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Moscow World Championships - Day Two Japanese Results

by Brett Larner

National champion Hitomi Niiya (Team Universal Entertainment) ran exactly the race prefigured by her win at June's National Championships and in last year's London Olympics, going out right behind early rabbit Shalane Flanagan (U.S.A.) in the Moscow World Championships 10000 m, taking the lead after 3000 m and setting the pace all the way to the last lap before finishing 5th in a PB 30:56.70.  In a tearful post-race interview she said, "There's no reason to be at Worlds if you can't medal," but her fearlessness in setting her own pace and her improvement of her standing as all-time third-fastest Japanese for the second time at a major international championships did credit to both her and her coach Yoshio Koide.  Kyushu-based Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) also turned in a PB performance, taking 7th in 31:22.11.

In other events, 400 m national champion Yuzo Kanemaru (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) finished last in his qualifying heat but still slipped through to the semi-finals on time in 46.18.  Race walker Takumi Saito  (Toyo University) took 6th in the men's 20 km in 1:22:09, with his teammate Yusuke Suzuki (Team Fujitsu) not far back in 12th in 1:23:20. Decathlon national champion Keisuke Ushiro (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) improved on his standing from the first day of competition, ending up in 22nd overall.

Moscow World Championships - Day Two
Moscow, 8/11/13
click here for complete results

 Women's 10000 m
1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 30:43.35
2. Gladys Cherono (Kenya) - 30:45.17
3. Belaynesh Oljira (Ethiopia) - 30:46.98
4. Emily Chebet (Kenya) - 30:47.02 - PB
5. Hitomi Niiya (Japan) - 30:56.70 - PB
6. Shitaye Eshete (Bahrain) - 31:13.79
7. Sally Chepyego (Kenya) - 31:22.11 - PB
8. Shalane Flanagan (U.S.A.) - 31:34.83
9. Ababel Yeshaneh (Ethiopia) - 32:02.09
10. Christele Daunay (France) - 32:04.44

1. Luguelin Santos (Dominican Republic) - 45.23 - Q
2. Kevin Borlee (Belgium) - 45.32 - Q
3. Chris Brown (Bahamas) - 45.39 - Q
4. Nigel Levine (Great Britain) - 45.41 - Q
5. Omar Johnson (Jamaica) - 45.97 - q
6. Yuzo Kanemaru (Japan) - 46.18 - q
DNF - Daniel Aleman (Nicaragua)

Men's 20 km Race Walk
1. Aleksandr Ivanov (Russia) - 1:20:58 - PB
2. Ding Chen (China) - 1:21:09
3. Miguel Angel Lopez (Spain) - 1:21:21
4. Joao Vieira (Portugal) - 1:22:05
5. Denis Strelkov (Russia) - 1:22:06
6. Takumi Saito (Japan) - 1:22:09
7. Ruslan Dmytrenko (Ukraine) - 1:22:14
8. Inaki Gomez (Canada) - 1:22:21
9. Christopher Linke (Germany) - 1:22:36
10. Hyunsub Kim (South Korea) - 1:22:50
-----
12. Yusuke Suzuki (Japan) - 1:23:20

Men's Decathlon
1. Ashton Eaton (U.S.A.) - 8809
2. Michael Schrader (Germany) - 8670 - PB
3. Damian Warner (Canada) - 8512 - PB
4. Kevin Mayer (France) - 8446 - PB
5. Eelco Sintnicolaas (Netherlands) - 8391
6. Carlos Chinin (Brazil) - 8388
7. Rico Freimuth (Germany) - 8382 - PB
8. Ilya Shkurenev (Russia) - 8370 - PB
9. Willem Coertzen (South Africa) - 8343 - AR
10. Leonel Suarez (Cuba) - 8317
-----
22. Keisuke Ushiro (Japan) - 7751

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
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Comments

TokyoRacer said…
I think Niiya won a lot of fans for Japanese running. Especially since everyone in the world, including herself I suppose, knew that those four were going to blast past her on the last lap.
August 12, 2013 at 11:36 AM
Brett Larner said…
Agreed.

She also did the same thing in the Olympics last year, which nobody seems to remember, but lasted longer up front, was faster and placed higher this time. Maybe in two years she'll have progressed far enough.

It was interesting too that she ran it exactly like she did at Nationals, just with a faster first 3000 m.
August 12, 2013 at 11:45 AM
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