With less than 3 weeks to go until the Aug. 24 deadline to qualify for September's Tokyo World Championships let's take a look at what kind of team Japan might have. In terms of potential medalists there are 6 solid candidates, all the usual suspects. World and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi leads the women's javelin throw. Ranked 5th, Nanako Fujii has an outside chance in the women's 20 km race walk.
On the men's side, Ryuji Miura looks to be a contender in the 3000 mSC where he's ranked 3rd. Toshikazu Yamanishi and Satoshi Maruo are ranked 1-2 in the 20 km race walk, with Masatora Kawano at 3rd in the 35 km race walk. After that it's the always-strong men's 4x100 m, ranked 2nd, although the big question is who is going to be on the team. In the marathon, you want to feel like Fukuoka CR breaker Yuya Yoshida has a chance.
The women's javelin, marathon and race walks look like the only events where Japan is likely to field full squads of 3 athletes, although it could happen in the 5000 m and 10000 m where Ririka Hironaka, Kana Mizumoto and Rio Goshima are all right on the edge of the quota.
Along with the marathon and race walks, the 110 mH and 100 m are the only other events that will for sure have 3 Japanese men entered. In the 110 mH Rachid Muratake, Shunsuke Izumiya and Shusei Nomoto have all hit the 13.27 qualifying standard. 4 men have hit the 100 m standard of 10.00, Yoshihide Kiryu, Sorato Shimizu and Yuhi Mori all having done it in the last 2 weeks but leader Abdul Hakim Sani Brown not since the Olympics last summer and in poor form all season. The 200 m might also have a full squad, with Towa Uzawa under the 20.16 standard, Soshi Mizukubo comfortably inside the quota at 28th of 48, and veteran Shota Iizuka hanging on at 43rd.
The men's high jump will very probably have 3 people as well, Ryoichi Akamatsu, Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa all in safe positions inside the quota without having hit the 2.33 m qualifying standard. The 400 mH, 3000 mSC, long jump and javelin throw could have 3 people too, all 4 events having 1 or 2 people barely inside the quota who need to survive the next few weeks to make it.
Current contenders for the team are below, with field size, qualifying standard and rankings points needed for the bottom spot in the quota for each event. Athletes with an asterisk have already earned guaranteed places on the team based on hitting the standard and placing top 3 in the National Championships or other selection event.
Women
400 m (48 / 50.75 / 1206)
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Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 1200 - 4th, Nationals
800 m (56 / 1:59.00 / 1190)
43. Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) - 1236 - 1st, Nationals
1500 m (56 / 4:01.50 / 1162)
*26. Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 3:59.69 - 1st, Nationals
47. Tomoka Kimura (Sekisui Kagaku) - 1180 - 2nd, Nationals
5000 m (42 / 14:50.00 / 1179)
*12. Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 14:31.88 - 1st, Nationals
35. Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 1202 - 7th, Nationals
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Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 1172 - 2nd, Nationals
Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 1171 - 3rd, Nationals
10000 m (27 / 30:20.00 / 1218)
12. Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 1263 - 1st, Nationals
19. Mikuni Yada (Edion) - 1241 - 2nd, Nationals
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Rino Goshima (Shiseido) - 1212 - DNS, Nationals
100 mH (40 / 12.73 / 1234)
27. Hitomi Nakajima (Hasegawa) - 12.71 (+0.7) - 2nd, Nationals
29. Yumi Tanaka (Fujitsu) - 1281 - 1st, Nationals
3000 mSC (36 / 9:18.00 / 1212)
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Miu Saito (Panasonic) - 1207 - 2nd, Nationals
High Jump (36 / 1.97 m / 1161)
25. Nagisa Takahashi (Senko) - 1193 - 2nd, Nationals
Long Jump (36 / 6.86 m / 1172)
34. Sumire Hata (Sumitomo Denko) - 1173 - 3rd, Nationals
Triple Jump (36 / 14.55 m / 1158)
26. Maoko Takashima (Kyudenko) - 1193 - 1st, Nationals
34. Mariko Morimoto (Orico) - 1160 - 3rd, Nationals
Discus Throw (36 / 64.50 / 1104)
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Nanaka Kori (Niigata Albirex) - 1097 - 1st, Nationals
Javelin Throw (36 / 64.00 / 1091)
*1. Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) - wild card - DNS, Nationals
15. Momone Ueda (Zenrin) - 1204 - 1st, Nationals
23. Sae Takemoto (Orico) - 1148 - 3rd, Nationals
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Marina Saito (Suzuki) - 1091 - 2nd, Nationals
Marathon (100 / 2:23:30 / 1035)
*13. Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:20:59 - 2nd, Nagoya 2025
*14. Yuka Ando (Shimamura) - 2:21:18 - 1st, Nagoya 2024
*15. Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:21:19 - 2nd, Osaka Women's 2025
20 km Race Walk (50 / 1:29:00 / 1120)
*5. Nanako Fujii (Edion) - 1:26:33 - 1st, Nationals
*19. Kumiko Okada (Fujitsu) - 1:28:17 - 2nd, Nationals
35. Ayane Yanai (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1166 - 4th, Nationals
Yukiko Umeno (Juntendo Univ.) - 1131 - 3rd, Nationals
35 km Race Walk (50 / 2:48.00 / 929)
*20. Yukiko Umeno (Juntendo Univ.) - 2:46:53 - 1st, Nationals
29. Masumi Fuchise (Kenso) - 1146 - 3rd, Nationals
32. Maika Yagi (Chiba Kogyo Ginko) - 1094 - 4th, Nationals
Yuki Yoshizumi (Funabashi Seikeigeka) - 1090 - 5th, Nationals
Mao Tatsumi (Takoshige) - 1045 - 6th, Nationals
Sayori Matsumoto (Chiba Kogyo Ginko) - 1007 - 7th, Nationals
Men
100 m (48 / 10.00 / 1219)
19. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Toray) - 9.96 (+0.5) - 4th, Heat 7, Nationals
29. Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 9.99 (+1.5) - 1st, Nationals
32. Sorato Shimizu (Seiryo H.S.) - 10.00 (+1.7) - 4th, SF3, Nationals
Yuhi Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.00 (+1.3) - 7th, Nationals
Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) - 1250 - DQ, Heat 6, Nationals
200 m (48 / 20.16 / 1196)
*23. Towa Uzawa (JAL) - 20.12 (+0.8) - 1st, Nationals
28. Soshi Mizukubo (Miyazaki T&F Assoc.) - 20.14 (+0.1) - 7th, SF2, Nationals
43. Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 1208 - 3rd, Nationals
400 m (48 / 44.85 / 1226)
36. Yuki Joseph Nakajima (Fujitsu) - 44.84 - 4th, Nationals
48. Fuga Sato (Mizuno) - 1226 - DQ, Nationals
800 m (56 / 1:44.50 / 1213)
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Ko Ochiai (Komazawa Univ.) - 1210 - 1st, Nationals
1500 m (56 / 3:33.00 / 1212)
55. Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) - Asian Champion - 1st, Nationals
5000 m (42 / 13:01.00 / 1214)
42. Nagiya Mori (Honda) - 1214 - 2nd, Nationals
10000 m (27 / 27:00.00 / 1240)
25. Jun Kasai (Asahi Kasei) - 1240 - 2nd, Nationals
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Mebuki Suzuki (Toyota) - 1232 - 1st, Nationals
110 mH (40 / 13.27 / 1222)
*9. Rachid Muratake (JAL) - 13.08 (+1.4) - DNS, Nationals
*17. Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) - 13.19 (+0.3) - 1st, Nationals
*18. Shusei Nomoto (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 13.21 (+0.6) - 2nd, Nationals
400 mH (40 / 48.50 / 1238)
*31. Shunta Inoue (Fujitsu) - 48.46 - 3rd, Nationals
36. Daiki Ogawa (Toyo Univ.) - 1255 - 1st, Nationals
38. Ken Toyoda (Toyota) - 1247 - 7th, Heat 1, Nationals
3000 mSC (36 / 8:15.00 / 1212)
*3. Ryuji Miura (Subaru) - 8:03.43 - DNS, Nationals
30. Yutaro Niinae (Aisan Kogyo) - 1229 - 2nd, Nationals
32. Ryoma Aoki (Honda) - 1220 - 1st, Nationals
High Jump (36 / 2.33 m / 1156)
10. Ryoichi Akamatsu (Seibu Prince) - 1287 - 2nd, Nationals
11. Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) - 1258 - 1st, Nationals
23. Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex) - 1195 - 3rd, Nationals
Yuto Seko (FAAS) - 1175 - 5th, Nationals
Sota Haraguchi (Juntendo Univ.) - 1169 - 8th, Nationals
Takashi Eto (KDL) - 1163 - 5th, Nationals
Long Jump (36 / 8.27 m / 1192)
24. Keito Yamaura (Katsuura Golf Club) - 1219 - 1st, Nationals
25. Yuki Hashioka (Fujitsu) - 1218 - 4th, Nationals
33. Hibiki Tsuha (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1206 - 5th, Nationals
Riku Ito (Suzuki) - 1191 - 2nd, Nationals
Hammer Throw (36 / 78.20 m / 1162)
27. Shota Fukuda (Sumitomo Denko) - 1187 - 1st, Nationals
Javelin Throw (36 / 85.50 / 1135)
*9. Yuta Sakiyama (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 87.16 m - 1st, Nationals
14. Roderick Genki Dean (Mizuno) - 1248 - 2nd, Nationals
35. Rin Suzuki (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - 1137 - 11th, Nationals
Gen Naganuma (Suzuki) - 1136 - 3rd, Nationals
Marathon (100 / 2:06:30 / 1071)
*14. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 2:05:16 - 1st, Fukuoka Int'l 2024
*18. Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:05:39 - 2nd, Osaka 2025
* 44. Naoki Koyama (Honda) - 1184 - 3rd, Osaka 2024
20 km Race Walk (50 / 1:19:20 / 1171)
*1. Toshikazu Yamanishi (Aichi Seiko) - 1:16:10 - 1st, Nationals
*2. Satoshi Maruo (Aichi Seiko) - 1:17:24 - 2nd, Nationals
*8. Kento Yoshikawa (Sunbelx) - 1:17:38 - 3rd, Nationals
35 km Race Walk (50 / 2:28:00 / 1119)
*3. Masatora Kawano (Asahi Kasei) - 2:21:47 - 1st, Nationals 2024
*6. Satoshi Maruo (Aichi Seiko) - 2:24:24 - 2nd, Nationals 2025
*7. Hayato Katsuki (SDF Academy) - 2:24:38 - 1st, Nationals 2025
4x100 m Relay (16)
*2. Japan
4x400 m Relay (16)
15. Japan - 2:58.33
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