japan running news

Japan finally got on the medal board with a silver medal from Rikuya Yoshida and a pair of bronzes from Ko Ochiai and Kaisei Nakatani on the fourth day of the Lima World U20 Championships. Yoshida was up first in the men's pole vault, where he cleared a PB 5.40 m on his first attempt, good for silver behind German Hendrik Muller who made 5.45 m. Czech Jan Krcek also PBd at 5.30 m for bronze, with Ryota Murakoso 4th at 5.20 m. After squeezing through the men's 800 m semifinals by 0.02, NR holder Ochiai started strong in the final, 2nd through 200 m in 25.13 and 4th at 400 m in 52.19, almost dead even with his NR last month. By 600 m he dropped to 6th, but over the final 200 m he ran down Kenyans Kelvin Kimutai Koech and Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech and Qatari Hatim Ait Oulghazi to take bronze in 1:47.03 behind Ethiopian General Berhanu Ayansa and Australian Peyton Craig . Ochiai's closing split of 27.33 was actually faster than Ayana's 27.53 and Craig's 27.46, b...

Like at the Paris Olympics, there's no shortage of top 8 placings by Japanese athletes so far at the Lima World U20 Championships , but no medals yet. One of 4 Japanese athletes in action in finals on the third day of the championships, Koki Kanai was 70 cm out of the medals in the men's triple jump, going 15.60 m (+1.8) for 7th in the final. Gold medalist Ethan Olivier of New Zealand set a new Oceania U20 record of 17.01 m (+1.4) for the win. Kentaro Shirahata better Kanai's placing in the men's 400 m final, running 46.83 for 5th after having run PBs in both the heats and semifinals. Gold medalist Udeme Okon was the only athlete to break 46 seconds, running 45.69. Despite high expectations, Yamato Hamaguchi couldn't quite crack top 8 in the men's 3000 m final, running 8:24.60 for 9th. Teammate Tetsu Sasaki was a DNS. Gold medalist Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen of Norway and silver medalist Denis Kipkoech of Kenya raced each other to sub-8:21 times, Halvorsen ...

800 m national champions Rin Kubo and Ko Ochiai lead Japan's team for next month's Lima World U20 Championships , Kubo having just broken the NR with a 1:59.93 and Ochiai just off the NR at Nationals last month with a 1:45.82 in the heats. Sherry Drury is another one of Japan's big U20 hopes and will run the 1500 m, and 2023 National High School Ekiden champion Saku Chosei H.S. dominates the men's long distance squad with 3rd-years Yamato Hamaguchi in the 3000 m and 5000 m, Tetsu Sasaki in the 3000 m and 3000 mSC, and 2024 graduate Soma Nagahara in the 3000 m SC. World Athletics U20 Championships Japanese Team Lima, Peru, 27-31 Aug. 2024 complete team listing Women  (14) 800 m Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) - 1:59.93 1500 m Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) - 4:16.69 3000 m Miyu Yamada (Meijo Univ.) - 9:16.12 Miu Suzuki (Tsukuba Univ.) - 9:19.53 5000 m Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 15:31.51 Yumi Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:47.74 100 m Hurdles Ami Takahashi (Tsuku...