Skip to main content

Kiryu 10.05 Meet Record for Kanto Regionals Win

by Brett Larner

After coming out on top of the 100 m qualifying heats and anchoring their 4x100 m teams to qualify for the finals yesterday, Japan's teen sprint sensations Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) and Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.) returned for record-setting finals on the second day of the 2014 Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships, May 17 in Kumagaya, Saitama.



Kiryu, ranked #1 in the D1 100 m after a 10.36 (-0.6) opening round on Friday, started Saturday with a 10.25 (+3.6) to lead the semifinals.  Three hours later he was back in more moderate wind for the final, where he dropped a 10.05 (+1.6) meet record to tie Beijing Olympics bronze medalist Shingo Tsuetsugu's national university record.  His time, sixth in the world so far this season, was the closest Kiryu has come to his name-making 10.01 just over a year ago, bringing him one step closer to his career goal of Japan's first sub-10 clocking.

Just over three hours later he was back again to anchor Toyo's 4x100 m in the final. Despite setting a new school record of 39.54 largely on the strength of Kiryu's run, Toyo could do no better than 3rd against national university record holder Chuo University, 1st in 39.12, and #1-ranked Hosei University, 2nd in 39.31.



Doi, a London Olympian while still at Saitama Sakae H.S. and like Kiryu now a Saitama-based university first-year, sailed through the semi-finals in a wind-aided 11.51 (+3.1), well ahead of the 11.67 meet record set by Momoko Takahashi (Heisei Kokusai Univ.) in 2010, before returning to do it for real in the final with an 11.59 (+0.7) meet record for the win.  Mirroring Kiryu again in the relay, despite a solid anchor run Doi was short of powering Daito Bunka Univ. to the win as Aoyama Gakuin University, with three athletes in the 100 m final, took the win in 46.11 to DBU's 46.58.



Overshadowed by the success of Kiryu and Doi, Doi's London Olympics teammate Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) also had a big day in the men's D2 races.  In the 100 m Yamagata ran 10.23 (+1.5) to lead the top three under the D2 meet record.  In the 4x100 m he anchored Keio to another meet record, crushing Heisei Kokusai Univ.'s year-old record of 40.16 with a new mark of 39.96.  Yamagata, along with D1 runner-up Cambridge and others, added to Kiryu's success to give the development of Japanese sprinting added depth, and with Doi eclipsing marks set by Takahashi, the university-era rival of national record holder Chisato Fukushima, the same looks true for women's sprinting as well.  The buildup to the Rio and Tokyo Olympics continues to get more interesting.

93rd Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships - Day Two Highlights
Kumagaya, Saitama, 5/17/14

Men's D1 100 m Final +1.6
1. Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) - 10.05 - Univ. NRMR
2. Asuka Cambridge (Nihon Univ.) - 10.21
3. Kazuma Oseto (Hosei Univ.) - 10.27
4. Takumi Kuki (Waseda Univ.) - 10.30
5. Tatsuya Yamaguchi (Josai Univ.) - 10.34
6. Hayato Suda (Waseda Univ.) - 10.37
7. Yu Onabuta (Chuo Univ.) - 10.37
8. Masafumi Naoki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.40

Men's D2 100 m Final +1.5
1. Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) - 10.23 - MR
2. Shota Hara (Jobu Univ.) - 10.39
3. Yuki Koike (Keio Univ.) - 10.41
4. Chihiro Yoshida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 10.68
5. Shota Matsuda (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 10.75
6. Takahiro Iwami (Keio Univ.) - 10.76
7. Ryo Tsunashima (Seigakuin Univ.) - 10.77
8. Yuta Takeuchi (Saitama Ika Univ.) - 10.83

Women's 100 m Final +0.7
1. Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 11.59 - MR
2. Anna Fujimori (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 11.93
3. Sayaka Matsumoto (Tsuru Bunka Univ.) - 12.00
4. Maho Takamori (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 12.04
5. Hiromi Shioya (Surugadai Univ.) - 12.10
6. Sae Shimada (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 12.12
7. Erika Ikeuchi (Tsuru Bunka Univ.) - 12.23
8. Kazumi Akashi (Josai Univ.) - 12.26

Men's DI 4x100 m Final
1. Chuo Univ. - 39.12
2. Hosei Univ. - 39.31
3. Toyo Univ. - 39.54
4. Josai Univ. - 39.91
5. Nittai Univ. - 40.01
6. Daito Bunka Univ. - 40.01
7. Juntendo Univ. - 40.47
8. Nihon Univ. - 41.18

Men's D2 4x100 m Final
1. Keio Univ - 39.96 - MR
2. Jobu Univ. - 40.52
3. Tokyo Nogyo Univ. - 41.11
4. Aoyama Gakuin Univ. - 41.20
5. Tokyo Gakugei Univ. - 41.24
6. Tokyo Keizai Univ. - 41.31
7. Sakushin Univ. - 41.48
8. Kanagawa Univ. - 42.05


Women's 4x100 m Final
1. Aoyama Gakuin Univ. - 46.11
2. Daito Bunka Univ. - 46.58
3. Tsuru Bunka Univ. - 46.85
4. Saitama Univ. - 47.49
5. Tokyo Gakugei Univ. - 47.67
6. Tokyo Joshi Taiiku Univ. - 47.93
7. Tsukuba Univ. - 59.79 

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera  were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...