Shobu Takes Steeplechase Bronze - World University Games Day Three Japanese Results

Waseda University's Atsushi Shobu added another medal to Japan's so far petite haul on day 3 of athletics competition at the Chengdu World University Games. Running the men's 3000 mSC, Shobu sat at the back of the lead pack throughout the race. In 5th at the bell, Shobu moved up into 3rd on the back straight, then was overtaken by Germany's Nick Jager heading into the curve. Both passed Czech Damian Vich and kept up their duel for 2nd until the final obstacle, where Shobu hesitated and lost ground. Jens Mergenthaler took gold in 8:38.42, Jager making it a German 1-2 with a silver in 8:40.53 to Shobu's 8:40.84 for bronze.

The men's 400 m final was maybe the race of the day, with the top 6 all running new PBs and Portugal's Joao Coelho and Australian Reece Holder both going under the WUG record in a photo finish. Coelho was timed at 44.782 for gold, with Holder officially running 44.785 for silver. Romanian Mihai-Sorin Dringo took bronze in a PB of 45.27, with Hosei University's Naohiro Jinushi running a 45.58 PB for 4th. Tsukuba University's Kenki Imaizumi was far off his best, finishing last in 47.18. The top 3 in the women's 400 mH final also all ran new PBs, with Italian Alice Muraro winning gold in 55.48 by almost a second over Brazil's Marlene Dos Santos. Ritsumeikan University's Ami Yamamoto was 5th in 57.19.

Doubling from the 10000 m, Nittai University's Risa Yamazaki ran an easy 16:58.97 for 4th in Heat 1 of the women's 5000 m to make the final. Also doubling, Ritsumeikan's Tomo Muramatsu ran an even easier 17:10.66 for 4th in Heat 2 to join Yamazaki in the final. In the women's hammer throw qualification round, Raiki Murakami of Kyushu Kyoritsu University threw 63.63 m for 2nd in Group A and advanced to the final. Akari Funada of Mukogawa Joshi University also made it through in the women's triple jump with a 13.26 -0.5 m/s on her second attempt for 4th in Group B.

Waseda's Aoi Inage ran a PB of 20.84 +1.1 m/s for 2nd in the men's 200 m Heat 5 and moved on to the semifinals. His Waseda teammate Yudai Nishi ran almost the identical time in Heat 7, 20.85 -0.1 m/s, but finished 3rd and failed to advance on time. Konan University's Abigail Ido was 3rd in Heat 5 of the women's 200 m in 24.16 +1.0 m/s and did advance. No luck for Sonoda Joshi University's Manaka Miura in heat 6, though, as she finished 4th in 24.54 +0.7 m/s and didn't advance. Ayaka Ito of Fukuoka University didn't make it out of the first round of the women's 100 mH, running 14.18 +0.5 m/s for 7th in Heat 2.

Complete day 3 results here. The Chengdu World University Games continue through Sunday.

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a

10000 m National Championships Preview

Less than five months since the 2023 10000 m National Championships went down at the 2021 Olympic stadium in Tokyo, the 2024 edition happens Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium, with NHK broadcasting it live starting at 19:25 local time. Doubling up on Nationals like this lets Japanese athletes double dip on placing points to try to get into the Paris Olympics on rankings. But between the number of people who've hit the 30:40.00 women's standard and 27:00.00 men's standard and the lopsided eight spots given away to top placers at World XC, there are only four women's spots and three men's available via rankings. Of those, three of the four women's spots and two of the three men's spots are currently occupied by top placers at December's 2023 Nationals, Ririka Hironaka , Haruka Kokai and Rino Goshima for women and Ren Tazawa and Tomoki Ota for men. The 2023 Nationals did get close to the standards, with Hironaka leading the top four women under

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading

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