Ryuichi Shibata and Takeshi Matsuda today locked Olympic and world silver medallist Takashi Yamamoto off the Japan squad for the Beijing Olympic Games at trials and nationals in Tokyo.

Shibata's 1:55.57 effort marked a third straight national crown ahead of two-time former champion Matsuda, on 1:55.66, with a seven-time national champion Yamamoto on 1:56.43 and out of the event in Beijing.

'The time was not so good, but I really wanted to qualify for the Olympics, so I'm really happy about it,' a jubilant Shibata told reporters at the Tatsumi International Pool. 'I felt very good in the warm-up and I thought I should keep my energy for the later half so that I don't slow down. It would have been much better if the time was a little bit better.'

Matsuda said: 'I had aimed to win the title and mark a better time, so I was disappointed. My time is much slower than the top swimmers of the world. I must build up myself again for the Olympics.'

The session added three others to the Japan Olympic team: Takuro Fujii, Ken Takakuwa and Asami Kitagawa. Fujii clocked 2:00.30 in the 200m medley ahead of Takakuwa, on 2:00.37, shutting the door on Asian Games champion Hidemasa Sano, on 2:00.89.

'It feels great, the greatest, but the time is no good at all when I compete against top swimmers. I must learn how I can survive when we are swimming at the last spurt,' said Fujii reflecting the fact that times in Tokyo are not in line with the progress seen elsewhere in the world so far this year.

Kitagawa won her third straight national title in the women's 200m medley, in 2:13.29, ahead of Izumi Kato, 2:14.82, and former champion Misa Amano, on 2:15.46. 'I'm really happy,' Kitagawa said. 'It was a race against the time, I didn't care for the other swimmers. When I looked at the board, I was really happy.'

There were no qualifiers in the 50m freestyle sprints, the titles going to Masayuki Kishida in 22.69 and Kaori Yamada in 25.71.