Short Track National Record Rush

Indoor track isn't really part of the vocabulary for Japanese middle and long distance athletes, but three turned in a string of new national records in the U.S. this weekend.

At the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Saturday in Boston, Olympic steepler Ryoma Aoki (Honda) ran a new mile national record of 3:54.84 to finish 4th in Heat 2, taking 1.17 off the previous 3:56.01 NR set in Boston last year by Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.). Like Iizawa's old mark, as the fastest mile time ever by a Japanese man Aoki's new record will count as both the indoor NR and outright NR. 6th in Heat 4, Keisuke Morita (Subaru) also got under 4 minutes with a 3:59.03, with Nanami Arai (Honda) 9th behind Morita in 4:00.45. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) took the top spot in Heat 12 in 4:01.34.

Sunday at the Millrose Games in New York, Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) beat both her indoor 3000 m NR of 8:45.64 and outdoor NR of 8:40.84, splitting 8:40.05 en route in the women's 2 mile. There's no official Japanese 2-mile NR, so her final time of 9:16.76 for 5th also stands as a new national and indoor Asian area best performance.

Less than an hour later, Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) split 7:42.56 en route in the men's 2 mile, 3.06 under Suguru Osako's indoor NR from 2015 but just missing Osako's 7:40.09 outright 3000 m NR. Osako's 8:16.47 from the same race in 2015 was a national and indoor Asian best, and Sato held on to beat it too with a final time of 8:14.71 for 7th. "I knew how fast the pace was going to be, but when we actually ran it it was harder than I expected," said the 20-year-old Sato post-race. "Everyone was really good. I've got a lot of work to do to improve my last few laps." Winner Josh Kerr (Great Britain) ran a world record 8:00.67.

In the men's 60 m, co-NR holder Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Puma) also tied his 6.54 record for 2nd behind Christian Coleman (U.S.A.), winner in 6.51. Sani Brown and Sato were roommates at the race hotel.

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