World record holder Kosuke Kitajima cruised to his third straight title in the men's 200 meters breaststroke at the swimming National Championships Friday.
Kitajima clocked a time of 2 minutes, 10.59 seconds to finish atop the podium in the final at Tokyo's Tatsumi International Swimming Center but failed in his bid to rewrite his own record of 2:09.97.
In the men's 100-meter backstroke, Tomomi Morita won his second straight title in 54.97 while Atsushi Nishikori, who broke Japan's oldest swimming record in the semifinals a day earlier with a time of 54.54, managed second place in 55.07.
In the women's 100-meter backstroke, Sydney Olympic silver medalist Mai Nakamura touched the wall in 1:01.39 to claim her first title in two years and eighth overall.
In other finals for women, Masami Tanaka prevailed in the 200 breaststroke while Junko Onishi finished first in the 50 butterfly.