Drury and Mashiko Lead Four Japanese Golds - U20 Asian Championships Day 4

The closing day of the Dubai U20 Asian Athletics Championships saw Japan go out big, with four gold medals led by dominant runs by Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) and Yota Mashiko (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.).

Making her international debut, the 16-year-old Drury led start to finish in the women's 1500 m final, grinding down the rest of the field and putting over 4 seconds on runner-up Sandilea Vinod of India over the last 300 m to win in 4:21.41. Drury's splits: 1:11-2:24-(3:19)-3:35-4:21. There's still a long way for Drury to go, but in terms of form and confidence this was the best she has looked since her legendary breakthrough CR at last year's National Women's Ekiden, and you could see more than a glimmer of what everyone is hoping is really there.

Mashiko was even more dominant in the men's 3000 m. Coming out on the front end of some pushing and shoving in the first 50 m, Mashiko led the entire way. By 300 m he had a measurable gap that never got smaller, and after he ran 2:43 for the first 1000 m it was already a race for silver for everyone else in the field as Mashiko sailed on to win in 8:16.06. The other nine athletes in the main group waited until the bell lap to move, with Indian duo Bhosale Bhaskar and Bind Kumar going 2-3 in 8:31.20 and 8:33.00.

More gold came in the men's 800 m, where Ko Ochiai (Shiga Gakuen H.S.) held off Qatari Aitoulghazi Hatim by 0.38 for the win in 1:48.01. Hironori Tachizako (Waseda Univ.) came through for bronze in 1:49.73.

Japanese women improved on that in the women's 100 mH with a 1-2 finish. Surprisingly, Tenka Taninaka (Oita Oginodai H.S.) edged favorite Anna Matsuda (Nagasaki Nichidai H.S.) for the win in 13.52 (+1.3), Matsuda taking silver in 13.59 and India's Bolland Aiyappa bronze in 13.66.

One more silver came in the men's high jump. Kaisei Nakatani (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) cleared a PB 2.19 m for 2nd, with China's Dong Ziang likewise turning in a PB of 2.21 m to take gold. Korea's Choi Jinwoo was the bronze medalist at 2.11 m.

The men's 4x100 m team also raced, finishing near the back of the field, but as of this writing official results are not available on the main results site. They'll be added when available. The Japanese women's 4x100 m was a DNS.

Complete day four results here.

Ichiyama 8th at Copenhagen Marathon

Currently the #10-ranked Japanese man in the marathon with the fastest-ever domestic time at the elite Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) made his international debut at Sunday's Copenhagen Marathon , literally an international debut as it was his first time outside the country. Ichiyama hoped to be in contention to break the 2:08:23 CR and go for the win, and with cool and breezy conditions ran easy in the lead group through 30 km. But something ate away at almost everyone as time went by, several people in the lead men's and women's groups saying humidity, and past 30 km Ichiyama fell off. Falling as low as 9th, he rallied after 40 km to finish 8th in 2:13:07. "It was different than in Japanese races," he said. "I'm used to bigger packs and more even pacing, but this was a kind of racing I hadn't done before. There's a lot to think about. I didn't feel like I was sweating a lot, but I got really thirsty and started sk

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

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

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