Skip to main content

Yoshida and Fuchise Pick up Silver - World University Games Day Four

by Brett Larner

Hurdler Kazuaki Yoshida led the way for the Japanese team on the fourth day of track and field competition at the 2009 World University Games, scoring a silver in the men's 400 m hurdles behind a dominant performance by Australian Tristan Thomas. Thomas clocked 48.75, over a second faster than Yoshida's 49.78. Masumi Fuchise also took silver in the women's 20 km walk as both she and winner Olga Mikhailova of Russia went under the meet record.

Tsukuba University's two entrants in the men's 200 m, Hitoshi Saito and Mitsuhiro Abiko, came up short. Abiko was eliminated in the semifinal, while Saito, obviously in trouble, finished last in the final over two seconds behind the rest of the field.

The men's 5000 m heats brought the day to a close. Komazawa University's Tsuyoshi Ugachi advanced to the final on time, running a conservative race after competing in the 10000 m on Wednesday. Star first-year Akinobu Murasawa of Tokai University, the 2008 national high school 5000 m champion, was a disappointing surprise as he ran only 14:08.31 and failed to move on to the final.

2009 World University Games - Top Finishers
click division headers for complete results
Men's 5000 m - First Round Heats
1. Mirko Petrovic (Serbia) - 13:54.77
2. Boy Moorosi Soke (South Africa) - 13:55.62
3. Diego Borrego (Mexico) - 13:55.85
-----
12. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:00.22
16. Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) - 14:08.31

Men's 800 m - First Round Heats
1. David Takacs (Hungary) - 1:49.64
2. Lachlan Renshaw (Australia) - 1:50.03
3. Predrag Randjelovic (Serbia) - 1:50.23 - PB
-----
12. Masato Yokota (Japan) - 1:51.15

Men's 400 m Hurdles - Final
1. Tristan Thomas (Australia) - 48.75
2. Kazuaki Yoshida (Japan) - 49.78
3. Michael Bultheel (Belgium) - 49.79

Men's 200 m - Semi-Final
1. Seoud Amr Ibrahim (Egypt) - 20.64
2. Gavin Smellie (Canada) - 20.67
3. Sam Effah (Canada) - 20.75
-----
6. Hitoshi Saito (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.87
10. Mitsuhiro Abiko (Tsukuba Univ.) - 21.06

Men's 200 m - Final
1. Ramil Guliyev (Azerbaijan) - 20.04 - PB
2. Seoud Amr Ibrahim (Egypt) - 20.52
3. Thuso Mpuang (South Africa) - 20.69
-----
7. Hitoshi Saito (Tsukuba Univ.) - 22.22

Women's 20 km Walk
1. Olga Mikhailova (Russia) - 1:30:43 - MR
2. Masumi Fuchise (Japan) - 1:31:42 - (MR)
3. Olga Povalyaeva (Russia) - 1:33:58

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...