Skip to main content

Berlin World Championships - Day Three

Click here to enter JRN's World Championships marathon prediction contest for a chance to win a 2009 Japanese national team singlet.

by Brett Larner

2009 men's 10000 m national champion Yuki Iwai ran in the 10000 m on the third day of the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Having experienced problems with his right Achilles tendon since winning the national title in June, Iwai was visibly wincing during his warmup and while stretching on the starting line and he fared accordingly in the race. In last place in the field of 30 after only a lap, Iwai soon lost contact with the group and was overtaken by the leaders twice in the course of the race which saw winner Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia set a new World Championships record of 26:46.31, all three medalists break 27 minutes, and the top 14 set season or lifetime bests.

In light of Rikuren's questionable decision to omit 27:38 runner Yuki Sato from the team Iwai was the sole Japanese runner, and unlike the five athletes who dropped out of the race he undoubtedly felt pressure to finish no matter what. Gutting out his last-place 29:24.12 was an impressive testament to his strength, but the pain he was obviously experiencing suggested he may have done more serious injury. What comes next for this talented runner remains to be seen.

With the withdrawal of two-time Olympic medalist Koji Murofushi from the men's hammer throw the only other Japanese athletes active on Day Three were women's 400 m hurdlers Satomi Kubokura and Sayaka Aoki. Kubokura, the 2009 national champion, missed making the second round by only 0.18 seconds. Aoki, a university star in her first season as a professional, was among the leaders when she caught her trailing leg on the fourth hurdle and fell face first. She got up and continued to run but finished over six seconds back from the next runner ahead of her.

2009 World Championships - Top Results
Men's 10000 m
1. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) - 26:46.31 - CR
2. Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea) - 26:50.12 - SB
3. Moses Masai (Kenya) - 26:57.39 - SB
4. Imane Merga (Ethiopia) - 27:15.94 - PB
5. Bernard Kipyego (Kenya) - 27:18.47 - SB
6. Dathan Ritzenhein (U.S.A.) - 27:22.28 - PB
7. Micah Kogo (Kenya) - 27:26.33 - SB
8. Galen Rupp (U.S.A.) - 27:37.99 - SB
9. Kidane Tadasse (Eritrea) - 27:41.50 - PB
10. Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam (Ethiopia) - 27:44.04 - SB
-----
25. Yuki Iwai (Japan) - 29:24.12

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Not that it really matters, but I think it`s only a seasonal best for Galen Rupp (PB of 27:33 in 2007).

Joe
August 20, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Brett Larner said…
Whoops, typo, thanks.
August 20, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Takeshi Soh Reflects on 54 Years in the Sport on His Retirement as Asahi Kasei Head Coach

After 54 years at the Asahi Kasei corporate team, first as athlete and then as coach, Takeshi Soh will retire at the end of this month. Together with his twin brother Shigeru Soh they formed a duo who were icons of the Japanese marathoning world and went all the way to the Olympics. After retiring from competition Takeshi devoted himself to coaching young athletes and came to play a primary role in the leadership of Japanese long distance. His list of achievements is long, and so is the list of those he influenced and inspired. His twin Shigeru was chosen for three Olympic teams in the marathon, Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984. Takeshi was named to the Moscow and Los Angeles teams, placing 4th in L.A. to confirm his position as one of the greatest names in the sport in that era. After becoming a coach the twins helped lead Hiromi Taniguchi to gold at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, Koichi Morishita to silver a year later at the Barcelona Olympics, and o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Evaluating the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV Awards

  The JAAF held the award ceremony for its Japan Marathon Championship Series IV last night in Tokyo, the whole thing streamed live on Youtube. The two-year series, in this case running from April, 2023 to March, 2025, scores marathoners on time and place in domestic races and high-level international races, with athletes' two best performances combining to give them their series rankings. Series winners score guaranteed places on the 2025 Tokyo World Championships team , with the top 8 women and men earning prize money: 1st: ¥6,000,000 (~$40,000 USD) 2nd: ¥3,000,000 (~$20,000) 3rd: ¥1,000,000 (~$6,700) 4th: ¥800,000 (~$5,300) 5th: ¥700,000 (~$4,700) 6th: ¥500,000 (~$3,300) 7th: ¥300,000 (~$2,000) 8th: ¥200,000 (~$1,300) Points for time are scored according to World Athletics scoring tables, with placing points based on races' designated level. Given the JAAF's financial interests in the big domestic races and the income stream from their TV broadcasts, the scoring system ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Weekend Road and Track Roundup

A roundup of the main road and track action on the last weekend of Japan's 2024-25 academic and fiscal year: Doubling off a 2:07:06 PB at the Tokyo Marathon 4 weeks ago, Tatsuya Maruyama took bronze at the Asian Marathon Championships in Jiaxing, China in 2:11:56. Gold went to North Korea's Il Ryong Han in a breakaway 2:11:18, with silver medalist Tianyu Chen of China just ahead of Maruyama in 2:11:50. Japan's Shungo Yokota was a distant 4th in 2:14:00, with Japan-based Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir 6th in 2:15:14. Japanese women Kaede Kawamura and Natsumi Matsushita were 5th and 6th in 2:31:26 and 2:34:40, with medals going to China's Bing Wu , gold in 2:26:01, North Korea's Kwang-Ok Ri , silver right behind her in 2:26:07, and defending gold medalist Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh landing in bronze this time in 2:28:56, her third sub-2:29 performance so far in 2025. Back home, four men broke 2:20 at the Fukui Sakura Marathon . Ko Kobayashi from the Shi...
1 comment
Read more