Athens Olympic bronze medallist Reiko Nakamura dipped below the minute for the first time in the 100m backstroke qualifiers at Olympic trials in Tokyo but lost her national title in the final when Hanae Ito joined her in the sub-minute club. Both will race in Beijing.

failed to defend the women's 100-metre backstroke at Japan's national swimming championships, but still earned a place at the Beijing Games on Thursday.

The final at the Tatsumi International Pool saw Nakamura clock 1:00.16, to Ito's 59.83 national record. The future is bright too: in third was Shiho Sakai, who set a new high-school record of 1:00.45.

THE SUB-MINUTE CLUB now boasts 12 women, and every single one of the times below has, astonishingly, been set in the past two months:

59.21 Coughlin USA
59.41 Zueva RUS
59.42 Coventry ZIM
59.50 Manaudou FRA
59.59 Seebohm AUS
59.81 Zhao Jign CHN
59.81 McGregory USA
59.83 Ito JPN
59.84 Edington AUS
59.89 Spofforth GBR
59.96 Nakamura JPN
59.97 Hocking AUS

'I can't believe it,' Ito told reporters in Tokyo. 'I just tried to swim my race. I was determined not to finish third. But the times of the top swimmers in the world are less than 59.50. I want to catch up with them before the Olympics.'

Nakamura added: 'At least I earned a berth in the Olympics. It was a good preparation for my 200 metres. But I was a bit disappointed with my time today.'

A total of 11 swimmers, including four each for the relay races, have so far booked tickets to Beijing.

The women's 100m breaststroke saw Megumi Taneda claim a first national crown in 1:07.91 ahead of defending champion Nanaka Tamura and 2006 champion Yoshimi Miwa, in 1:08.55, and presumably both entitled to be on the plane to China in exceptional circumstances.

'I hadn't expected me to qualify for the Olympics in the 100 metres, so I was very surprised. I thought I wanted to swim well for a good performance in the 200 metres,' said Taneda.

In the women's 200m freestyle, Haruka Ueda, clocked a best of 1:59.09 to defeat two-time defending champion Maki Mita, with Emi Takanabe, and Misaki Yamaguch making up the relay places.

'I really wanted to go to the Olympics, so I tried to swim as fast as possible from the first half. I was disappointed because my target was to swim under 1:59.00 and set a new national record,' said Ueda.

The men's 200m freestyle produced no solo qualifier but the 4x200m relay will go with a Japanese team. The title went to Yoshihiro Okumura, for a second straight and fifth overall crown, in 1:47.90. The relay partners: Sho Uchida, Hisato Matsumoto and Yasunori Mononobe.