Skip to main content

Osako and Yoroizaka Break 5000 m National Record at KBC Nacht

by Brett Larner

Eight years after it was set at on the same track, Suguru Osako (Oregon Project) and Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) made history at the KBC Nacht in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, both breaking Takayuki Matsumiya's 13:13.20 Japanese men's 5000 m national record.  For Osako it was do or die, his last chance to clear the Beijing World Championships qualifying standard of 13:23.00 after his official debut season with the Oregon Project was repeatedly hit by setbacks, not least of all the series of doping allegations against his coach Alberto Salazar.  Osako came through in a big way, running 13:08.40 for 6th, easily breaking both the NR and the Beijing standard.  10000 m national champion Yoroizaka, already on the Beijing team in the 10000 m, unexpectedly hung on to the pace and likewise cleared the record and standard in 13:12.63.

After countless all-time top performances over 5000 m, 10000 m, half marathon and marathon have sent things bubbling in the right direction in the last few years, it was the first new Japanese men's national record at one of the major distances since Matsumiya set foot in Heusden.  With the gates now open more are bound to come.  At the very least Heusden remains a magical track for Japanese men, with 7 of the 10 fastest Japanese 5000 m times now having been run there.

Kota Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei), who outkicked Osako to win last month's National Championships 5000 m after running 13:19.62 in May, had an off day, running just 13:58.56 for 19th.  Another raft of Japanese corporate runners ran in the B-heat, Yoroizaka and Murayama's teammate Shuho Dairokuno (Team Asahi Kasei) leading the way with a PB 13:28.61 for 2nd.  In the women's 5000 m, 10000 m national champion Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) likewise turned in a PB performance but came up painfully shy of clearing the 15:20.00 Beijing standard, running 15:20.20 for 6th.  Teammates Yuika Mori and Shiho Takechi were 10th and 14th in 15:34.13 and 15:37.41.

KBC Nacht
Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, 7/18/15
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m
1. Dejen Gebremeskel (Ethiopia) - 13:05.38
2. Bashir Abdi (Belgium) - 13:06.10
3. Ben True (U.S.A.) - 13:06.15
4. Albert Rop (Kenya) - 13:06.74
5. Eric Jenkins (U.S.A.) - 13:07.33
6. Suguru Osako (Japan/Nike Oregon Project) - 13:08.40 - NR
7. Thomas Farrell (Great Britain) - 13:10.48
8. Philip Kipyego (Kenya) - 13:10.69
9. Bernard Kimani (Kenya) - 13:10.83
10. Richard Ringer (Germany) - 13:10.94
11. Sindre Buraas (Norway) - 13:11.96
12. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 13:12.63 (NR)
-----
19. Kota Murayama (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 13:58.56
20. Naohiro Domoto (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 14:17.23

Women's 5000 m
1. Mimi Belete (Ethiopia) - 14:54.71
2. Goytom Gebrselase (Ethiopia) - 14:57.33
3. Abbey D'Agostino (U.S.A.) - 15:03.85
4. Stephanie Twell (Great Britain) - 15:14.39
5. Jennifer Wenth (Austria) - 15:16.12
6. Kasumi Nishihara (Japan/Yamada Denki) - 15:20.20
7. Laura Whittle (Great Britain) - 15:22.00
8. Louise Carton (Belgium) - 15:23.82
9. Lidia Rodriguez (Spain) - 15:24.25
10. Yuika Mori (Japan/Yamada Denki) - 15:34.13
-----
14. Shiho Takechi (Japan/Yamada Denki) - 15:37.41

Men's 5000 m B-Heat
1. Frederick KIpkosgei (Kenya) - 13:28.32
2. Shuho Dairokuno (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 13:28.61
3. Ross Proudfoot (Canada) - 13:29.32
4. Brian Shrader (U.S.A.) - 13:30.09
5. Roy Hoornweg (Netherlands) - 13:31.41
-----
11. Yuta Shitara (Japan/Honda) - 13:37.76
14. Kaido Kita (Japan/Chugoku Denryoku) - 13:43.91
15. Hiroto Inoue (Japan/Mitsubishi HPS) - 13:45.92
16. Masato Kikuchi (Japan/Konica Minolta) - 13:48.07

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Brett Larner said…
This is the first real Japanese men's NR at a major distance since we started doing JRN full-time. Raising a glass of bubbly in toast tonight.
July 19, 2015 at 8:47 PM
Eryn said…
7 out of 10 best times for 5000 m on one track in Belgium ! Wow. This is amazing. I can't help thinking the track may be a bit short ;-)
July 20, 2015 at 5:30 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

CR Holder Teruki Shimada Returns to Launceston Half - Preview and Streaming

Last year's McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania, Australia shaped out into a great Australia vs. Japan dual meet , with Jessica Stenson outrunning Yumi Yoshikawa to take the women's title in a 1:09:51 CR, and Teikyo University school record holder Teruki Shimada executing a tactically brilliant race to drop Isaac Heyne , then-NR holder Brett Robinson , and Teikyo teammate Jinya Ozaki for the win in 1:01:12, just a second off the Australian all-comers record. Marathon NR holder Andy Buchanan took that record down to 1:01:08 at the Gold Coast Half a month later, but its chances of surviving this weekend aren't looking good. Shimada leads last year's top 4 back to Launceston this year, and there's a lot of tough new competition. 2025 National Corporate Half winner Tsubasa Ichiyama , Australia's Haftu Strintzos , new Teikyo record holder Yuta Asakawa and American Ethan Shuley have all run faster that Buchanan's rec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ayaka Suzuki, Younger Sister of Olympic Marathoner Yuka Suzuki, Faces Final East Japan Women's Ekiden

The final edition of the East Japan Women's Ekiden takes place Nov. 10. 18 teams representing the eastern prefectures will bring high-level women's competition to the streets of Fukushima. Getting attention on the Akita team is Ayaka Suzuki , the younger sister of Paris Olympics marathon 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki . Ayaka is a 3rd-year at Akita's Omagari H.S. She began running seriously after entering high school, citing her sister's influence. "When I saw her winning her stages and helping her team in university ekidens, I thought that I might be able to do the same and decided to give it a try," she said. Before her excellent run at the Paris Olympics Yuka ran the East Japan Women's Ekiden 3 times, inspiring others as she went from a young athlete to one of the best in the world. "I was surprised that she was competitive at that level," said Ayaka. "When I saw how strong she was running it really moved me." In junior high school Ayaka w...
1 comment
Read more

Weekend Track and Road Update

Kanto Regionals were the big domestic meet this weekend, but there were other important results here and overseas. At the Xiamen Diamond League meet: 110 mH NR holder Rachid Muratake (JAL) was 2nd in 13.13 (+0.5) behind winner Jamal Britt (U.S.A.) in 13.07. The only other Japanese athlete in Xiamen, women's javelin throw NR holder Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) was 7th at 60.08, down from her performance last week at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix Meet in Tokyo and eclipsed by the brilliant all-time #2 71.74 m throw by China's Ziyi Yan . 4 Japanese athletes ran at the Sound Running L.A,.Track Fest meet, 3 of them graduates of Kyoto's Rakunan H.S. like Kanto Regionals D1 men's 5000 m winner Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.). The only non-Rakunan guy there, Hibiki Obara (GMO) ran only 8:33.21 for 9th in the men's 3000 mSC A-heat. Daichi Shibata (Chuo Univ.) was last in the same heat in 8:49.91. Itta Tameike (SG Holdings) had a great run in the men's 5000 m B-heat, breakin...
Post a Comment
Read more