Skip to main content

Nishiyama Runs Fastest-Ever JPN Men's Time in World Championships Marathon - Oregon 22 Day 3 Japanese Results



With the last-second withdrawal of NR holder Kengo Suzuki after a positive COVID test the day before the race, it was up to newbies Yusuke Nishiyama and Gaku Hoshi to represent Japan in the men's marathon at the start of Day 3 of the Oregon 22 World Championships. Nishiyama, who won February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in 2:07:47 in his debut, told JRN pre-race that his goals were top 8 and a PB, in that order. He stayed in the lead group for much of the race, but although he dropped off in the later stages and missed both goals, his 2:08:35 for 13th was still the fastest-ever by a Japanese man at the World Championships. Teammate Hoshi, 1st at February's Osaka Marathon in 2:07:31 in his debut, struggled to match Nishiyama, fading to 38th in 2:13:44.

In between, longtime Japan-based Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir, 40, made good on one of his two goals for his 10th-straight World Championships, beating his best-ever Worlds time of 2:16:41 by 5:02 as he ran 2:11:39 for 26th. That fell short of beating his best-ever World placing, 19th in Daegu '11 when he ran the 2:16, but in the home straight and post-race Bat-Ochir was all smiles. Given Ethiopian gold medalist Tamirat Tola's 2:05:36 World Championships record and the fact that the top 19 were all sub-2:10, that seems pretty reasonable. Next up Bat-Ochir will run September's Muenster Marathon in Germany, the first stop on the road to qualify for his 11th World Championships and ultimately his 6th Olympic marathon.

Underperforming most of the season since Hakone, all-time #2 Ren Tazawa, a student at Nishiyama's alma mater Komazawa University, struggled to perform up to ability, finishing more than a minute off his best in 28:24.25 for 20th. Called up just over a week before Oregon 22 began to fill an open slot in the 10000 m, 27:25.73 man Tatsuhiko Ito did a good job not to finish last off only base training, finishing 22nd of 24 in 28:57.85 with a strong kick to make sure he got under 29 minutes.

In qualifying action, Fuga Sato and Julian Walsh both advanced to the men's 400 m semifinals, Sato running 45.88 for 4th in heat 5 and Walsh 45.90 for 4th in heat 1. Kaito Kawabata managed only a 46.34 for 5th in heat 6 and did not move on. Both Shunsuke Izumiya and Shuhei Ishikawa missed out on making the men's 110 m hurdles final, Izumiya 14th on time in 13.42 +0.3 and Ishikawa last in 13.68 -0.6. Kazuki Kurokawa likewise missed the men's 400 m hurdles final, 16th in 49.69.

The day closed with news of another scratch from the Japanese women's marathon team as Hitomi Niiya and her coach followed women-only NR holder Mao Ichiyama and her coach in testing positive for COVID. That means only one Japanese woman, this year's fastest, Mizuki Matsuda, will start tomorrow's race. Together with Suzuki's setback Oregon 22 has turned out to be a disaster for what would have been Japan's best-ever marathon lineups at a World Championships.

text and photos © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
I think you summed it up perfectly when you said "Oregon 22 has turned out to be a disaster for what would have been Japan's best-ever marathon lineups at a World Championships."

I was gutted when hearing of the news of Hitomi Niiya's withdrawal due to COVID. Being 34 years old and with a renewed desire to take on the marathon challenge I felt this was a now or never event. I can imagine it will be difficult for her to stay motivated for this event and who knows how the COVID affects her health in the short and long term. I hope Mao Ichiyama has no lingering after effects either.

Nevertheless, what an outstanding run in a good time from the ever so consistent Mizuki Matsuda. I saw her post race interview where she was in tears. I'm not sure what was said but she should be proud of that performance! It was a good time in the circumstances.
July 19, 2022 at 6:55 AM
Eric in Seattle said…
I was in Eugene at Track & Field, I saw Matsuda got into ninth place. Onward. Eric
July 19, 2022 at 1:03 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more

Fujitsu and Toyoda Issue Statement on Circumstances of His Two-Year Suspension for Trenbolone

  Following 400 m hurdler Masaki Toyoda 's suspension for a violation of anti-doping regulations , the Fujitsu corporate team published a statement on its website, including comments from Toyoda's legal team , explaining the ruling and the circumstances surrounding the case. Toyoda was a member of the 2019 Doha World Championships team and holds a best of 48.87. Early in the morning of May 19, 2022, the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) conducted a doping test of Toyoda. The prohibited substance trenbolone was detected in urine taken during the test, resulting in a two-year suspension that began May 21, 2022. He did not compete at the National Track and Field Championships the next month. The amount of trenbolone detected in Toyoda's urine sample was 1.4 ng/ml, well below the minimum analytical precision of 2.5 ng/ml required by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for analytical equipment. As a general rule, if a non-specified prohibited substance such as trenbolone is dete
Post a Comment
Read more

“The Miracle in Fukuoka” - Real Talk From Yuki Kawauchi on “Taking on the World” (part 1)

http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/column/detail/201701120002-spnavi translated by Brett Larner Ahead of his nomination to the London World Championships Marathon team, Sportsnavi published a three-part series of writings by Yuki Kawauchi on what it took for him to make the team, his hopes for London, and his views on the future of Japanese marathoning.  With his place on the London team announced on Mar. 17 , JRN will publish an English translation of the complete series over the next three days. See Sportsnavi's original version linked above for more photos. Click here for part two, " Bringing All My Experience Into Play in London ," or here for part three, " The Lessons of the Past Are Not 'Outdated.' " The Fukuoka International Marathon was held on Dec. 4 last year. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov’t) took part despite nursing injuries he had sustained in training. Falling rain contributed to less than ideal conditions during the race, but from th
6 comments
Read more