Skip to main content

Osako Wins World University Games 10000 m

by Brett Larner

Click photo for video highlights.

2011 Hakone Ekiden champion Waseda University's star sophomore Suguru Osako, the Asian junior area record holder for the half marathon, won his first world title on the second day of the 2011 World University Games as he ran a season-best 28:42.83 to take the men's 10000 m.  Russian Sergey Rybin took the race out at a blistering speed, clocking 2:44.13 for the first 1000 m and going through halfway in 13:53.21.  The pace burned most of the competition before Rybin began to slow.  By 8000 m Rybin was running slower than 3:00 / km, and, staggering after being passed by Osako on the last lap, he dropped out with less than 200 m to go.  The 20-year-old Osako, who ran most of the race with 26-year-old South African Stephen Mokoka, executed a long kick over the last 400 m to win by more than ten seconds.  Mokoka took silver, with 26-year-old Moroccan Ahmed Tamri picking up bronze in 29:06.20.  Meiji University senior Tetsuya Yoroizaka, 21, who last month ran 27:44.30 at the Aviva UK Trials, had an off day as he finished 5th in only 29:32.21 after running together with Osako in the early stages of the race.

Osako will return Aug. 19 in the men's 5000 m where his PB of 13:31.27 from earlier this season ranks him #4 in the field.  Joining him is Komazawa University sophomore Ikuto Yufu, who ran a 10000 m PB of 28:02.46 in June.

2011 World University Games Men's 10000 m
Shenzhen, China, 8/17/11
click here for complete results

1. Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) - 28:42.83
2. Stephen Mokoka (South Africa) - 28:53.09
3. Ahmed Tamri (Morocco) - 29:06.20
4. Evgeny Rybakov (Russia) - 29:10.86
5. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) - 29:32.21
6. Sibabalwe Gladwin Mzazi (South Africa) - 29:34.65
7. Joseph Chebet (Uganda) - 30:03.52
8. Rolf Rufenacht (Switzerland) - 30:18.24
9. Stsiapan Rahautsou (Belarus) - 30:29.33
10. Paul Avila (Bolivia) - 32:13.50

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Brett Larner said…
Yes, Osako was pretty sugoi. His dad emailed and said, "I was pretty surprised, to be honest. I think he was a bit lucky." I think he meant that the suicidal Russian blew up. Great last kick from Suguru, at any rate.

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...

Japan Names Marathon Teams for Tokyo World Championships

On Mar. 26 the JAAF named its women's and men's marathon teams for September's Tokyo World Championships. On the women's side the team has veterans Sayaka Sato and Yuka Ando off the strength of a runner-up finish for Sato in Nagoya this year and a win in Nagoya last year by Ando, and newcomer Kana Kobayashi , 23, who has risen quickly from being a fun runner at Waseda University last year to a 2nd-place finish in Osaka Women's this year. Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki was named alternate after finishing 3rd behind Kobayashi in Osaka Women's. On the men's side the team is led by last year's Fukuoka International Marathon CR breaker Yuya Yoshida and this year's Osaka runner-up Ryota Kondo . The 3rd spot on the team is reserved for JMC Series winner Naoki Koyama , who hasn't cleared the 2:06:30 World Championships qualifying standard and has to wait for the May 4 qualifying deadline for confirmation that the 1184 points he has in the Roa...

Tokumoto and Yamakawa Take Over at Shibaura Kogyo in Quest for Hakone Debut

In a quest to make its first Hakone Ekiden, Shibaura Kogyo University announced this week that former Surugadai University head coach Kazuyoshi Tokumoto , 45, and former Reitaku University head coach Tatsuya Yamakawa , 40, will take over as head and assistant coach starting in April. In a statement issued by the university Tokumoto commented, "I'm pleased to have been named head coach of Shibaura Kogyo University's track and field team. When they came to feel me I could feel their passion about achieving their dream of becoming the first science and technology university to compete in the Hakone Ekiden. I was happy to accept because I felt that this was an environment in which I could grow too. It's my responsibility to help them become the 45th university ever to compete in Hakone. I hope that you'll enjoy Act II of the Tokumoto Show and cheer us on as Shibaura Kogyo heads down the road to Hakone." Yamakawa's comments read, "I arrived early in Feb...