Tokyo World Athletics Championships Day 2 Japanese Results

No new medals for the host country on the 2nd day of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships, but there still some good performances across the day including a massive NR in the men's 400 m.

The least experienced member of the women's marathon squad, Kana Kobayashi took the early lead in the women's marathon, dropping as far back as 12th mid-race but clawing her way back into the top 8 on the hills at the end with a 2:28:50 for 7th. Sayaka Sato was off the back from the start but eventually ran down Yuka Ando for 2nd Japanese in 2:31:15 for 13th. Ando was 28th in 2:35:37. Peres Jepchirhir took gold in a track sprint against Tigist Assefa, 2:24:43 to 2:24:45, with Uruguay's Julia Paternain a distant 3rd in 2:27:23.

Next up, Asian champion Kazuto Iizawa didn't make it out of the first round heats in the men's 1500 m, taking 13th in Heat 1 in 3:41.76.

In the women's 100 m hurdles heats 2 of the 3 Japanese woman advanced to the semifinals on time, Mako Fukube 4th in Heat 5 in 12.92 and Hitomi Nakajima 5th in Heat 6 in 12.88. Yumi Tanaka was 6th in Heat 3 in 13.05 and didn't join Fukube and Nakajima in the next round.

In the men's 400 m heats, Fuga Sato ran a season best 45.10 but didn't move on. In the next heat Joseph Yuki Nakajima blasted a 44.44 NR for 2nd, moving on to the semis with room to spare. Nakajima broke 45 for the first time in August with a 44.84, so the step up in quality he showed here was pretty impressive.

In the men's high jump, arguable the toughest Japanese squad to make this time outside road events, both Ryoichi Akamatsu and Yuto Seko cleared 2.25 m to go on to the final. Struggling this season, Tomohiro Shinno cleared only 2.21 m and didn't go on.

In the women's 400 m heats, Nanako Matsumoto ran 52.41 for 7th in Heat 5 and did not make the next round.

A bit predictably, Mebuki Suzuki and Jun Kasai took an early lead in the men's 10000 m only to fade once it really got going. In a race with only 23 finishers Suzuki ended up 20th in 29:33.60 and Kasai 22nd in 29:41.84. Up front it was wild, with France's Jimmy Gressier taking gold in 28:55.77, Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha silver in 28:55.83 and Sweden's Andreas Almgren bronze in 28:56.02.

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .

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