London World Championships - Day One Japanese Results

All three Japanese athletes in the men's 100 m made it through to the semifinals on the opening day of the 2017 London World Championships. 18-year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown turned heads by tying his 10.05 PB to win Heat Two despite a -0.6 m/s headwind. Rio Olympics 4x100 m silver medalist Aska Cambridge, who suffered a minor injury at June's National Championships, was clearly not back to peak form, running only 10.21 for 4th in Heat Four to squeeze through to the finals on time.

Unluckily drawing a starting position next to Usain Bolt (Jamaica) in Heat Six, Shuhei Tada held up to the pressure of his World Championships debut as delivered his usual quick start to lead almost the entire way. Bolt ran him down but it took almost until the line for James Dasolu (Great Britain) and Jimmy Vicaut (France) to catch up, but despite taking 4th Tada made it through on time in 10.19. His result showed why track and field is a great sport. Three months ago he was almost unknown college student. Today he lined up next to the best in the world and represented.

Although Cambridge lucked through to the semifinals, he was so far off peak that he looks like a question mark for the 4x100 m. There's a very good chance he'll be replaced by his Rio teammate, alternate Yoshihide Kiryu, who ran 10.05 two weeks ago at a low-key meet in Tokyo after performing poorly at the National Championships in June. With 200 m man Shota Iizuka also not looking 100% there's even a chance that Kiryu could be the only member of the Rio silver medal squad to start the relay in London.

But before that comes Saturday's 100 m semifinals and final. No Japanese man has ever made it to the final, and to get there Sani Brown or one of the others will probably have to deliver the country's first-ever sub-10 clocking. Safe to say TV viewership ratings in Japan will be on the high end for the semis.

London World Championships Day One Japanese Results

London, England, 8/4/17
click here for complete results

Men's 100 m Heat 2 (-0.6 m/s)
1. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Japan) - 10.05 (PB) - Q
2. Yohan Blake (Jamaica) - 10.13 - Q
3. Zhenye Xie (China) - 10.13 - Q
4. Emre Zafer Barnes (Turkey) - 10.22 - q
5. Emmanuel Callender (Trinidad and Tobago) - 10.25
6. Jan Volko (Slovakia) - 10.25
7. David Lima (Portugal) - 10.41
8. Ambdoul Karim Riffayn (Comoros) - 10.72

Men's 100 m Heat 4 (-0.2 m/s)
1. Bingtian Su (China) - 10.03 - Q
2. Chijindu Ujah (Great Britain) - 10.07 - Q
3. Christopher Belcher (U.S.A.) - 10.13 - Q
4. Aska Cambridge (Japan) - 10.21 - q
5. Joseph Millar (New Zealand) - 10.31
6. Mark Otieno Odhambo (Kenya) - 10.37
7. Jeremy Dodson (Samoa) - 10.52
DQ - Mosito Lehata (Lesotho)

Men's 100 m Heat 6 (+0.3 m/s)
1. Usain Bolt (Jamaica) - 10.07 - Q
2. James Dasaolu (Great Britain) - 10.13 - Q
3. Jimmy Vicaut (France) - 10.15 - Q
4. Shuhei Tada (Japan) - 10.19 - q
5. Hassan Taftian (Iran) - 10.34
6. Brendon Rodney (Canada) - 10.36
7. Warren Fraser (Bahamas) - 10.42
8. Diego Palomeque (Colombia) - 10.51

text © 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
photo c/o Ekiden Mania, © 2017 Kazuyuki Sugimatsu, all rights reserved

Kawauchi Wins 7th-Straight Okinoshima 50 km

Running the Okinoshima 50 km Ultramarathon on his late father's home island of Oki for the eighth year in a row, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran 2:52:55 to win it for the seventh straight time. Starting strong on the relatively flat first 10 km where he clocked 33:26, low-2:47 pace, Kawauchi slowed to just over 2:50 pace on the course's toughest hills between 10 and 30 km. A sub-2:50 was still in range at that point, but over the last 20 km he faded further to finish in the second-slowest of his Okinoshima wins.

The day before the race Kawauchi paced children in Okinoshima's kids' run. Following that he greeted participants and local supporters at an expo event where he was hailed onstage as the Boston Marathon winner. As per his usual routine, his next race will be the July 1 Gold Coast Marathon in Australia.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Kipchirchir and Chebii Take on Three Gold Coast Winners

The men's race at Australia's Gold Coast Marathon is usually a Kenya-Japan head-to-head, Kenya taking six wins and Japan three in the last ten years. With not a single Ethiopian in the field for this year's 40th edition it looks set for it to happen yet again.

Sub-2:10 Kenyans Victor Kipchirchir, Douglas Chebii, Philip Sanga and the Japan-based Michael Githae will line up to take on three of the race's last four winners, 2017 champ Takuya Noguchi (Konica Minolta), 2015-16 winner and course record holder Kenneth Mungara (Kenya) and 2013 champ and perpetual top three placer Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't). Give the advantage to team Kenya in this bout, but as Noguchi and Kawauchi have proven Gold Coast is a race where Japanese men are legit contenders.

With the window for getting qualifying times for next year's MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials starting to close, the powers that be in Japan have taken note of the success of Noguchi and Kawauchi on the Gold Coast…

Japan's 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon to be Held September 15, 2019

On June 15 the JAAF announced the date and course for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, or MGC Race for short, its new almost-one-shot trials race that will determine at least two of the three members of its men's and women's marathon teams for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The MGC Race will be held 11 months prior to the Olympics on September 15, 2019. The winners of the MGC Race will be named to the 2020 team, with either the 2nd or 3rd placer also named to the team depending on whether either has broken a fast standard, 2:05:30 for men and 2:21:00 for women. The remaining top three placer will have to wait until March, 2020 to find out whether they will be included on the team or passed over in favor of someone who clears another fast standard in one of the big six domestic elite marathons in the winter of 2019-20.

The MGC Race course will closely follow the already announced Olympic course, the only key exception being a start and finish in the Jingu Gaien district nearby …

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