Skip to main content

Okayama and Yamaguchi Gold and Silver, JPN Men and Women Team Gold and Bronze at IAU 100 km World Championships



Relative newcomers Haruki Okayama and Jumpei Yamaguchi ran big PBs to take the top two spots in the men's race at the IAU 100 km World Championships Saturday in Berlin. 2018 world champ Hideaki Yamauchi was a last-minute scratch after testing positive for COVID-19, leaving Okayama, Yamaguchi and world record holder Nao Kazami to take things out hard in a quintet with Brazilian Felipe Silva and French athlete Guillaume Ruel.

Ruel soon broke away to open a lead of around 2 minutes by halfway. Behind him, a South African trio caught up to the Japanese group, prompting Yamaguchi to take off in pursuit of the lead. On every 7.5 km lap he closed around 30 seconds on Ruel, finally coming within 20 seconds at around 70 km. But just as he was about to take the lead, Yamaguchi ran into trouble, at exactly the time that Okayama drove by hard to move into 1st instead of him.

Running the 100 km distance for only the second time, by 77.5 km he had almost a minute lead over Ruel and never looked back. Okayama came home in 6:12:10, a PB by over 4 1/2 minutes and less than 3 minutes off Kazami's 6:09:14 WR. After his 6:16:44 debut this spring at the Shibanuma 100 km Okayama said that his goal is to break the WR at Lake Saroma next year, and with this performance behind him that definitely looks in range.


Yamaguchi was in free-fall after Okayama passed him, losing ground he had fought hard to make up on Ruel and getting into danger of being caught by Dutch runner Piet Wiersma and Norweigian Sebastian Conrad Hakansson. But over the last two laps he rallied, closing on Ruel again, then passing him for 2nd, then doing just enough to hold off both chasers and stay in the medals. Hunched over at times and in obvious pain, Yamaguchi toughed out a 6:17:19 for 2nd, a PB by 5:16 that kept him 1:28 ahead of bronze medalist Wiersma. Pure guts running isn't always pretty.

Kazami held on to 6th behind Hakansson and Ruel in 6:21:43. That was enough to land Japan the team gold medal and add another line to the resume of one of the great ultra runners of our time. Kazami was the only man in the top 10 not to run a PB, a sign of how high the level really was in this historic race.




In the women's race France's Camille Chaigneau and France's Noora Honkala went out hard, top-ranked Japanese woman Miho Nakata and Lithuanian Gitana Akmanavičiūtė following at a distance. By 20 km Nakata and Akmanavičiūtė had come up within 5 seconds of the leaders, but a surge from Chaigneau made sure a lead group never came together.

As Chaigneau built what looked like a dominant lead Nakata spent the rest of the race hovering around 6th. Teammate Mai Fujisawa came up to 7th and looked like she might join Nakata, but over the second half the dynamic changed dramatically. Another French runner, Floriane Hot, took the lead from Chaigneau, pushing on to take gold in 7:04:03. American Courtney Olsen moved into the bronze position behind Chaigneau but was caught by Irish runner Caitriona Jennings, who looked strong enough to have a shot at Chaigneau and silver. Chaigneau just held her off, taking 2nd in 7:06:32, Jennings landing bronze in 7:07:16.

Nakata was 6th in 7:19:12, a PB by over 8 1/2 minutes and moving up to 4th-fastest Japanese woman ever. The veteran Fujisawa fell to 10th in 7:32:22, but that was only 29 seconds off her lifetime best. Like Kazami, Fujisawa was the athlete in the top 10 not to run a PB. Mikiko Ota was the 3rd Japanese woman home at 12th in 7:35:25, just 1:07 off her best. 4th team member Aiko Kanematsu was a DNF late in the race, but with only the top 3 scoring the Japanese women took team bronze behind gold medalists U.S.A. and silver medalists France. As in the men's race, the number of PBs up top made this one of the top women's 100 km races in history.

Taken all together it was one of Japan's best-ever team performances at the 100 km World Championships, especially notable for the PBs and near-misses. Show up to an international competition and run like you're there to do your absolute best, unafraid when everyone else goes out hard. Japan's ultra national team could teach a thing or two to most of the country's distance runners in the shorter events.

IAU 100 km World Championships

Berlin, Germany, 27 Aug. 2022

Men - Individual
1. Haruki Okayama (Japan) - 6:12:10 - PB
2. Jumpei Yamaguchi (Japan) - 6:17:19 - PB
3. Piet Wiersma (Netherlands) - 6:18:47 - PB
4. Sebastian Conrad (Norway) - 6:19:01 - PB
5. Guillaume Ruel (France) - 6:19:51 - PB
6. Nao Kazami (Japan) - 6:21:43
7. Elov Olsson (Sweden) - 6:30:14 - PB
8. Manel Deli Andujar (Spain) - 6:30:24 - PB
9. Gareth King (Great Britain) - 6:32:05 - PB
10. Alexander Bock (Germany) - 6:34:40 - PB 

Men - Team
1. Japan - 18:51:12
2. France - 19:55:10
3. South Africa - 20:05:58
4. Germany - 20:08:17
5. Great Britian - 20:27:07

Women - Individual
1. Floriane Hot (France) - 7:04:03 - PB
2. Camile Chaigneau (France) - 7:06:32 - PB
3. Caitriona Jennings (Ireland) - 7:07:16 - PB
4. Courtney Olsen (U.S.A.) - 7:15:29 - PB
5. Satu Lipiainen (Finland) - 7:15:35 - PB
6. Miho Nakata (Japan) - 7:19:12 - PB
7. Anna Kacius (U.S.A.) - 7:24:41 - PB
8. Silvia Luna (Italy) - 7:29:01 - PB
9. Federica Moroni (Italy) - 7:31:45 - PB
10. Mai Fujisawa (Japan) - 7:32:22

Women - Team
1. U.S.A. - 22:14:46
2. France - 22:16:46
3. Japan - 22:26:59
4. Italy - 23:03:37
5. Great Britian - 23:19:06

photos © 2022 Tarzan Aqzawa / Eldoreso, all rights reserved
text © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Hakone Champ AGU Hits 50 km a Day in Spring Break Training Camp

Having scored its 3rd-straight Hakone Ekiden win this past January, Aoyama Gakuin University spent the Golden Week spring holidays training on the Myoko Plateau in Niigata from May 2-6. Along with the champion men's ekiden team, the first 2 members of AGU's new women's long distance team Nodoka Ashida and Kairi Ikeno , and AGU alumni and 2026 New Year Ekiden champion GMO team members Yuya Yoshida and Asahi Kuroda also took part in the training camp. Depending on the day's training schedule, mileage at the camp was over 50 km a day. AGU men's captain Kaito Nakamura confidently said, "This Golden Week training camp is where we lay the foundations for our 4th-straight Hakone title." A lot of people spend Golden Week on vacation, but the AGU ekiden team spent their time working hard on Myoko's rolling land amid the sprouting leaves of spring. On the 2nd day of the camp, May 3, team members woke up at 5:00 a.m. to do their warmup. The team assembled a...
1 comment
Read more

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Shikama and Njeri Win Sendai International Half Marathon

Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won the Sendai International Half Marathon Sunday in Sendai, Shikama in 1:01:31 and Njeri in 1:09:20. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) was the top Japanese woman at 2nd overall. The men's race went through 5 km in 14:34 and 10 km in 29:22. Shikama ran alongside top competition including Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.), who has been running well in half marathons this season, and Tokyo World Championships marathon team member Naoki Koyama (Honda). On a course with many small ups and downs, Shikama attacked on a downhill just after 15 km, quickly breaking free of the lead group of 7. 13 seconds up by 20 km, Shikama covered the last 1.0975 km in 3:06 to seal his first Sendai title. A graduate of Juntendo University , Shikama is in his 4th season with Logisteed. At the 2024 National Corporate Half Marathon he ran 1:00:41, and at last year's East Japan Corporate Ekiden he won the Third Stage. In his marathon d...
Post a Comment
Read more