Skip to main content

Relays and Walks Bring Japan World Youth Championships Medals

by Brett Larner

Despite several close calls, Japan went empty-handed for the first three days of the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine.  Not until the July 13 race walks did its fortunes turn around.  In the women's 5000 m race walk, far behind Russian winner Olga Shargina's world-leading 22:13.91, Momoko Mizota narrowly held off Noemi Stella (Italy) for silver in a PB 22:42.77.

Less than an hour later, Toshikazu Yamanishi turned in Japan's only gold medal of the championships with a PB 41:53.80 in the men's 10000 m race walk, ten seconds ahead of silver medalist Maksim Krasnov (Russia) and bronze medalist Diego Garcia (Spain).  Just behind in 4th, Yuga Yamashita clocked a PB 42:07.94 but could not match Krasnov and Garcia on the final lap.

On the final day of competition, both the women's and men's medley relay teams picked up bronze, the women behind the U.S.A. and, by a step, British Virgin Islands, and the men behind Jamaica and the U.S.A.

8th IAAF World Youth Championships - Summary of Japanese Medalists
Donetsk, Ukraine, July 10-14, 2013
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m Race Walk - July 13
1. Toshikazu Yamanishi (Japan) - 41:53.80 - PB
2. Maksim Krasnov (Russia) - 42:03.10 - PB
3. Diego Garcia (Spain) - 42:03.32 - PB
4. Yuga Yamashita (Japan) - 42:07.94 - PB
5. Nathan Brill (Australia) - 42:54.70

Women's 5000 m Race Walk - July 13
1. Olga Shargina (Russia) - 22:13.91 - PB
2. Momoko Mizota (Japan) - 22:42.77 - PB
3. Noemi Stella (Italy) - 22:48.95
4. Wenli Zhao (China) - 22:58.56 - PB
5. Klavdiia Afanasieva (Russia) - 23:33.24

Men's Medley Relay Final - July 14
1. Jamaica - 1:49.23
2. U.S.A. - 1:50.14
3. Japan - 1:50.52
4. Qatar - 1:52.55
5. Bahamas - 1:52.97
6. Poland - 1:53.36
7. Nigeria - 1:53.61
8. Hungary - 1:54.38

Women's Medley Relay Final - July 14
1. U.S.A. - 2:05.15
2. British Virgin Islands - 2:07.40
3. Japan - 2:07.61
4. Czech Republic - 2:08.55
5. Canada - 2:08.59
6. Hungary - 2:09.32
7. Italy - 2:10.64
DQ - China

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

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 .