Japan Announces Team of 65 for Tokyo Olympics

On July 2 the JAAF announced a team of 43 men and 22 women in track and field for the Tokyo Olympics.

With the men's 4x100 m relay being Japan's best chance of a medal outside the road events, the men's 200 m entries are of particular interest. National champion Yuki Koike, one of only two men to have hit the Olympic qualifying standard, is listed as an alternate, while the other Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, is listed as a stating member despite a DNS at Nationals due to injury concerns after the 100 m. Should Sani Brown scratch and Koike take his place it would open the door for 100 m alternate Yoshihide Kiryu to run if the feeling is that doing the triple would hurt Koike's chances in the relay.

High schooler Hiroki Yanagida was named as an alternate to the 4x100 m team after a breakthrough 10.22 at last weekend's National Championships. Another one of the breakthrough stars at Nationals, 19-year-old Juntendo University hurdler Rachid Muratake was named alternate in the 110 mH after hitting the standard in the heats only to false start in the final.

A complete breakdown of entries by event:

Men's 100 m / 4x100 mR

Ryota Yamagata - 9.95

Yuki Koike - 9.98

Shuhei Tada - 10.01

alternate and 4x100 mR - Yoshihide Kiryu - 9.98

4x100 mR - Bruno Dede - 10.15

4x100 mR alternate - Hiroki Yanagida - 10.22

Men's 200 m

Abdul Hakim Sani Brown - 20.08

Shota Iizuka - 20.29

Jun Yamashita - 20.40

alternate - Yuki Koike - 20.24

Men's 400 m

Julian Walshi - 45.13

Women's 1500 m

Nozomi Tanaka - 4:08.39

Ran Urabe - 4:10.52

Men's 5000 m

Yuta Bando - 13:18.49

Hiroki Matsueda - 13:24.29

Women's 5000 m

Ririka Hironaka - 14:59.37

Nozomi Tanaka - 15:00.01

Kaede Hagitani - 15:05.78

alternate - Tomoka Kimura - 15:19.99

Men's 10000 m

Akira Aizawa - 27:18.75

Tatsuhiko Ito - 27:2573

Women's 10000 m

HItomi Niiya - 30:20.44

Ririka Hironaka - 31:11.75

Yuka Ando - 31:18.18

Men's 110 mH

Shunsuke Izumiya - 13.06

Taio Kanai - 13.16

Shunya Takayama - 13.25

alternate - Rachid Muratake - 13.28

Women's 100 mH

Masumi Aoki - 12.87

Asuka Terada - 12.87

Ayako Kimura - 13.11

Men's 400 mH

Kazuki Kurokawa - 48.68

Takatoshi Abe - 48.80

Hiromi Yamauchi - 48.84

alternate - Masaki Toyoda - 48.87

Men's 3000 mSC

Ryuji Miura - 8:15.99

Kosei Yamaguchi - 8:19.96

Ryoma Aoki - 8:20.70

Women's 3000 mSC

Yuno Yamanaka - 9:41.84

Men's High Jump

Naoto Tobe - 2.35 m

Takashi Eto - 2.30 m

Men's Pole Vault

Masaki Ejima - 5.71 m

Seito Yamamoto - 5.70 m

Men's Long Jump

Shotaro Shiroyama - 8.40 m

Yuki Hashioka - 8.36 m

Hibiki Tsuha - 8.23 m

Men's Javelin Throw

Takuto Kominami - 82.52 m

Women's Javelin Throw

Haruka Kitaguchi - 66.00 m

Men's 20 km RW

Toshikazu Yamanishi - 1:17:15

Koki Ikeda - 1:17:25

Eiki Takahashi - 1:18:00

alternate - Yuta Koga - 1:18:42

Women's 20 km RW

Kumiko Okada - 1:27:41

Nanako Fujii - 1:28:58

Kaori Kawazoe - 1:31:10

Men's 50 km RW

Masatora Kawano - 3:36:45

Satoshi Maruo - 3:37:39

Hayato Katsuki - 3:42:34

alternate - Kai Kobayashi - 3:43:31

Men's Marathon

Suguru Osako - 2:05:29

Yuma Hattori - 2:07:27

Shogo Nakamura - 2:08:16

alternate - Shohei Otsuka - 2:07:38

Women's Marathon

Mao Ichiyama - 2:20:29

Honami Maeda - 2:23:30

Ayuko Suzuki - 2:29:02

alternate - Mizuki Matsuda - 2:21:47

Women's 4x100 mR

Mei Kodama - 11.46

Yu Ishikawa - 11.48

Hanae Aoyama - 11.56

Ami Saito - 11.61

Remi Tsuruta - 11.80

alternate - Aiko Iki - 11.59

Men's 4x400 mR

Kentaro Sato - 45.61

Kaito Kawabata - 45.75

Rikuya Ito - 45.85

Aoto Suzuki - 45.94

alternate - Kosuke Ikeda - 46.45

Chesang and Kipkoech Win Hot Gifu Half

Hot conditions held back fast times at the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Sunday, where Ugandan Stella Chesang and Kenya Hillary Kipkoech took the top spots over last year's winners Dolphine Nyaboke Omare and Amos Kurgat . In the women's race Chesang, Omare and Kenyan-born Bahraini Eunice Chebichii Chumba went out as a trio, Japan-based Hellen Ekarare with them initially but eventually dropping out. After a 15:39 opening 5 km Chumba started to slip off, and by 15 km Chesang was on her own. Chesang won in 1:07:59, solid given the conditions, with Omare 2nd in 1:08:31 and Chumba 3rd in 1:09:10. Rinka Hida was the first Japanese woman, 5th overall in 1:12:06 behind Australian Genevieve Gregson . A lead men's pack of 11 went through 5 km in 14:31, but by 10 km it was down to Kipkoech, Kurgat, , Timothy Kiplagat , Ugandan Stephen Kissa and Japan-based Kenyans Patrick Mathenge Wambui and Anthony Maina . At 15 km in 43:40 only Kurgat and Kipkoech were left, and over the last 5

Okumoto and Kondo Score Silver and Bronze - U20 Asian Championships Day One

The U20 Asian Athletics Championships started Wednesday in Dubai, U.A.E. Narumi Okumoto (Hitachi) and Nozomi Kondo (Meijo Univ.) scored Japan's first two medals in the women's 3000 m, running behind leader Yaxuan Li of China over the first 1000 m. Kondo lost touch after the first 1000 m, while Okumoto lasted another 1000 m with Li. Li took gold in 9:12.79, Okumoto silver in 9:25.19 and Kondo bronze in 9:38.91. In qualifying rounds: Both Yuri Nishida (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and Sari Kameda (Kyoto Kyoiku Univ.) won their women's 800 m heats and advanced to the next round, Nishida in a PB 2:07.36 and Kamei in 2:10.87, also a PB. Shota Fuchigami (Waseda Univ.) won his 400 mH heat in a PB 50.19 to make the final. Hiroto Shogomori (Chuo Univ.) was 2nd in his 400 m heat in 47.37, yet another athlete to run a PB, moving on to the semifinals. The lone female sprinter on the Japanese team, Misaki Morimoto (Sonoda Joshi Gakuen Univ.) won her 100 m heat in 12.20 (-1.4) and advance

Drury and Mashiko Lead Four Japanese Golds - U20 Asian Championships Day 4

The closing day of the Dubai U20 Asian Athletics Championships saw Japan go out big, with four gold medals led by dominant runs by Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) and Yota Mashiko (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.). Making her international debut, the 16-year-old Drury led start to finish in the women's 1500 m final, grinding down the rest of the field and putting over 4 seconds on runner-up Sandilea Vinod of India over the last 300 m to win in 4:21.41. Drury's splits: 1:11-2:24-(3:19)-3:35-4:21. There's still a long way for Drury to go, but in terms of form and confidence this was the best she has looked since her legendary breakthrough CR at last year's National Women's Ekiden, and you could see more than a glimmer of what everyone is hoping is really there. Mashiko was even more dominant in the men's 3000 m. Coming out on the front end of some pushing and shoving in the first 50 m, Mashiko led the entire way. By 300 m he had a measurable gap that never got smaller, and af

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