Kiryu Breaks Asian Junior Indoor 60 m Record Twice in 75 Minutes

by Brett Larner

Teen sprint sensation Yoshihide Kiryu (Rakunan H.S.) broke the Asian Junior Indoor 60 m record twice on day two of the National Indoor Track and Field Meet Feb. 9 in Osaka. Kiryu opened with a 6.63 in Heat Two to break the existing record, then returned an hour and fourteen minutes later to do it again with a 6.59 in the final. The 6.59 moved him to all-time #2 in the Japanese record books behind Beijing Olympics 4x100 m bronze medalist Nobuharu Asahara. The meet was one of Kiryu's last before graduating next month. In April he will enter Saitama's Toyo University, home of the 2014 Hakone Ekiden champion team and London Olympics 20 km race walker Takumi Saito.

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
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