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.

Wada Yuna of Japan wins Junior Women’s 6km cross country race of 14th Asian Cross Country Championship . Japan also won Team championship pic.twitter.com/Q6l0b48pKV

— Asian Athletics (@asianathletics) March 15, 2018

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.

アジアクロカン
個人4位、団体優勝でした！
陸上人生で一番辛いレースでした。
また世界の舞台に戻ってきて、メダルを持ち帰ります。#jaaf #アジアクロカン #謝謝 pic.twitter.com/01TEMcBTE1

— 千明 龍之佑 (@chiginosuke) March 15, 2018

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
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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