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Eighteen New Meet Records at 83rd Tokyo Track and Field Championships



Even more than in Osaka, top-level Japanese athletes turned out in big numbers for the 83rd Tokyo Track and Field Championships, stretched out over a leisurely four-day schedule this weekend at Komazawa Stadium. Despite terrible weather conditions throughout the long weekend they brought new meet records in eighteen events, breaking some records that had stood for over 50 years.

All three men's sprints saw new meet records. 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics men's 4x100 m relay silver medalist Aska Cambridge (Nike) ran a meet record 10.29 (+0.3) to win his 100 m opening heat, improved that to 10.26 (-0.3) to take his semifinal, then took the record further again with a 10.22 (-0.8) win in the final. Keigo Yasuda (Daito Bunka Univ.) tied the men's 200 m meet record at 20.97 (-1.0) to win the final. Daichi Inoue (Nihon Univ.) ran 46.81 to break the previous men's 400 m meet record of 47.05, set in 1996 before he was born.

Men's middle distance also had new meet records across the board. In the 800 m, Kenta Umetani (Sunbelx) won his semifinal in a meet record 1:50.64, only to have that taken away by national champion Allon Tatsunami Clay (Soyo AC) in the final, with Clay running a MR 1:50.54 for the win. The men's 1500 m final was the race of the weekend, with Brooklyn Mile virtual race winner Ryoji Tatezawa (DeNA) leading the top five under the old 1996-era record of 3:48.16 with a 3:42.67 for 1st. 4th-place Haruto Ishizuka (Waseda Jitsugyo H.S.) ran 3:44.62, bumping Clay out of the all-time Japanese H.S. #3 position.

Both the men's 110 m hurdles and 400 m hurdles likewise saw new meet records. Shuhei Ishikawa (Fujitsu) took the MR to 13.66 (+0.9) in the semifinals, then to 13.61 (-1.1) in the final. But that was only good enough for 2nd, with national record holder Shunya Takayama (Zenrin) running 13.54 ahead of him. Tatsuhiro Yamamoto (Nihon Univ.) ran 50.08 to win the men's 400 m hurdles final. The old record of 50.12 dated back to 1992.

The men's long jump and triple jump broke meet records that had stood for over 50 years. Shunsuke Izumiya (Juntendo Univ.) jumped 7.92 m (+1.1) on his third attempt to win the long jump, bettering the previous meet record of 7.88 m from 1965. In the triple jump Yuki Yamashita (Kokushikan Club) tied the 1968 meet record of 16.26 m on his fourth attempt, the bettered that on his fifth attempt with a 16.38 m (+0.4) jump. But the win wasn't to be his, as Hikaru Ikehata (Surugadai AC) jumped a solid 16.75 m (0.0) on his final attempt to take the top spot and break into the all-time Japanese top ten.

The shot put was the only men's throwing event to see a new meet record, but the top three all went over the old one. Hikaru Murakami (Nittai Shisetsu) won with a 17.30 m throw on his second attempt, Daichi Morishita (Daiichi Gakuin H.S. Staff) was 2nd at 17.09 m and Yutaro Suda (Kokushikan Club) 3rd with a last-round throw of 16.58 m.

In women's sprints, the biggest news was probably 100 m national record holder Chisato Fukushima (Seiko) finishing last in her opening heat in 12.56 (+0.6), the only one in her heat not to move on to the semifinals. There were new records in both the 200 m and 400 m. Remi Tsuruta (Minami Kyushu Family Mart) went under a record from 1992 to win the 200 m final in 24.05 (-0.8). In the 400 m, both Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) and Airi Oshima (Chuo Univ.) were under the old record, Matsumoto winning in 54.20 and Oshima 2nd in 54.29.

In the women's 800 m, national champion Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) ran a meet record 2:05.33 in her qualifying heat, finishing just off that in 2:05.77 to win the final. Continuing to dabble in middle distance, half marathon national record holder Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) came up just short of the 1500 m meet record, running 4:21.95 in her heat and 4:21.77 to win the final.

The only woman entered in the 10000 m, amateur Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) turned in the grittiest performance of the weekend, soloing a 32:28.90 meet record, 13 seconds under the old record and a PB by over a minute. 24 hours later she returned to win the 5000 m, jogging behind friend and rival Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) through 3700 m before taking off to win in 16:15.94 with a last 1000 m just under 3:00.

In the women's 100 m hurdles, Mako Fukube (Nihon Kensetsu Kogyo) ran a meet record 13.44 (-0.4) to win her heat but couldn't follow up in the final, taking 3rd in 13.58 (-1.9) behind Miho Suzuki (Hasegawa Taiiku Shisetsu), winner in 13.53, and Masumi Aoki (Nanajunana Ginko), 2nd in 13.54.

Both the shot put and javelin throw saw new meet records. Fumika Ono (Saitama Univ.) broke the 1974-era shot put record with a 15.88 m on her second attempt, with the top three in the javelin all bettering the old record. Orie Ushiro (Niigata Albirex RC) took the top spot with an opening throw of 55.75 m, Miran Naraoka (Nihon Univ.) and Marina Saito (Suzuki) both delivering their biggest throws on their last tries with a 55.59 m for Naraoka and a 54.42 for Saito.

Meg Hemphill (Atore) took the heptathlon, beating the old meet record from 1994 by almost 750 points to win in 5646. 2nd-place Karin Odama (Nittai Univ.) also broke the old record at 5401.

Complete results from the 83rd Tokyo Track and Field Championships can be had here.

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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