Atlanta - AFP
American Brendan Hansen defeated Olympic rival Kosuke Kitajima for the second consecutive day by capturing the 200 metre breaststroke at the ATT Winter National Championships. Hansen, who won the 100 metre breaststroke Friday, claimed first in the 200m breaststroke with a time of two minutes, 09.64 seconds on the final night of the three-day competition. Japan's Kitajima finished well back in fourth, almost three seconds adrift of Hansen in 2:12.59. Eric Shanteau was second while his American compatriot Elliot Keefer placed third. Kitajima and the 30-year-old 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 breaststroke in both Athens and Beijing. Hansen had said he was retiring after his Olympic defeats but then changed his mind and decided to return to competitive swimming. American Nathan Adrian used a powerful finish to collect his second victory of the weekend by beating South Africa's Darian Townsend and France's Yannick Agnel to win the men's 100m freestyle in 48.33 seconds. Townsend and Agnel tied for second in 48.87. On the women's side, Rebecca Soni earned her second win is as many days by capturing the 200m breaststroke in 2:21.46. Fellow American Amanda Beard was second and Canada's Martha McCabe finished third.