Skip to main content

Japanese Olympic Track Results - Aug. 18

by Brett Larner

Men's 400 m - Heats
2008 National Champion Yuzo Kanemaru was eliminated from the 400 m after finishing last in the 4th heat with a 46.39.

Men's 200 m - Heats / Quarter-Final
2008 National Champion Shinji Takahira advanced to the 200 m quarter-finals on time after running a season-best 20.58 to finish 4th in the second heat. National record holder Shingo Suetsugu ran 20.93 for 6th place in the seventh heat, failing to advance. Takahira was consistent in the quarter-final, running 20.63 for 7th in the second heat, but could not advance to the semi-finals.

Men's 110 m Hurdles - Heats
2008 National Champion Masato Naito ran 13.96 in the 4th heat of the 110 m hurdles, finishing last and not advancing to the quarter-finals.

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Roberto said…
Takahira looked pretty good during these Games, but I walways wonder whether or not Japanese sprinters/middle distance runners do ANY work in the weight room.

Sure doesn't look like it, especially the women sprinters.

Suetsugu sould probably open the envelope that was sent to him a few years ago informing him that his career is pretty much over. After his WC medal at 200, moving DOWN to 100 was insane, and he's done nothing since then. Of course, that outlier year raises the specter of performance-enhancing drug use, but ... we'll never know.

Time for Suetsugu to go, and obviously Asahara (and Iwamizu). Will the younger generation be able to lift their game?

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and