London Olympic silver medalist Ryosuke Irie kept his king status by out-performing rising star Kosuke Hagino in the men's 200-meter backstroke final to highlight the last day of the 90th national swimming championships at Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center on Sunday.
Irie took the lead from the start and kept it throughout the race. The 24-year-old finished the race with a time of 1 minute, 53.91 seconds, grabbing his eighth consecutive crown in the event at the annual tournament.
"The consecutive titles were at stake and this is the race I'm best at," said Irie, who was the runner-up in the same event in the 2012 Olympics. "So I'm relieved to have taken it."