London World Championships - Day Nine Japanese Results

Following up on its silver medal at the Rio Olympics, the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay squad delivered the first Japanese medal of the London World Championships as it took bronze behind hosts Great Britain and U.S.A. Swapping in alternate Kenji Fujimitsu for ailing anchor Aska Cambridge in the final, the team featured only two starting members of the Rio lineup. Lead runner Shuhei Tada, a student at Kwansei Gakuin University who burst onto the scene in May, again proved himself the best new development in Japanese men's sprinting with a fast start. Rio members Shota Iizuka and Yoshihide Kiryu did their bits on second and third to keep Japan even with Jamaica in 3rd before Fujimitsu delivered the goods.

With bronze at the Beijing Olympics and silver in Rio last year it was Japan's first-ever World Championships men's 4x100 m relay medal. At age Fujimitsu may not make it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but with Cambridge, 200 m finalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown and Rio team member Ryota Yamagata still in reserve Japan's chances for Tokyo continue to look good.

The men's 4x400 m team couldn't match the 4x100 m performance, finishing last in their qualifying heat. In the men's decathlon Japan's Akihiko Nakamura and Keisuke Ushiro took the bottom two spots, finishing 19th and 20th among the 20 athletes to complete every discipline. National champion Nakamura punctuated his performance by frontrunning the final event, the 1500 m, to win it by 4 seconds.

London World Championships Day Nine Japanese Results

London, England, 8/12/17
click here for complete results

Men's 4x100 m Relay Heat 1
1. U.S.A. - 37.70 - Q
2. Great Britain - 37.76 - Q
3. Japan - 38.21 - Q
4. Turkey - 38.44 - q

Men's 4x100 m Relay Final
1. Great Britain - 37.47
2. U.S.A. - 37.52
3. Japan - 38.04
4. China - 38.34
5. France - 38.48
6. Canada - 38.59
7. Turkey - 38.73
DNF - Jamaica

Men's 4x400 m Relay Heat 2
1. U.S.A. - 2:59.23 - Q
2. Trinidad and Tobago - 2:59.35 - Q
3. Belgium - 2:59.47 - Q
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8. Japan - 3:07.29

Men's Decathlon
1. Kevin Mayer (France) - 8768
2. Rico Freimuth (Germany) - 8564
3. Kai Kazmirek (Germany) - 8488
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19. Akihiko Nakamura (Japan) - 7646
20. Keisuke Ushiro (Japan) - 7498

© 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
photo by Ekiden Mania, © 2017 Kazuyuki Sugimatsu, all rights reserved

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...

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