Skip to main content

Japan Dominates Asian Cross Country Championships

Japan dominated the 14th Asian Cross Country Championships Thursday in Guiyang, China, winning all four team gold medals to hold the hosts China back to silver in every race.

Japan's only individual gold came in the Junior Women's race, one of its usual areas of strength. Yuna Wada led a Japanese sweep of the top four positions to win the 6 km race in 20:43 with scoring teammates Ririka Hironaka and Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu just behind.


With the meet also serving as China's National Championships Chinese athletes won the individual gold in the other three races, Dan Li, Cairen Suolong and Jianhua Peng all showing better closing speed to beat their Japanese rivals by 3~4 seconds. Li won the Senior Women's 8 km by 3 seconds over Japan's Yukari Abe, leading China to its closest call on a team gold as it took silver at 14 points to Japan's 12. Suolong outkicked Yuhi Nakaya, 2018 Japanese junior national champion and star runner at 2017 National High School Ekiden champ Saku Chosei H.S., by 4 seconds to win the Junior Men's 8 km, where Japanese men finished 2nd through 4th to take the team gold. Peng duplicated Suolong's performance, outkicking Japan's Kazuya Nishiyama by 4 seconds for the win. Again, Japanese men went 2~4 to win the team gold.


14th Asian Cross Country Championships

Guiyang, China, 3/15/18
click here for complete results

Junior Women's 6 km
Individual
1. Yuna Wada (Japan) - 20:43
2. Ririka Hironaka (Japan) - 20:45
3. Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Japan) - 20:48
4. Nozomi Tanaka (Japan) - 21:13
5. Zeng Ting (China) - 22:42

Team
1. Japan - 6
2. China - 20

Senior Women's 8 km
Individual
1. Dan li (China) - 28:03
2. Yukari Abe (Japan) - 28:06
3. Jadhav Sanjivani (India) - 28:19
4. Nanami Watanabe (Japan) - 28:27
5. Xinjan Zhang (China) - 28:41
-----
6. Yuka Hori (Japan) - 28:44
7. Rina Nabeshina (Japan) - 28:57
9. Rika Kaseda (Japan) - 29:50

Team
1. Japan - 12
2. China - 14
3. India - 28

Junior Men's 8 km
Individual
1. Cairen Suolang (China) - 25:35
2. Yuhi Nakaya (Japan) - 25:39
3. Ren Tazawa (Japan) - 25:42
4. Ryunosuke Chigira (Japan) - 26:02
5. Reito Hanzawa (Japan) - 26:15
-----
7. Kiyoto Suzuki (Japan) - 26:29

Team
1. Japan - 9
2. China - 19
3. Iran - 31

Senior Men's 12 km
Individual
1. Jianhua Peng (China) - 38:22
2. Kazuya Nishiyama (Japan) - 38:26
3. Shunsuke Imanishi (Japan) - 38:28
4. Kosei Yamaguchi (Japan) - 38:37
5. Ciwang Danmuzhen (China) - 39:07
-----
6. Kazuma Taira (Japan) - 39:11
8. Hayato Mera (Japan) - 39:39

Team
1. Japan - 9
2. China - 16
3. Iran - 32

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...
2 comments
Read more

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...
Post a Comment
Read more