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Fujimitsu, Fukushima, Ogita, Tobe and Yoroizaka Top National Track and Field Championships Day Two

by Brett Larner
click here for Day One and Day Three results
videos by 陸上競技動画集 and naoki620



Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) joined the list of athletes scoring guaranteed places on the Beijing World Championships with a solo 28:18.53 win in the men's 10000 m on Day Two of the Japanese National Track and Field Championships June 27 at Niigata's Big Swan Stadium.  Past 1500 m and 5000 m national champion Yuichiro Ueno (DeNA) and Kenyan pacer William Malel (Team Honda) took it out fast with a 2:41 opening 1000 m, 26:50 pace, before settling down, with Yuta Shitara (Team Honda), 27:42.71 last month in Nobeoka, leading the main pack several seconds back.  Shitara did much of the work once the pack regained contact, but in the second half Yoroizaka abruptly surged and pulled away to run alone all the way to the finish.

Shitara and Malel likewise pulled away from the pack, Shitara finishing alone in 28:31.32.  Former Hakone Ekiden fan favorite Akinobu Murasawa (Team Nissin Shokuhin) led the chase group as it boiled down to 4, but on the last lap it was past 5000 m national champion Sota Hoshi (Fujitsu) who had the strongest kick of the quartet, taking 3rd in 28:37.37.  As one of three men in the race who already held Beijing qualifying times, Yoroizaka won a place on the Worlds team for his victory.  Shitara will likely join him, having both the time and a top 3 finish.  Hoshi's chances are slim, his best of 28:15.92 needing more than 30 seconds cut off between now and Aug. 2.  The third pre-qualified man, Kenta Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei) was flat from the start, finishing 11th in 29:02.88.



After a great round of heats, the men's 200 m final lived up to expectations with Kenji Fujimitsu (Zenrin) pulling out a PB 20.32 for the win over favorite Kei Takase (Fujitsu) who took 3rd in 20.57.  In between them, 16-year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) showed his stunning 20.56 world youth leading time in the opening heats wasn't a fluke by running 20.57 for 2nd.  Both Fujimitsu and Takase securing places at the World Championships, but while Sani Brown was 0.06 short of the standard he will be headlining the Japanese team at the World Youth Championships and could end up in Beijing if all goes well.



Women's 200 m national record holder Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) also picked up a place on the Beijing team with an easy 23.23 win in the women's final.  Likewise for men's pole vault champion Hiroki Ogita (Mizuno) and men's high jump winner Naoto Tobe (Tsukuba Twin Peaks), whose 2.26 m jump was good enough for the win over Takashi Eto (AGF) and Yuji Hiramatsu (Tsukuba Univ.).  Both Eto and Hiramatsu hold Bejing qualifying marks and could join Tobe, Fukushima and Ogita there.

99th Japanese National Track and Field Championships Day Two
Big Swan Stadium, Niigata, 6/27/15
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m
1. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 28:18.53
2. Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 28:31.32
3. Sota Hoshi (Fujitsu) - 28:37.37
4. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) - 28:39.03
5. Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:39.39
6. Keita Shitara (Konica Minolta) - 28:40.54
7. Akihiko Tsumurai (Mazda) - 28:48.84
8. Naohiro Domoto (JR Higashi Nihon) - 28:52.79
9. Atsushi Yamazaki (Subaru) - 28:53.96
10. Hiroto Inoue (MHPS Nagasaki) - 28:58.70

Men's 1500 m
1. Nanami Arai (Tokai Univ.) - 3:43.47 - PB
2. Daiki Hirose (Osaka Gas) - 3:43.86
3. Masahiro Takaya (JR Higashi Nihon) - 3:44.04
4. Hikaru Kato (JR Higashi Nihon) - 3:44.56 - PB
5. Hiroya Inoue (Jobu Univ.) - 3:44.76

Women's 1500 m
1. Chihiro Sunaga (Shiseido) - 4:15.69
2. Ayako Jinnouchi (Kyudenko) - 4:16.10
3. Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 4:17.33 - PB
4. Maya Iino (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 4:17.66
5. Mina Ueda (Josai Univ.) - 4:18.49

Women's 400 m
1. Sayaka Aoki (Toho Ginko) - 53.05 - PB
2. Sayaka Fujisawa (Cerespo) - 53.14 - PB
3. Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.) - 53.44 - PB
4. Konomi Takeishi (Toho Ginko) - 53.58 - PB
5. Asami Chiba (Toho Ginko) - 53.65

Men's 200 m +0.8 m/s
1. Kenji Fujimitsu (Zenrin) - 20.32 - PB
2. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) - 20.57
3. Kei Takase (Fujitsu) - 20.57
4. Takuya Nagata (Hosei Univ.) - 20.63 - PB
5. Shota Hara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 20.88
DNF - Shota Iizuka (Mizuno)

Women's 200 m +0.1 m/s
1. Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) - 23.23
2. Sayaka Fujisawa (Cerespo) - 23.81- PB
3. Kana Ichikawa (Mizuno) - 24.07
4. Mizuki Nakamura (Osaka Seikei Univ.) - 24.22
5. Kotomi Eguchi (Saitama Univ.) - 24.28

Women's 100 mH -0.2 m/s
1. Hitomi Shimura (Saga T&F Assoc.) - 13.27
2. Anri Tanaka (Konan H.S.) - 13.30 - PB
3. Masumi Aoki (Int'l Pacific Univ.) - 13.42
4. Miku Fujiwara (Mukogawa Joshi Univ.) - 13.46
5. Meg Hemphill (Chuo Univ.) - 13.52

Women's Long Jump
1. Saeko Okayama (Hiroshima Jr. OC) - 6.21 +0.6 m/s
2. Yurina Hiraka (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) - 6.10 +0.0 m/s
3. Kaori Nagai (Hasegawa SC) - 5.99 -0.7 m/s

Men's Pole Vault
1. Hiroki Ogita (Mizuno) - 5.50 m
2. Shota Doi (Sangan T&F Assoc.) - 5.40 m
3. Seito Yamamoto (Toyota) - 5.30 m

Men's High Jump
1. Naoto Tobe (Tsukuba Twin Peaks) - 2.26 m
2. Takashi Eto (AGF) - 2.26 m
3. Yuji Hiramatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) - 2.23 m

Men's Triple Jump
1. Kazuyoshi Ishikawa (Nagano Yoshida AC) - 16.30 m +0.2 m/s
2. Ryoma Yamamoto (Juntendo Univ.) - 16.24 m +1.1 m/s
3. Nobuaki Fujibayashi (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 16.24 m +2.9 m/s

Men's Discus Throw
1. Yuji Tsutsumi (Gunma Alsok) - 57.15 m
2. Shigeyuki Maisawa (Tokai Univ.) - 55.54 m - PB
3. Go Chinen (Zenrin) - 55.51 m

Women's Shot Put
1. Aya Ota (Fukuoka Univ.) - 15.65 m - PB
2. Shoko Matsuda (Kokushikan Univ.) - 15.14 m
3. Nanaka Kori (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.) - 15.07 m - PB

Men's Hammer Throw
1. Hiroshi Noguchi (Gunma Alsok) - 71.98 m
2. Toru Tanaka (Mizuno) - 68.80 m - PB
3. Hiroaki Doi (Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) - 67.64 - PB

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
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