by Brett Larner
Team Nissin Shokuhin's Yuki Sato, a university star who struggled through injury his senior year looked set for the World Championships when he ran 27:38 earlier this spring in the second race of his pro career. Injuries returned shortly afterwards and a disastrous showing in the 10000 m at June's National Championships left him empty-handed, but since then Sato has edged closer and closer back toward some measure of his full fitness. On July 21 he took another step toward earning the World Championhips 5000 m A-standard when he finished 2nd overall in 7:53.56 in the 3000 m at the Gentse Feesten Meet in Ghent, Belgium, part of the Flanders Cup series. Sato's time was a PB by nearly 3 seconds but was well short of his university-era and now cross-town Team S&B rival Kensuke Takezawa's PB of 7:49.26 at last week's Gobierno de Aragon meet in Saragossa, Spain.
Two other runners, Yusei Nakao of Team Toyota Boshoku and Sato's teammate Satoru Kitamur…
Team Nissin Shokuhin's Yuki Sato, a university star who struggled through injury his senior year looked set for the World Championships when he ran 27:38 earlier this spring in the second race of his pro career. Injuries returned shortly afterwards and a disastrous showing in the 10000 m at June's National Championships left him empty-handed, but since then Sato has edged closer and closer back toward some measure of his full fitness. On July 21 he took another step toward earning the World Championhips 5000 m A-standard when he finished 2nd overall in 7:53.56 in the 3000 m at the Gentse Feesten Meet in Ghent, Belgium, part of the Flanders Cup series. Sato's time was a PB by nearly 3 seconds but was well short of his university-era and now cross-town Team S&B rival Kensuke Takezawa's PB of 7:49.26 at last week's Gobierno de Aragon meet in Saragossa, Spain.
Two other runners, Yusei Nakao of Team Toyota Boshoku and Sato's teammate Satoru Kitamur…