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World Junior Championships Day Four - Japanese Results

by Brett Larner

The fourth day of competition at the 2014 World Junior Championships brought Japan its first gold medal of the week as Daisuke Matsunaga set a championships record 39.27.19 in the men's 10000 m race walk.  Silver and bronze medalists Diego Garcia (Spain) and Paulo Yurivilca (Peru) both set new national junior records to get on the podium, but Matsunaga was in another class as he beat Garcia by almost 30 seconds.  Yuga Yamashita (Japan) came up just short of the medals at 4th in 40:15.27.

Likewise just out of the medals, sprinter Yuki Koike ran 20.34 (+2.3) for 4th in the men's 200 m final, just 0.4 s from claiming bronze.  Teammate Masaharu Mori took 6th in 20.84, the first time a world-level championships has seen two Japanese athletes make a 200 m final.  Both ran the final less than 90 minutes after helping the Japanese men's 4x100 m team make the final by winning Heat 2 in a junior world-leading time of 39.23 just ahead of hosts U.S.A.  The women's 4x100 m team also advanced, escaping the carnage of a heat that saw only three of the six starting teams finish.

The men's 3000 mSC, men's triple jump and men's javelin throw all saw Japanese athletes advance to the finals.  One of the only blotches on the day was the men's 5000 m, where neither Kazuto Kawabata nor Shota Onizuka cracked the top ten.  An all-African lead group of seven was far out of the pair's range, Kawabata opting to run in a chase pack of seven and Onizuka struggling.  In the final kick Kawabata lacked the extra gear to outdo athletes from Canada, U.S.A. and Australia, finishing 4th among them for 11th overall.

IAAF World Junior Championships Day Four
Eugene, U.S.A., 7/25/14
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m
1.Yomif Kejelcha (Ethiopia) - 13:25.19
2. Yasin Haji (Ethiopia) - 13.26.21
3. Moses Letoyie (Kenya) - 13:28.11
4. Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei (Uganda) - 13:32.84
5. Fredrick Kipkosgei Kiptoo (Kenya) - 13:35.39
-----
11. Kazuto Kawabata (Japan) - 14:10.14
16. Shota Onizuka (Japan) - 14:34.92

Men's 200 m Final +2.3
1. Trentavis Friday (U.S.A.) - 20.04
2. Ejowvokoghene Divine Oduduru (Nigeria) - 20.25
3. Michael O'Hara (Jamaica) - 20.31
4. Yuki Koike (Japan) - 20.34
5. Zharnel Hughes (Anguilla) - 20.73
6. Masaharu Mori (Japan) - 20.84
7. Thomas Somers (Great Britain) - 20.92
8. Jonathan Farinha (Trinidad and Tobago) - 21.09

Men's 4x100 m Relay Heat 2
1. Japan - 39.23 - Q
2. U.S.A. - 39.43 - Q
3. Nigeria - 39.67 - q
4. Australia - 40.18 - q
5. Barbados - 41.39
DQ - Canada

Women's 4x100 m Relay Heat 3
1. Trinidad and Tobago - 44.68 - Q
2. Japan - 45.38 - Q
3. Australia - 45.54
DQ - Cyprus
DNF - Poland
DNF - Great Britain

Men's 3000 mSC Heat 1
1. Barnabas Kipyego (Kenya) - 8:31.72 - Q
2. Meresa Kahsay (Ethiopia) - 8:38.01 - Q
3. Evans Rutto Chematot (Bahrain) - 8:40.37 - Q
4. Yohanes Chiappinelli (Italy) - 8:46.82 - Q
5. Ali Messaoudi (Algeria) - 8:46.95 - Q
-----
10. Kazuya Shiojiri (Japan) - 8:54.95 - q

Women's 400 mH Semi-Final 1
1. Zurian Hechavarria (Cuba) - 58.03 - Q
2. Genekee Leith (Jamaica) - 58.05 - Q
3. Joan Medjid (France) - 58.46 - q
4. Tia-Adana Belle (Barbados) - 58.59
5. Akiko Ito (Japan) - 1:00.11
6. Ashley Taylor (Canada) - 1:00.12
7. Maryia Roshchyn (Spain) - 1:00.37
8. Valentina Cavalleri (Italy) - 1:00.98

Men's 10000 m Race Walk
1. Daisuke Matsunaga (Japan) - 39:27.19 - MR
2. Diego Garcia (Spain) - 39:51.59 - NJR
3. Paulo Yurivilca (Peru) - 40:02.07 - NJR
4. Yuga Yamashita (Japan) - 40:15.27
5. Nikolay Markov (Russia) - 40:22.48

Men's High Jump Final
1. Mikhail Akimenko (Russia) - 2.24 m
2. Dzmitry Nabokau (Belarus) - 2.24 m
3. Sanghyeok Woo (South Korea) - 2.24 m
4. Christoff Bryan (Jamaica) - 2.24 m
5. Falk Wendrich (Germany) - 2.22 m
-----
13. Yu Nakazawa (Japan) - 2.05 m

Men's Triple Jump Qualification Group A
1. Andy Diaz (Cuba) - 16.38 m +1.8 - Q
2. Max Hess (Germany) - 16.37 m +0.6 - Q
3. Lorenzo Dallavalle (Italy) - 15.99 m +2.4 - Q
4. Yugo Takahashi (Japan) - 15.92 m +2.0 - Q
5. Fabian Ime Edoki (Nigeria) - 15.75 m +2.2 - q

Men's Triple Jump Qualification Group B
1. Lazaro Martinez (Cuba) - 16.63 m +1.9 - Q
2. Ryoma Yamamoto (Japan) - 16.27 m +2.2 - Q
3. Yaoqing Fang (China) - 16.20 m +1.2 - Q
4. Levon Aghasyan (Armenia) - 16.16 m +0.9 - Q
5. Mateus de Sa (Brazil) - 16.15 m +1.6 - Q

Men's Javelin Throw Qualification Group A
1. Andrian Mardare (Moldova) - 74.46 m - Q
2. Matija Muhar (Slovenia) - 70.69 m - q
3. Jonas Bonewit (Germany) - 70.43 m - q
4. Sindri Gudmundsson (Iceland) - 69.99 m - q
5. Ioannis Kiriazis (Greece) - 69.19 m - q
-----
7. Takuto Kominami (Japan) - 67.02 m - q

Men's Javelin Throw Qualification Group B
1. Shu Mori (Japan) - 69.67 m - q
2. Gatis Cakss (Latvia) - 68.38 m - q
3. Edis Matusevicius (Lithuania) - 67.64 m - q
4. Shui-Chang Hsu (Taiwan) - 67.19 m - q
5. Mateusz Kwasniewski (Poland) - 66.70 m - q

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
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