17-yr-old Ochiai 1:45.82 U20 NR - Japanese Olympic Trials Day Three

Following yesterday's five new Japanese National Track and Field Championships meet records, two more meet records fell on day three, both less than 0.1 off the national records and one an incredible new U20 NR. Complete results here.

Finals

Women's 5000 m Final

Wakana Kabasawa and Rina Kusu both had a shot at making the Paris Olympics if they finished 2nd behind NR holder Nozomi Tanaka in the low 15:20s, but when the race set off at a jog their chances were pretty much gone after the first lap. Having tuned up in the 800 m heats, Tanaka eventually pulled away for the win in 15:23.72, ensuring that she'll double in Paris. Currently 36th of 42 in the Paris quota, Yuma Yamamoto made enough of a comeback from injury to take 2nd in 15:34.64 a few steps ahead of teammate Chikako Mori, pretty much guaranteeing Yamamoto will be in Paris too. But Kusu and Kabasawa were only 6th and 9th, neither clearing even 15:40. With Ririka Hironaka injured it looks likely Japan will only have two women in the Paris 5000 m.

1. Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 15:23.72

2. Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:34.64

3. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:35.78

4. Rika Kaseda (Daihatsu) - 15:36.59

5. Sora Shinozakura (Panasonic) - 15:40.15

6. Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:40.33

7. Miyaka Sugata (Japan Post) - 15:41.07

8. Rino Goshima (Shiseido) - 15:41.25

9. Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 15:46.52

10. Kazuna Kanetomo (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 15:48.05

Men's Long Jump Final

The only Japanese man with the Paris standard, Yuki Hashioka sealed it up with the win in 7.95 m (+2.4) on his 2nd attempt. None of the other main contenders, Yuto Toriumi, Hiromichi Yoshida, and Shotaro Shiroyama, made even the top 12, meaning Hashioka will be the only Japanese male long jumper at the Olympics.

1. Yuki Hashioka (Fujitsu) - 7.95 m (+2.4)

2. Hibiki Tsuha (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 7.90 m (+0.5)

3. Natsuki Yamakawa (Team SSP) - 7.84 m (+0.1)

4. Kaito Yamaura (Katsuura Golf Club) - 7.82 m (+1.3)

5. Riku Shindome (Kokusai Budo Univ.) - 7.81 m (-0.2)

6. Koki Fujiwara (Toyo Univ.) - 7.77 m (+0.4)

7. Shunya Fujiwara (Ready Rakuin) - 7.68 m (+0.8)

8. Daiki Oda (Yamada Holdings) - 7.68 m (-0.7)

9. Hiroshi Tebira (Kagoshima Wings AC) - 7.63 m (-0.2)

10. Minato Ishikura (NTN) - 7.59 m (+0.6)

Men's Javelin Throw Final

Roderick Genki Dean finished 3rd with a 78.15 m throw, and with his position in the top half of the Paris quota is sure to be in Paris. Ryohei Arai threw an impressive 80.78 m for the win and Yuta Sakiyama 79.72 m for 2nd, but both were short of what they needed to make the top 32 in the Road to Paris rankings.

1. Ryohei Arai (Suzuki) - 80.78 m

2. Yuta Sakiyama (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 79.72 m

3. Roderick Genki Dean (Mizuno) - 78.15 m

4. Kenji Ogura (ASM) - 77.77 m

5. Hiroya Kiyokawa (Tokai Univ.) - 77.61 m

6. Gen Nakanuma (Suzuki) - 76.41 m

7. Rin Suzuki (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - 76.04 m

8. Ryusei Nakamura (Kokushikan Univ.) - 74.63 m

9. Taisei Aibara (OniGO) - 73.18 m

10. Haruka Higa (Fukumoto Kogyo) - 72.36 m

Men's Discus Throw Final

Yuji Tsutsumi defended his 2023 national title with a 60.21 m throw on his 3rd attempt, his main rivals Masateru Yugami and Shinichi Yukinaga taking 2nd and 3rd but nowhere near clearing 60 m.

1. Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) - 60.12 m

2. Masateru Yugami (Toyota) - 58.51 m

3. Shinichi Yukinaga (Shikoku Univ. AC) - 56.62 m

4. Hiroki Kitahara (Niigata Iryo Fukushi Univ.) - 54.43 m

5. Kosei Yamashita (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - 54.14 m

6. Kazumasa Yomogida (Kagotani) - 52.74 m

7. Yume Ando (Miharu Kyosei) - 52.12 m

8. Ryoga Tobikawa (Shiga T&F Assoc.) - 51.45 m

9. Masumi Nakamachi (Niigata Iryo Fukushi Univ.) - 50.68 m

10. Taiga Hamaguchi (Nittai Univ.) - 50.48 m

Men's Pole Vault Final

Veteran Seito Yamamoto had a good comeback to take the win in 5.50 m, the only one to jump higher than 5.40 m. Yamamoto went straight from there to the 5.82 m Paris standard, his only hope of making the Olympic team, but all three attempts were a miss.

1. Seito Yamamoto (Toyota) - 5.50 m

2. Shingo Sawa (Kiraboshi Ginko) - 5.40 m

3. Sota Ishimaru (Glanz AC) - 5.40 m

4. Kosei Takekawa (Marumoto Sangyo) - 5.40 m

5. Taishi Yamasaki (Takamatsu T&F Assoc.) - 5.30 m

6. Yosuke Osaki (Nittai AC) - 5.30 m

7. Keisuke Okubo (Sangan T&F Assoc.) - 5.30 m

8. Masaki Ejima (Fujitsu) - 5.30 m

9. Atsushi Haraguchi (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 5.20 m

10. Tomoya Karasawa (Nittai Univ.) - 5.20 m

10. Koki Kuruma (Striders AC) - 5.20 m

Heats and Semifinals

Men's 100 m Final qualifiers

Most of the big names made it through to the final, veterans Yuki Koike and Shota Iizuka both missing out but everyone else including former NR holder Yoshihide Kiryu getting through. Favorite Hiroki Yanagita was only 2nd in his SF in 10.20 (-0.2), well off top seed Ryuichiro Sakai's 10.11 (-0.1).

Ryuichiro Sakai (Osaka Gas) - 10.11 (-0.1) - 1st, SF2

Akihiro Higashida (Sekisho) - 10.16 (-0.2) - 1st, SF1

Bruno Dede (Seiko) - 10.18 (+0.1) - 1st, SF3

Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) - 10.20 (-0.2) - 2nd, SF1

Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 10.20 (+0.1) - 2nd, SF3

Ryo Wada (Miki House) - 10.21 (+0.1) - 3rd, SF3

Ryota Suzuki (Suzuki) - 10.22 (-0.1) - 2nd, SF2

Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.24 (-0.2) - 3rd, SF1

Women's 200 m Final qualifiers

Top-ranked Remi Tsuruta was faster than 100 m champ Arisa Kirishima in the semis, setting up a head-to-head showdown in tomorrow's final. But Tsuruta will need to find another half second better than her 23.56 in SF2 in order to make the Paris quota.

Remi Tsuruta (Minami Kyushu Family Mart) - 23.56 (-0.8) - 1st, SF2

Arisa Kimishima (DKS) - 23.76 (-1.0) - 1st, SF1

Ami Takahashi (Tsukuba Univ.) - 24.11 (-1.0) - 2nd, SF1

Aiko Iki (Osaka Gas) - 24.16 (-1.0) - 3rd, SF1

Midori Mikase (Sumitomo Denko) - 24.20 (-1.0) - 4th, SF1

Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 24.27 (-0.8) - 2nd, SF2

Shuri Aono (ND Software) - 24.35 (-1.0) - 1st, SF3

Aoi Sato (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 24.48 (-1.0) - 2nd, SF3

Men's 400 m Final qualifiers

43rd of 48 in the Paris quota, Yuki Joseph Nakajima turned in the fastest-ever time in Japanese National Championships heats, 45.16, to head to the final as the top qualifier. Relative unknown Takuho Yoshizu dropped a big PB of 45.57 to win SF1, outrunning Paris-qualified men Kentaro Sato and Fuga Sato. Masato Mori also ran a PB of 46.00 to make the final ranked 5th.

Yuki Joseph Nakajima (Fujitsu) - 45.16 - 1st, SF2

Takuho Yoshizu (GK Line) - 45.57 - 1st, SF1 - PB

Kentaro Sato (Fujitsu) - 45.69 - 2nd, SF1

Fuga Sato (Mizuno) - 45.79 - 1st, SF3

Masato Mori (Sunbelx) - 46.00 - 2nd, SF3 - PB

Kaito Kawabata (Chukyo Club) - 46.10 - 3rd, SF1

Daichi Inoue (Omatsu Unyu) - 46.66 - 4th, SF1

Mizuki Obuchi (Torihei AC) - 46.93 - 2nd, SF2

Men's 110 mH Final qualifiers

400 mH winner Ken Toyoda gave the 110 mH a miss, but the already-qualified Rachid Muratake turned in an Olympic standard 13.14 (-1.0) in SF1 to tune up for the final. Shusei Nomoto and Shunya Takayama both made it too, setting up the potential for three Japanese men in the 110 mH in Paris. A potential disrupting factor was Tatsuki Abe, 2nd-fastest in the semis with a 13.40 (-0.9) to win SF2.

Rachid Muratake (JAL) - 13.14 (-1.0) - 1st, SF1

Tatsuki Abe (Juntendo Univ.) - 13.40 (-0.9) - 1st, SF2

Shunya Takayama (Zerrin) - 13.42 (-0.9) - 2nd, SF2

Shusei Nomoto (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 13.51 (-0.9) - 3rd, SF2

Ryota Fujii (Mie Sports Assoc.) - 13.54 (-0.9) - 4th, SF2

Taiga Yokochi (Team SSP) - 13.57 (-0.9) - 5th, SF2

Ryota Machi (Niigata Albirex RC) - 13.61 (-1.0) - 2nd, SF1

Shuhei Ishikawa (Fujitsu) - 13.62 (-1.0) - 3rd, SF1

Women's 100 mH Final qualifiers

The women's 100 mH final is going to be VERY interesting. NR holder Mako Fukube, in the weakest position of the three contenders for Paris, knocked the other two back with a 12.75 (+0.8) National Championships meet record in SF1 to hit the Olympic standard and move up to the top Japanese position. Bumped down from 39th to 40th of 40, Yuma Tanaka fired back with a 12.85 (-0.3) to win SF2, tying the old MR and setting herself up to pick up a few places in the Paris quota if she can repeat in the final. Asuka Terada also made it under 13 in SF2 with a 12.98 for 2nd, but with Fukube and Tanaka performing so well faces an even steeper climb to get into the top 40.

Mako Fukube (NKK) - 12.75 (+0.8) - 1st, SF1 - MR

Yumi Tanaka (Fujitsu) - 12.85 (-0.3) - 1st, SF2 - MR tie

Asuka Terada (Japan Create) - 12.98 (-0.3) - 2nd, SF2

Yuki Omatsu (CDL) - 13.02 (+0.8) - 2nd, SF1

Hitomi Nakajima (Hasegawa) - 13.08 (+0.8) - 3rd, SF1

Chisato Kiyoyama (Ichigo) - 13.10 (+0.8) - 4th, SF1

Manaka Shibata (Edion) - 13.11 (+0.8) - 5th, SF1

Hitomi Shimura (Rida Japan) - 13.20 (-0.3) - 3rd, SF2

Men's 800 m Final qualifiers

But this was the race of the day. See the video up top. 17-year-old Ko Ochiai led start-to-finish in SF1, going through 400 m in 52 and hammering the last 100 m to finish in 1:45.82. That's a H.S. NR, an U20 NR, a National Championships meet record, and only 0.07 off the outright Japanese NR. In the heats. Bring on tomorrow's final! Ochiai pulled along the next three in his heat to make the final about two seconds faster than the winners of the other two heats, one of which was NR holder Sho Kawamoto. Tomorrow it's just him vs. himself.

Ko Ochiai (Shiga Gakuen H.S.) - 1:45.82 - 1st, SF1 U20 NR, MR

Yugo Shikata (Takatsuka T&F Assoc.) - 1:46.82 - 2nd, SF1

Hinata Maeda (Kantaiheiyo Univ.) - 1:47.09 - 3rd, SF1 - PB

Ryuto Hayakawa (Smiley) - 1:47.89 - 4th, SF1 - PB

Shuri Sato (Kanoya Taiiku Univ.) - 1:49.29 - 1st, SF3

Sho Kawamoto (Suzuki) - 1:49.53 - 1st, SF2

Yukichi Ishii (Penn State) - 1:49.69 - 2nd, SF2

Sota Okamura (Kanoya Taiiku Univ.) - 1:49.74 - 2nd, SF2

Women's 800 m Final qualifiers

Rin Kubo has been the main attraction in Japanese women's middle distance this season, and along with Ochiai is setting it up for high schoolers to take both 800 m national titles. Her main competitor Ayano Shiomi was only 0.04 slower in her semi, and interloper Nozomi Tanaka was less than a second behind in a warmup for the 5000 m, but while her win is less of a sure thing than Ochiai's it's at least going to be a great race.

Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) - 2:03.60 - 1st, SF3

Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:03.64 - 1st, SF2

Ai Watanabe (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) - 2:03.99 - 2nd, SF2

Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:04.09 - 2nd, SF3

Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 2:04.36 - 3rd, SF3

Yuki Hirota (Niigata Albirex RC) - 2:04.43 - 3rd, SF2

Airi Ikezaki (Daiso) - 2:04.93 - 1st, SF1

Ayaka Kawata (Niconiconori) - 2:05.33 - 2nd, SF1

Women's 400 mH Final qualifiers

Chuo University collegian Moe Matsuoka threw some chaos into the expected duel between Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto, running a PB of 57.25 to beat Utsunomiya by half a second in SF2 and head to the final ranked #1. Yamamoto's winning time in SF3 was close behind Utsunomiya's.

Moe Matsuoka (Chuo Univ.) - 57.25 - 1st, SF2 - PB

Eri Utsunomiya (Hasegawa) - 57.74 - 2nd, SF2

Ami Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 57.88 - 1st, SF3

Satsuki Umehara (Sumitomo Denko) - 58.02 - 1st, SF1

Meri Masuko (Chuo Univ.) - 58.11- 2nd, SF1

Hikari Okubo (Fun and Run) - 58.24 - 3rd, SF2 - PB

Akane Minamisawa (Matsumoto Doken) - 58.26 - 2nd, SF3

Mio Tsujii (Osaka Taiiku Univ.) - 58.38 - 3rd, SF3 - PB

Juntendo University Legendary Coach Sawaki Steps Down Amid Abuse Allegations After 4 Athletes Taken to Hospital - "This is the Way We've Always Done It"

Juntendo University is one of the true powers of the Hakone Ekiden, with 11 wins in 65 appearances and producing current 3000 mSC and 10000 m national record holders Ryuji Miura and Kazuya Shiojiri . But an investigation by the Weekly Shincho gossip rag has uncovered students' accusations of abuse and power harassment against a famed honorary head coach. The university administration has acknowledged that student athletes were put in danger and indicated that the coach in question would step away from any coaching duties. The accused man is Keisuke Sawaki , 80, former head coach of the Juntendo track and field team and currently serving as a specially-appointed professor and honorary head coach at the university. A Juntendo alumnus and two-time Olympian who competed in long distance track events at both the 1968 Mexico City and 1972 Munich Olympics, as head coach Sawaki led Juntendo to 9 of its 11 Hakone victories. Those successes led to him serving at one point as executive dir

Stefan said…

Regarding the Women's 5000m, you mentioned in your preview it would be unthinkable not to see Nozomi Tanaka win easily and she did exactly that. I was surprised at the ease in which she won. I miss Ririka Hironaka! On paper, it is a relatively slow time considering the top 6 finishers in the recent Euro championships and the top 4 in the US Olympic Trials also ran under 15min! The gap is widening. Credit must go to Yuma Yamamoto. She did what she needed to do when she needed to do it. Even though her finishing time may not be impressive the race result is. Congratulations to her and I think she won more fans in the process. Very disappointed with Wakana Kabasawa's run. It was not the occassion to have an off day after such a good start to the season. I was happy for Chikako Mori who surprisingly finished a strong 3rd after backing up from her disappointing 3000m steeplechase result the other day. Interestingly, I believe there were 6 Sekisui Kagaku athletes in this race. That is a lot from one team. With that depth of talent, they will be strong again when Ekiden season kicks off later in the year.
Can't wait to see the Women's 800m race and 100m Hurdles final. The top runners in each event are running very well and it is closely matched.
Of course, the Men's 800m race will be the one that has everyone glued to their screens. Me included.

June 30, 2024 at 7:45 AM

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