Skip to main content

Yoshikawa and Shimizu Pick Up Olympic A-Qualifiers at Nittai

by Brett Larner

Five-time 1500 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) and ekiden ace Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) closed off their years in style at the Dec. 24 Nittai University Women's Long Distance Time Trials meet in Yokohama.  Running in the 5000 m A-heat, Yoshikawa took 13 seconds off her PB to clear the London Olympics A-standard in 15:15.33.  Just over half an hour later, Shimizu sliced more than 30 seconds from her 10000 m PB to join Yoshikawa in clearing the Olympic A-standard in a new best of 31:43.25.  Yoshikawa is the third Japanese woman to hit the 5000 m A-standard and Shimizu the fourth in the 10000 m, but with higher-ranking qualifiers Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno) and Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) aiming for the marathon both have excellent chances of making the London team at this stage.

2011 Nittai University Women's Long Distance Time Trials
Yokohama, 12/24/11
click here for complete results

Women's 10000 m
1. Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 31:43.25 - PB
2. Sayuri Oka (Osaka Taiku Univ.) - 33:08.08
3. Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 33:09.40
4. Aya Goto (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 33:10.85
5. Rina Kurosawa (Tamagawa Univ.) - 33:21.12

Women's 5000 m Heat 5
1. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 15:15.33 - PB
2. Misaki Katsumata (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 15:37.96
3. Mutsumi Ikeda (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:42.15
4. Shiori Yano (Kitakyushu Civic H.S.) - 15:44.98
5. Eina Yokosawa (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 15:45.74

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...

'Kobe 2024: Monday Sees Shocking Wins on the Track and the Field'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-monday-sees-shocking-wins-track-and-field Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships  are here .