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Murofushi Wins 20th-Straight Hammer Title - National Track and Field Championships Day Two Results

by Brett Larner
videos by aoshin0507

Two-time Olympic medalist, three-time World Championships medalist and national record holder Koji Murofushi (Mizuno), 39, added an historic twentieth-straight men's hammer throw national title to his list of accomplishments, easily winning the 2014 Japanese National Track and Field Championships in Fukushima with a throw of 73.93 m.  Murofushi could have stopped after his opening throw and still won, runner-up Hiroki Ako (Tottori T&F Assoc.) throwing 67.60 m, but with the Federation's A- and B-standards for this fall's Asian Games beckoning he continued on, building slightly on his distance over his next few throws before peaking at 73.93. Twenty-straight national titles, taking Murofushi all the way back to 1995, a time when this was the biggest hit in the land.  A true one-of-a-kind.



Murofushi wasn't the only national record holder to come out on top on the second day of the National Championships.  Battling on-and-off heavy rain, men's pole vault record holder Daichi Sawano (Team Fujitsu) got the better of two-time defending champion Seito Yamamoto (Team Toyota) for the win with a vault of 5.61 m, entirely laudable given the conditions.



Women's 200 m national record holder Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) took a fourth-straight national title home for her collection, holding off potential rival Kana Ichikawa (Mizuno) for the win in 23.79.



Not so lucky was women's 400 m national record holder Asami Chiba (Team Toho Ginko), beaten by two high schoolers with Nanako Matsumoto (Hamamatsu Municipal H.S.) running a PB 54.00 for the national title.



Like Fukushima, Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) won a fourth-straight national title in the men's 10000 m, for the third year in a row sitting on the younger Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) throughout the race before kicking away with 200 m to go.  The race was largely a disappointment, none of the big names willing to take over when it went out at 29:00 pace and instead, knowing Sato's preferences, simply handing him the win.  The lone surprise was 3rd-place Minato Oishi (Team Toyota), with only a 28:18.73 best, outkicking Kanto Regionals D2 10000 m champion Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.), 27:49.94 earlier this season, for the final podium position.



The day's biggest upset came in the men's 200 m, where 2010 world junior gold medalist Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) hoped to become the first Japanese man to go under 20 seconds.  Heavy rain opening up just before the start pretty much ruled that out, but with Iizuka the heavy favorite and Kei Takase (Team Fujitsu) picked as his biggest competition few expected Kanto Regionals D2 winner Shota Hara (Jobu Univ.) to be a factor.  But factor he did, slipping by in the final 20 m to get the win in a three-way photo finish with Iizuka and Takase in 20.62, Takase clocked at 20.63 and Iizuka, faltering in his final steps, at 20.66.



The 2014 Japanese National Track and Field Championships wrap up Sunday. Highlights should include the men's 100 m featuring Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.), 1st in the opening heats in 10.15 (+1.4), the men's 800 m led by brand-new national record holder Sho Kawamoto (Nihon Univ.), the men's and women's 5000 m, and an exciting men's javelin with three of Japan's all-time best, Yukifumi Murakami (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), Ryohei Arai (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Genki Dean (Mizuno).

98th National Track and Field Championships
Day Two Results
Fukushima, 6/7/14
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m 
1. Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:32.07
2. Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:33.57
3. Minato Oishi (Team Toyota) - 28:37.60
4. Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:39.03
5. Yuichiro Ueno (DeNA RC) - 28:40.45
6. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 28:41.38
7. Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) - 28:41.94
8. Shinobu Kubota (Team Toyota) - 28:43.33
9. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:44.34
10. Takuya Noguchi (Team Konica Minolta) - 28:45.14

Women's 1500 m 
1. Ayako Jinnouchi (Team Kyudenko) - 4:17.12
2. Maya Iino (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 4:17.96 - PB
3. Saori Noda (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 4:20.21
4. Chihiro Sunaga (Team Shiseido) - 4:20.69
5. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Team Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:22.95

Men's 1500 m 
1. Keisuke Tanaka (Team Fujitsu) - 3:43.77
2. Daiki Hirose (Team Osaka Gas) - 3:44.27 - PB
3. Toshihiro Kenmotsu (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 3:45.42
4. Yasunori Kusu (Team Komori Corp.) - 3:46.57
5. Tsukasa Anzai (Juntendo Univ.) - 3:46.87

Women's 400 m
1. Nanako Matsumoto (Hamamatsu Municipal H.S.) - 54.00 - PB
2. Seika Aoyama (Matsue Shogyo H.S.) - 54.06
3. Asami Chiba (Team Toho Ginko) - 54.83

Women's 200 m +1.0
1. Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) - 23.79
2. Kana Ichikawa (Mizuno) - 24.04
3. Rio Banno (Team Nanajunana Ginko) - 24.14

Men's 200 m +0.9
1. Shota Hara (Jobu Univ.) - 20.62
2. Kei Takase (Team Fujitsu) - 20.63
3. Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.66
4. Kenji Fujimitsu (Team Zeirin) - 20.68
5. Masafumi Naoki (Chuo Univ.) - 20.81

Women's 100 mH +1.6
1. Ayako Kimura (Team Edion) - 13.34
2. Airi Ito (Team Sumitomo Denko) - 13.46
3. Meg Hemphill (Kyoto Bunkyo H.S.) - 13.47 - PB

Men's Triple Jump 
1. Kazuyoshi Ishikawa (Life Message) - 16.32 m (+2.7)
2. Sho Sawaki (Aichi Taiiku Univ.) - 15.88 m (+2.3)
3. Hiroaki Yonezawa (Tsukuba Univ.) - 15.82 (+3.1)

Men's Pole Vault 
1. Daichi Sawano (Team Fujitsu) - 5.61 m
2. Hiroki Ogita (Mizuno) - 5.51 m
3. Hiroki Sasase (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 5.31 m

Women's Long Jump 
1. Mao Igarashi (Fukushima Univ.) - 6.19 m (+2.9)
2. Rei Mizuguchi (Shiraume Gakuen H.S.) - 6.10 m (+1.1) - PB
3. Konomi Kai (Volver) - 6.07 m (+2.1)

Men's Discus Throw
1. Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) - 58.44 m
2. Shigeyuki Maisawa (Tokai Univ.) - 53.84 m
3. Masaru Miyauchi (Team Monteroza) - 53.52 m

Women's Shot Put
1. Chiaki Yokomizo (Saitama T&F Assoc.) - 15.22 m
2. Erina Fukutomi (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) - 15.21 m
3. Shoko Matsuda (Kokushikan Univ.) - 14.96 m - PB

Men's Hammer Throw
1. Koji Murofushi (Mizuno) - 73.93 m
2. Hiroki Ako (Tottori T&F Assoc.) - 67.60 m
3. Yushiro Hosaka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 65.82 m - PB

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thank you for these detailed reports and video links! Great reporting -- much appreciated! Goes for everything you publish here -- not just these championships. :)
CK said…
I'd like to second the above comments. Great depth to the reports/videos, and also the pre-event start list info. And as stated above, not just these championships.

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