Skip to main content

Melbourne Track Classic - Japanese Results


After three straight weeks of road racing that included a half marathon national record, Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) returned to the track alongside 2019 national champion Tomoka Kimura and teammate Yuka Takashima (both Shiseido) for a 5000 m at Australia's Melbourne Track Classic. Kimura collided with another runner at the start and never regained her composure, finishing 12th in 15:51.92. Takashima and Niiya went straight to the front, with Niiya's training partner Wakana Kabasawa (Keio Univ.) handling pacing duties in the early going.

Once Kabasawa stepped off at 1000 m  Niiya took over, leading the rest of the way just off the pace she needed to break her 2012-era PB of 15:10.20. The leaders quickly boiled down to just her and Australians Jessica Hull and Genevieve Gregson. From 600 m out Hull kicked, going on to win unchallenged in 15:06.12. Niiya uncharacteristically dropped Gregson over the last lap, taking 2nd in 15:15.41 with Gregson 3rd in 15:20.60. Jenny Blundell was 4th, taking the third spot on the podium for the Australian championships title. Takashima faded to 13th in 15:53.80.

Also at the meet, last year's 800 m and 1500 m double national champion Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) kicked off her 2020 season with a 4:28.48 for 9th in the women's 1500 m. Daigo Hasegawa (Ito Chotanpa) was 7th in the men's triple jump with a jump of 15.26 m (+0.7 m/s).

Melbourne Track Classic

Melbourne, Australia, 2/6/20
complete results

Women's 5000 m
1. Jessica Hull (Australia) - 15:06.12 - WL
2. Hitomi Niiya (Japan/Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:15.41
3. Genevieve Gregson (Australia) - 15:20.60
4. Jenny Blundell (Australia) - 15:22.14
5. Linden Hall (Australia) - 15:26.22
-----
12. Tomoka Kimura (Japan/Shiseido) - 15:51.92
13. Yuka Takashima (Japan/Shiseido) - 15:53.80
-----
DNF - Wakana Kabasawa (Japan/Keio Univ.) - pacer

Women's 1500 m
1. Lauren Reid (Australia) - 4:16.52
2. Sarah Billings (Australia) - 4:18.25
3. Katherine Camp (New Zealand) - 4:20.75
4. Rebekah Greene (New Zealand) -4:22.09
5. Bernadette Williams (Australia) - 4:22.76
-----
9. Ran Urabe (Japan/Sekisui Kagaku) - 4:28.48

Men's Triple Jump
1. Julian Konlee (Australia) - 16.66 m +0.7 m/s
2. Ayo Ore (Australia) - 16.21 m +0.4 m/s
3. Shemaiah James (Australia) - 16.16 m +1.8 m/s
4. Alwyn Jones (Australia) - 16.05 m +0.9 m/s
5. Connor Murphy (Australia) - 15.68 m +1.3 m/s
-----
7. Daigo Hasegawa (Japan/Ito Chotanpa) - 15.26 m +0.7 m/s

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...
1 comment
Read more

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...
1 comment
Read more