Hansen gets jump on Kitajima in Atlanta swim meet

American Brendan Hansen captured the 100 metre breaststroke  at the Winter National Championships beating rival Kosuke Kitajima for the first time since they duelled at the Beijing Olympics. The 30-year-old American captured the event at the swim meet with a time of one minute, 0.31 seconds. Kitajima, who is still working his way to peak form finished well back in fifth in 1:01.18. Marcus Titus was second in 1:00.66. Kitajima and Hansen have gone head-to-head in the pool at the last two Summer Olympics. The Japanese star dominated their contests, sweeping the 100 and 200 breast in both Athens and Beijing. Hansen had said he was retiring after his Olympic defeats but decided to return this year. Hansen said prior to the Friday's race that he wanted to break the one minute mark in the breaststroke but just fell short of achieving his goal. On the women's side, Caitlin Leverenz claimed the second win of the meet in as many days and American compatriot Rebecca Soni clinched the 100 metre breaststroke. On Thursday, Leverenz took first in the 200 metre individual medley.