Sani Brown Back With 100 m National Title - National Track and Field Championships Day Two Highlights

After losing most of last year to a hernia, Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Tumbleweed TC) was back, winning the 100 m national title for the third time in his career on Day 2 of the 2022 National Track and Field Championships Friday in Osaka. After running 10.11 in the heats and then clearing the 10.05 standard with a 10.04 in the semifinals, Sani Brown overcame a slow start to run down Ryuichiro Sakai (Osaka Gas) and Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) for the win in 10.08 (+1.1). With a top 3 finish and the standard his place on the Oregon World Championships team is guaranteed, but in his post-race interview he said he was disappointed at the weakness of his performance in the final and promised he'd better it at Worlds.

Sakai continued his rise through the ranks of Japanese sprinting with a PB 10.10 for 2nd, with 18-year-old Yanagita not quite matching his run in the semis but still impressive at 10.19 for 3rd. Olympic team members Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) and Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) were 4th and 6th in 10.19 and 10.27, and with Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) and Bruno Dede (Seiko) not making the final, Aska Cambridge (Nike) a DNS and NR holder Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) not even entered there's a pretty good chance Japan's 4x100 m team next month will be almost completely new.

In the women's 100 m final Arisa Kimishima (DK Shiken) turned in a PB 11.36 (+0.6) for the win, enough to move her up to all-time Japanese #4. All-time #3 Mei Kodama (Mizuno) was 2nd in 11.40, with Midori Mikase (Sumitomo Denko) 3rd in 11.55 (+0.6). 100 mH NR holder Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko) was 4th in 11.59 less than an hour after leading the semifinals in her main event in 13.03 (-0.1).

Another all-time Japanese #4 mark came in the men's hammer throw, where Ryota Kashimura (Yamada Holdings) opened with a PB 72.77 m throw. Kashimura was over 72 m on two other attempts, but his first mark ended up his best of the day and enough for the win. Takahiro Kobata (BUAC) also broke into the all-time top 10, throwing a 71.34 m PB on his third attempt for 2nd. The top 2 in the women's hammer both threw PBs, Remi Katsuya (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) coming in at all-time Japanese #10 with a final attempt of 61.94 m and Sara Fujimoto (Kondotech) with a mark of 61.75 m.

In the men's 400 m, Fuga Sato (Nasu Kankyo) won in 45.49 over Kaito Kawabata (Chukyo Univ. AC), 2nd in 46.00, both of them bettering their chances of surviving the Worlds quota cutoff. Collegians Arran Meldrum (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) and Joseph Nakajima (Toyo Univ.) both ran PBs, Meldrum just getting Nakajima at the line for 3rd, 46.05 to 46.07. Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) won the women's 400 m title in 53.03.

After a fast qualifying round Tokai University 4th-year Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.) scored his first men's 1500 m national title, outkicking Rikuto Iijima (Ami AC) and Keisuke Morita (Subaru) in the home straight for the win in 3:42.82. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) was 4 seconds slower than in her last-place finish at the Prefontaine Classic 1500 m last month, but that was still enough to win by 4 seconds and pick up Worlds spot.

Kanae Tatsuta (Nippatsu) cleared 4.25 m on her first attempt to win the women's pole vault, skipping 4.30 m to give the NR a shot at 4.45 m but missing all three attempts. Riku Ito (Kinki Kogyo H.S. Staff) jumped 16.57 m (+1.5) on his last attempt to win the men's triple jump, beating top-ranked Yuto Adachi (Fukuoka Univ.) whose 5th attempt was a 16.22 m (-1.5) PB that put him in 2nd.

Along with Aoki's solid performances in the first two rounds of the women's 100 mH, the men's 400 mH saw all three contenders for the Oregon team, Kazuki Kurokawa (Hosei Univ.), Masaki Toyoda (Fujitsu) and Takayuki Kishimoto (Fujitsu) advance, Kurokawa the fastest at 49.81. Longtime #1 Takatoshi Abe (Yamada Holdings) was a DNS.

Complete results from day 2 of the National Track and Field Championships are available here.

Wanjiru Breaks Own MR, Fuwa and Ishida Return - Kanto Regionals Day 1 Highlights

Japan's best college meet kicked off Thursday at Tokyo's National Stadium at the 103rd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships . Looking like she was doing a controlled tempo run, 2nd-yr Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) lapped the entire field to win the women's 10000 m in a meet record 32:02.87, almost 15 seconds under the record she last year in her debut. 3rd-yr Aoi Takahashi (Josai Univ.) was 2nd in 33:29.22 and 2nd-yr Nana Nagashima (Josai Kokusai Univ.) 3rd in a PB 33:30.28, but the other main news alongside Wanjiru's new record was the return of collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) in her first 10000 m in 19 months. Fuwa hung at the back of the chase pack for the first half, made a move to lead it in the second half, and ultimately faded to 9th in 33:40.20. Every comeback has to start somewhere. The D1 men's 10000 m had a tight group up front with the top 6 all finishing within 6 seconds and under 28:10. 3rd-yr Jam

Two-Time Olympic Marathon Medalist Erick Wainaina Referred to Prosectors on Suspicion of Assault

According to investigators, two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina has had his case referred to prosecutors after allegedly injuring a railway employee by striking him in the face at a station in Setagaya, Tokyo. Wainaina, 50, was the bronze medalist in the marathon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and won silver in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Wainaina is suspected of assaulting a woman in her late teens and a male Tokyu Denentoshi Line employee by hitting them in the face during an altercation at Komazawa University Station in March this year, resulting in minor injuries to the man's face. According to investigators, the incident began on the train between Wainaina and the woman, and after getting off at Komazawa University Station he hit her in the face when she asked him to go to the station office with her to report it. When the male railway employee responded to the situation Wainaina reportedly hit him too. In response to questioning Wainaina is said to have answered,

Police Arrest 20-Year-Old Man Charged With Assaulting Female Runner at Popular Tokyo Running Spot

A 20-year-old man has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a female runner along the banks of the Tama River in Ota Ward, Tokyo. "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go for a walk and move my body a bit," the man told police. Local resident Hirai Muroyama , 20, of no known occupation, was arrested on charges of sexual assault. He is accused of acts including grabbing the breasts of a woman in her 20s at around 10 p.m. on May 31 along the banks of the Tama River. According to police, the woman was taking a break in her run when Muroyama approached her silently from behind and grabbed her breasts before running away. Under police interrogation Muroyama told investigators, "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go out for a walk and move my body. I'd had a few drinks and was feeling pretty hype. She was totally my type." source article: https://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newsey

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