in the 200m backstroke.
The Telstra Dolphins, on 167 points held on to beat Japan (162) in the open competition while the brilliant young Japanese team won the Youth pointscore (190-138).
Irie swam a world record time of 1:52.86 (26.84; 55.46;1:24.42) breaking the old mark of 1:53.94 set by Ryan Lochte of the USA at the Beijing Olympics.
The 19-year-old, who swam a 1:54.02 at the Japanese World championship trials just three weeks ago, took a whopping 1.08 seconds off Lochte's mark and said it was an ‘unbelievable' swim.
Australia's Ashley Delaney finished second in a time of 1:57.90 while Irie's world record was the first in the AIS Canberra pool since Michael Klim's 100m butterfly world mark of 51.81 in December 1999.
Irie stands 177cm tall and weighs just 62kg and said after the race he was confident of breaking the world record again at this year's FINA World Championships in Rome.
"I am very happy to break the world record in Australia and I am confident I can break the record again at the world championships," said Irie.
The lean, long-armed Kinki University student from Osaka was just 0.02 seconds outside American Aaron Peirsol's world record for 100m last night, clocking 52.56.
Australia's National Head Coach Alan Thompson was full of praise for Irie: "I think it's a great world record. We first noticed him in the Japan open meet in Tokyo a couple of years ago and saw there that he was a real talent.
"He's probably technically one of the best backstrokers we've ever seen and I think it was probably just a matter of time before he broke a world record. He didn't just shave something off it today he took a whole second off it."
Meanwhile Australia's Meagen Nay set a new Australian record in the women's 200m backstroke, clocking 2:07.41 ((30.12; 1:02.66; 1:34.84) - the eighth fastest all-time.
Nay revealed after her swim she has been sick during the Telstra Dolphins camp in Canberra and has had two courses of anti-biotics.
"But I have done some good sets in training, actually better than before Beijing, so I knew I was capable of swimming fast," said Meagen.
"I thought it would be a nice Mother's Day gift for my mum Karen, back in Queensland."
Dual Olympic butterfly bronze medallist Jessicah Schipper maintained her impressive Duel In The Pool record, recording her seventh win from eight starts since her Duel debut against the USA, as a 16-year-old in Indianapolis in 2003.
Schipper, who has not been able to complete a main set in training until last week, stopped the clock at 2:07.83, ahead of Japan's Yui Miyamoto (2:08.37) with Australia's Sam Hamill third in 2:10.78.
She later split 56.84 to put Australia in a prime position in the medley relay - her fourth consecutive Duel win in the event - giving her 11 wins from 12 Duel events in six years.
Here is the breakdown of the events:
WOMEN
50M FREESTYLE: Australia's Libby Trickett kept up her impressive Duel form, winning the 50m freestyle in a pleasing 24.27, just a fraction slower than her Australian Championship time of 24.23.Trickett led an Australian trifecta, with Cate Campbell second in 24.68 and Marieke Guehrer third in 25.01. Trickett later spearheaded the Australian women's 4x100m medley relay, splitting under 53 seconds for the third time, with a 52.90 seconds.
200M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: Olympic champion Stephanie Rice (2:14.35) had to play third fiddle to Japanese stars, National record holder Asami Kitagawa (2:12.79) and Tomoyo Fukuda (2:13.58) with Australia's Ellen Fullerton fourth (2:15.48). Rice admitted she was "struggling in heavy training" but praised the "amazing Japanese swimmers." Rice said she was looking forward to a high-altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, beginning at the end of next week. "It will be good to get some solid, consistent work done, I'm really looking forward to it," said Rice.
200M BACKSTROKE: Australia's Olympic finalist Meagen Nay clocked the eighth fastest time in history when she smashed her own Australian record clocking 2:07.41 ((30.12; 1:02.66; 1:34.84) - the eighth fastest all-time. 2009 Australian champion Belinda Hocking gave Australia a 1-2 finish when she clocked 2:09.01 to finish second, with Japan's Aya Terakawa third in 2:10.66. Nay revealed after her swim she has been sick during the Telstra Dolphins camp in Canberra and has had two courses of anti-biotics. "But I have done some good sets in training, actually better than before Beijing, so I knew I was capable of swimming fast," said Meagen. "I thought it would be a nice Mother's Day gift for my mum Karen, back in Queensland."
200M BUTTERFLY: Dual Olympic butterfly bronze medallist Jessicah Schipper maintained her impressive Duel In The Pool record well and truly alive, recording her seventh win from eight starts since her Duel debut against the USA, as a 16-year-old in Indianapolis in 2003. Schipper, who has not been able to complete a main set in training until last week, stopped the clock at 2:07.83, ahead of Japan's Yui Miyamoto (2:08.37) with Australia's Sam Hamill third in 2:10.78.
200M FREESTYLE: Noted butterflyer Felicity Galvez continued her impressive freestyle transition, winning the 200m in 1:58.59 from fellow Australian, Bronte Barratt (1:59.83) with Japan's Hanae Ito third in 2:00.15. Galvez, a member of the gold medal winning 4x200m freestyle relay squad (as a heat swimmer) led from start to finish to score much needed winning points for the Australian team
200M BREASTSTROKE: Japan dominated the 200m breaststroke with Rio Kaneto (2:22.83) - just half-a-second outside her own National record - take the top points ahead of team mates Nanaka Tamura (2:24.85) with Hitomi Nose (2:25.80) with Australian pair Sally Foster (2:26.81) and Sarah Katsoulis (2:29.06) fourth and fifth.
4X100M MEDLEY RELAY: Australia's team of Belinda Hocking (1:01.14), Sarah Katsoulis (1:06.74), Jessicah Schipper (56.84) and Libby Trickett (52.90) came from behind to clock 3:57.62 to beat Japan (4:01.13) and Australia B (4:01.54).
MEN
200m INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: AIS based athlete Tommaso D'Orsogna was the best of the Dolphins in the 200m individual medley with Japanese record holder Ken Takakuwa winning in a time of 1:59.18 followed by Takuro Fuji and Yuya Horihata. The 18-year-old Western Australian finished in 2:03.28 with Leith Brodie, Stephen Parkes and Robert Hurley rounding out the field.
200M BACKSTROKE: Japanese sensation Ryosuke Irie swam a world record time of 1:52.86 in the men's 200m backstroke, breaking the old mark of 1:53.94 set by Ryan Lochte of the USA at the Beijing Olympics. The 19-year-old, who swam a 1:54.02 at the Japanese World championship trials just three weeks ago, said it was an ‘unbelievable' swim and something he hopes to improve on in Rome. Australia's Ashley Delaney finished second in a time of 1:52.86 while Irie's world record was the first in the AIS Canberra pool since Michael Klim's in the 100m butterfly (51.81) in December 1999.
200M BREASTSTROKE: Christian Sprenger was the best of the Australians in the men's 200m breaststroke (2:11.65), with Ryo Tateishi (2:08.25) setting a new Australian All-Comers record ahead of team mates Yuta Suenaga (2:10.19) and Naoya Tomita (2:10.77) following in the wake of leading Japanese breaststroker and world holder Kosuke Kitajima who is currently taking a break from the sport.
50M FREESTYLE: Andrew Lauterstein out-touched Makoto Ito and training partner Eamon Sullivan to win the men's 50m freestyle in 22.32, only the second time ever that he has gone under the 23 second mark in competition. Lauterstein who won the race by 0.01 of a second will not swim the event at the world championships in Rome, but did say the finishing skills, and touching the wall will help with his 50 and 100m butterfly preparations. "It's a nice thing to practice (getting on the wall) and getting into the habit of winning, even though you don't think about it, it's a nice thing to get into the habit of doing coming over the top," said Lauterstein."It's meets like this where you practice getting your hand on the wall first." "It was another win by 0.01 which is the most important thing. I won the fly by 0.01 as well and got another point against the Japanese which is the most important thing."
200M FREESTYLE: Nick Ffrost led the way for Australia in the men's 200m freestyle in a time of 1:48.36, but it wasn't enough to see Japan finish first, second and third with Yoshihiro Okumuara winning in 1:47.41. Australian Youth team member Daniel Smith won his 200m freestyle race in a time of 1:48.04, an effort which would have seen him hit the wall ahead of Ffrost in the senior event.
200M BUTTERFLY: Japan also got the better of the Aussie men in the 200m butterfly with their team captain and national record holder Takeshi Matsuda winning in a time of 1:55.36 ahead of Rysuke Sakata 1:56.38 and Chris Wright 1:58.05 who celebrated his 21st birthday on Wednesday.
4X100M MEDLEY RELAY: The final event of the night saw Japan finish ahead of the Australia in the men's 400m medley relay with a time of 3:31.91, but with the home team of Ashley Delaney, Christian Sprenger, Andrew Lauterstein and Eamon Sullivan coming in second (3:33.39), it was enough to see the Australian senior team defeat the Japanese on points overall 167 to 162.