Hayato Katsuki kicked off the final day of Jakarta Asian Games athletics competition with Japan's last individual medal of the Games, a gold in the men's 50 km racewalk. Katsuki finished in 4:03:30 more than three minutes up on silver medalist Qin Wang of China and almost seven minutes ahead of bronze medalist Hyun Myeong Joo of South Korean despite sustaining a five-minute time penalty 34 km into the race. Japan's Satoshi Maruo was another three minutes back in 4th.
Indoor mile national record holder Ryoji Tatezawa was in range of a top six finish at best in the men's 1500 m, but in a race that went out slowly enough for announcers to be comparing it to a Japanese high school qualifying round race Tatezawa lacked the gears to stay relevant over the final lap, finishing 9th of 11 finishers in 3:49.40.
The relays went about as expected. The women's 4x100 m and 4x400 m each finished 5th, while the men's teams brought home medals over both distances. With its powerful Ryota Yamagata, Shuhei Tada, Yoshihide Kiryu and Aska Cambridge lineup the men's 4x100 m was all but a foregone conclusion, so much so that there was an air of disappointment when then did it in only 38.16. In the stadium there was a lot more buzz over the home Indonesian team beating China for silver in a national record 38.77, and even on Japanese Twitter there were almost as many cheers for Indonesia as for Japan. The men's 4x400 m team was no match for Qatar's 3:00.56 Asian record, battling India for silver and losing out to take bronze in 3:10.94.
Japan's final medal count of six gold, two silver and ten bronze ranked it 4th behind China, Bahrain and India. In some respects it's a decent total given Japan's relative weakness in throws, but on the other hand the competition in Tokyo two years from now isn't going to be any weaker than it was in Jakarta. But with 22 finishes from 4th through 6th place besides the medalists the overall depth and quality of this Japanese team was very good, the potential there to do better if they can learn from the experience in the Indonesian heat and humidity this summer.
Jakarta Asian Games Day Six Japanese Results
Jakarta, Indonesia, 8/30/18complete results
Men's 1500 m Final
1. Jinson Johnson (India) - 3:44.72
2. Amir Moradi (Iran) - 3:45.62
3. Mohammed Tiouali (Bahrain) - 3:45.38
4. Manjit Singh (India) - 3:46.57
5. Musaab Ali (Qatar) - 3:47.35
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9. Ryoji Tatezawa (Japan) - 3:49.40
Men's50 km Racewalk
1. Hayato Katsuki (Japan) - 4:03:30
2. Qin Wang (China) - 4:06:48
3. Hyun Myeong Joo (South Korea) - 4:10:21
4. Satoshi Maruo (Japan) - 4:14:13
5. Hendro (Indonesia) - 4:32:20 - NR
Women's 4x100 m Relay Final
1. Bahrain - 42.73 - MR
2. China - 42.84
3. Kazakhstan - 43.82
4. Thailand - 44.56
5. Japan - 44.93
6. Taiwan - 45.19
7. Vietnam - 45.42
8. Hong Kong - 45.73
Men's 4x100 m Relay Final
1. Japan - 38.16
2. Indonesia - 38.77 - NR
3. China - 38.89
4. Taiwan - 38.98
5. South Korea - 39.10
6. Thailand - 39.29
7. Hong Kong - 39.48
DQ - Malaysia
Women's 4x400 m Relay Final
1. India - 3:28.72
2. Bahrain - 3:30.61
3. Vietnam - 3:33.23
4. China - 3:33.72
5. Japan - 3:34.14
6. Kakazhstan - 3:36.73
7. Thailand - 3:47.89
DQ - Indonesia
Men's 4x400 m Relay Final
1. Qatar - 3:00.56 - AR
2. India - 3:01.85
3. Japan - 3:01.94
4. Sri Lanka - 3:02.74
5. Bahrain - 3:03.97
6. China - 3:07.16
7. Iraq - 3:07.64
8. Pakistan - 3:08.87
© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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