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Sato Runs All-Time Japanese #3 5000 m in Heusden

by Brett Larner

A large Japanese men's contingent returned this year to Heusden, the site of Takayuki Matsumiya's 13:13.20 national record for 5000 m, for the July 13 KBC Nacht meet. Moscow World Championships 10000 m team members and Saku Chosei H.S. graduates Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) ran the 5000 m A-heat in pursuit of A or B-standard times that would allow them the option of doubling in Moscow.  Sato, already all-time Japanese #2 over 3000 m and #3 over 10000 m, surprised by chopping ten seconds off his best to finish 8th just off the national record in 13:13.60 for another all-time Japanese #3 ranking.  Osako, who recently turned 22, came up short of the B-standard but went under 13:30 for the first time, finishing 17th in a new PB of 13:27.54.  Having cleared the World Championships A-standard, Sato is now the only Japanese man with the 5000 m A or B and could line up in both the 5 and 10, something that would have been hard to imagine just six months ago when he ran a halfhearted 2:16:31 marathon debut in Tokyo.

2012 national champion Komazawa University-related athletes featured heavily in the 5000 m B-heat.  2013 graduate Hiromitsu Kakuage (Team Konica Minolta) ran a PB of 13:32.22 for 4th with fellow alum Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) 9th in 13:42.54. Current Komazawa ace Shinobu Kubota scored a new PB of 13:45.50 in his first solid performance since a failed marathon debut at Lake Biwa in March, while 2013 5000 m national champion Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu) was far off peak form in 14:28.99.  Among non-Komazawa men in the field, former Toyo University star Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei) was just short of his best in 13:43.73, while Minato Oishi (Team Toyota) was just behind him in a new best of 13:45.10 and the three other Japanese athletes in the B-heat all cleared 14 minutes.  After the midsummer track tour Oishi will be back in Europe for the Aug. 31 Lille Half Marathon in France.

2013 KBC Nacht
Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, 7/13/13
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Albert Rop (Bahrain) - 12:59.43 - PB
2. Ben St. Lawrence (Australia) - 13:10.83
3. Ben True (U.S.A.) - 13:11.59 - PB
4. Hassan Mead (U.S.A.) - 13:11.80 - PB
5. Andrew Bumbalough (U.S.A.) - 13:12.01 - PB
6. Arne Gabius (Germany) - 13:12.50 - PB
7. Dame Tasama (Ethiopia) - 13:12.64 - PB
8. Yuki Sato (Japan/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:13.60 - PB
9. Zane Robertson (New Zealand) - 13:13.83 - PB
10. Ryan Hill (U.S.A.) - 13:14.22 - PB
-----
17. Suguru Osako (Japan/Waseda Univ.) - 13:27.54 - PB

Men's 5000 m B-Heat
1. Meshack Letim (Kenya) - 13:27.33 - PB
2. Elliott Heath (U.S.A.) - 13:27.60
3. Maverick Darling (U.S.A.) - 13:27.93 - PB
4. Hiromitsu Kakuage (Japan/Team Konica Minolta) - 13:32.22 - PB
5. Joe Stilin (U.S.A.) - 13:34.19
6. Philipp Pflieger (Germany) - 13:34.54
7. Brenton Rower (Austria) - 13:38.18
8. Morten Munkholm (Denmark) - 13:41.81 - PB
9. Takuya Fukatsu (Japan/Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:42.54
10. Ababa Lama (Ethiopia) - 13:43.25
-----
12. Tomoya Onishi (Japan/Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:43.73
14. Minato Oishi (Japan/Team Toyota) - 13:45.10 - PB
15. Shinobu Kubota (Japan/Komazawa Univ.) - 13:45.50 - PB
16. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Japan/Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:50.27
17. Ryo Kiname (Japan/Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 13:50.72
18. Yohei Nishiyama (Japan/Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 13:55.18
20. Sota Hoshi (Japan/Team Fujitsu) - 14:28.99

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
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