Skip to main content

Japan Announces Rio Olympic Team

by Brett Larner

Following the weekend's National Championships, earlier today the JAAF announced the preliminary 56-member lineup for its team for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.  The list follows the earlier marathon and race walk team announcements and is still pending additions as athletes chase standards up to the July 11 deadline, but based on the results at Nationals there were virtually no surprises or controversial calls.  The only possibly controversial decision was the omission of Shota Hara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), with a 20.33 PB for 3rd in the men's 200 m final, in favor of Kenji Fujimitsu (Zenrin) who was only 6th in 20.77.  However, having met the tougher 20.28 JAAF standard earlier in the qualifying window Fujimitsu's top 8 finish meant the JAAF was within its latitude to pick him under the published selection protocol.  More surprising were the selection of Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) in the women's 5000 m, 5th at Nationals but the third-fastest finisher with the Rio standard, and Yuzo Kanemaru (Otsuka Seiyaku), who had the men's 400 m Rio standard but failed to make it past the opening round of heats at Nationals

Three athletes on the team set national records within the Rio qualifying window.  Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tech AC) set a women's 200 m national record of 22.88 yesterday on the last day of the National Championships.  Kota Murayama (Asahi Kasei) broke the longstanding 10000 m national record in 27:29.69 last November, while more distantly Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) set a 5000 m national record of 13:08.40 last summer.  Other national record holders on the team include Fukushima in the women's 100 m, Satomi Kubokura (Niigata Albirex RC) in the women's 400 mH, Yuki Ebihara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) in the women's javelin throw and Keisuke Ushiro (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) in the men's decathlon.

The Japanese Rio Olympic team as it currently stands.  Times listed are the athletes' best within the Rio qualifying window.

Women - 22 athletes

Sprints
Chisako Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tech AC) - 100 m: 11.23     200 m: 22.88 - NR

Long Distance
Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) - 5000 m: 15:08.29     10000 m: 31:18.16
Misaki Onishi (Sekisui Kagaku) - 5000 m: 15:16.82
Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) - 5000 m: 15:21.40
Hanami Sekine (Japan Post) - 10000 m: 31:22.92
Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) - 10000 m: 31:35.76
Anju Takamizawa (Matsuyama Univ.) - 3000 mSC: 9:44.22

Hurdles
Satomi Kubokura (Niigata Albirex RC) - 400 mH: 56.14

Jumps
Konomi Kai (Volver) - Long Jump: 6.84 m

Throws
Yuki Ebihara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - Javelin Throw: 63.80 m

Relays
4x100 m 
Nodoka Seko (Crane Horse Club) - 100 m: 11.57
Ami Saito (Kurashika Chuo H.S.) - 100 m: 11.64
Iyoba Edobah (Nihon Univ.) - 100 m: 11.66
Kana Ichikawa (Mizuno) - 200 m: 23.60

4x400 m
Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei Univ.) - 53.04
Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 53.22
Rin Aoki (Soyo H.S.) - 53.44
Manami Kira (Art Home) - 53.83

Marathon
Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) - 2:22:17
Tomomi Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 2:23:19
Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:24:42

Race Walks
Kumiko Okada (Bic Camera) - 20 kmRW - 1:29:40

Men - 34 athletes

Sprints
Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) - 100 m: 10.01
Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) - 100 m: 10.06
Asuka Cambridge (Dome) - 100 m: 10.10
Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 200 m: 20.11
Kenji Fujimitsu (Zenrin) - 200 m: 20.13
Kei Takase (Fujitsu) - 200 m: 20.14
Yuzo Kanemaru (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 400 m: 45.22
Julian Walsh (Toyo Univ.) - 400 m: 45.35

Long Distance
Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) - 5000 m: 13:08.40 - NR     10000 m: 27:45.24
Kota Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 5000 m: 13:19.62     10000 m: 27:29.69 - NR
Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 10000 m: 27:42.71

Hurdles
Wataru Yazawa (Descente) - 110 mH: 13.47
Keisuke Nozawa (Mizuno) - 400 mH: 48.67
Yuki Matsushita (Mizuno) - 400 mH: 49.10

Jumps
Daigo Hasegawa (Hitachi ICT) - Triple Jump: 16.88 m
Takashi Eto (AGF) - High Jump: 2.29 m
Seito Yamashita (Toyota) - Pole Vault: 5.77 m
Hiroki Ogita (Mizuno) - Pole Vault: 5.70 m

Throws
Ryohei Arai (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 84.66 m

Decathlon
Akihiko Nakamura (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 8180
Keisuke Ushiro (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 8160

Relays
4x400 m
Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo Univ.) - 400 m: 45.52
Kentaro Sato (Josai Univ.) - 400 m: 45.58
Nobuya Kato (Waseda Univ.) - 400 m: 45.71
Tomoya Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 400 m: 46.07

Marathon
Satoru Sasaki (Asahi Kasei) - 2:08:56
Hisanori Kitajima (Yasukawa Denki) - 2:09:16
Suehiro Ishikawa (Honda) - 2:09:25

Race Walks
Eiki Takahashi (Fujitsu) - 20 kmRW: 1:18:03
Isamu Fujisawa (Alsok) - 20 kmRW: 1:18:45
Daisuke Matsunaga (Toyo Univ.) - 20 kmRW: 1:18:53
Hirooki Arai (SDF Academy) - 50 kmRW: 3:40:20
Takayuki Tanii (SDF Academy) - 50 kmRW: 3:42:01
Koichiro Morioka (Fujitsu) - 50 kmRW: 3:44:27

Comments

franck pichon said…
women 4x100 and 4x400 m notqualified actually 

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and