Skip to main content

Japanese Team Roster for World U20 Championships

by Brett Larner

Japan sends a team of 44 athletes, 14 women and 30 men, to the rebranded World Junior Championships, hereout known as the World U20 Championships, this week in Bydgoszcz, Poland. 2015 World Youth Championships women's javelin throw gold medalist Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon Univ.) is Japan's best chance for a medal, the only woman in the field to have thrown over 60 m.  Her teammate Mikako Yamashita (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) looks like another medal contender, her 58.59 m ranking her 3rd in the javelin field.  The team features the current national high school champions in fourteen events, a few including Kitaguchi having made the top three at last month's Japanese National Championships and many ranking in the top ten in their events at World U20.  5th in the men's' 3000 m at last year's World Youth Championships, Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) doesn't fit any of those categories, but with new 3000 m and 5000 m bests of 8:01.95 and 13:48.13 since then and a 4th-place finish in the men's 1500 m final at this year's Japanese National Championships he'll be looking to improve on that placing in the men's 5000 m.

World U20 Championships Japanese Team Roster
Bydgoszcz, Poland, July 19-24, 2016
click here for timetable

Women - 14 athletes

Sprints
Haruka Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 400 m - 53.22
     ・2015 National High School Champion

Long Distance
Wakana Kabasawa (Tokiwa H.S.) - 3000 m - 9:06.47
Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 3000 m - 9:08.15
     ・2nd, 2016 Japanese National Championships women's 1500 m
Rika Kaseda (Narita H.S.) - 5000 m - 15:44.58
Mikuni Yada (Luther Gakuin H.S.) - 5000 m - 15:45.04

Hurdles
Yuri Okubo (Chuo Univ.) - 100 mH - 13.51
Yumi Tanaka (Kansai Gakuin Prep Daiichi H.S.) - 100 mH - 13.74 m
     ・2015 National High School Champion
Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 400 mH
     ・3rd, 2016 Japanese National Championships
     ・2015 National High School Champion
Mizuki Murakami (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.) - 400 mH - 58.87
Chika Mukai (Meijo Univ.) - 3000 mSC - 10:00.40
     ・2015 National High School Champion, women's 800 m and 1500 m
Yuki Shibata (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 3000 mSC - 10:08.92

Race Walks
Yukiho Mizoguchi (Waseda Univ.) - 10000 mRW - 47:03.23
     ・2015 National High School Champion, women's 5000 mRW

Throws
Nanaka Kori (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - shot put - 16.19 m / discus throw - 52.14 m
     ・2nd, 2016 Japanese National Championships women's shot put
     ・2015 National High School Champion, women's shot put and discus throw
Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon Univ.) - javelin throw - 61.38 m
     ・3rd, 2016 Japanese National Championships
     ・gold medalist, 2015 World Youth Championships
     ・2015 National High School Champion
Mikako Yamashita (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - javelin throw - 58.59 m

Men - 30 athletes

Sprints
Ippei Takeda (Chuo Univ.) - 100 m - 10.27 / 4x100 mR
Kenta Oshima (Nihon Univ.) - 100 m - 10.29 / 4x100 mR
     ・2014 and 2015 National High School Champion
Jun Yamashita (Tsukuba Univ.) - 200 m - 20.91 / 4x100 mR
Wataru Inuzuka (Juntendo Univ.) - 200 m - 20.87 / 4x100 mR
Yuki Hashioka (Hachioji H.S.) - 4x100 mR
Kazuki Matsukiyo (Fukuoka Univ.) - 400 m - 46.74 m / 4x400 mR
Naoki Kitadani (Kobe Shiritsu Kagaku Gijutsu H.S.) - 400 m - 46.89 / 4x400 mR
Mizuki Obuchi (Tokai Univ.) - 4x400 mR
Yoshiro Watanabe (Josai Univ.) - 4x400 mR
Tatsuhiro Yamamoto (Nihon Univ.) - 4x400 mR

Middle Distance
Ryohei Sakaguchi (Tokai Univ.) - 1500 m - 3:43.88

Long Distance
Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) - 5000 m - 13:48.13
Hiroki Abe (Meiji Univ.) - 5000 m - 13:57.15
Hayato Seki (Tokai Univ.) - 10000 m - 28:48.63
Shota Onizuka (Tokai Univ) - 10000 m - 28:55.26

Hurdles
Takumu Furuya (Waseda Univ.) - 110 mH - 13.67
Pap Denba Hiramatsu (Nihon Univ.) - 110 mH
Yoshiro Watanabe (Josai Univ.) - 400 mH - 49.96
Tatsuhiro Yamamoto (Nihon Univ.) - 400 mH - 50.96
Taisei Ogino (Kanagawa Univ.) - 3000 mSC - 8:44.39

Race Walks
Masatora Kawano (Gotemba Minami H.S.) - 10000 mRW
Ryutaro Yamamoto (Toyama Shogyo H.S.) - 10000 mRW

Jumps
Yuji Hiramatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) - high jump - 2.28 m
Keitaro Fujita (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - high jump - 2.16 m
     ・2015 National High School Champion
Masaki Ejima (Eda H.S.) - pole vault - 5.42 m
Keisuke Okubo (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) - pole vault - 5.20 m
Kazuma Adachi (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) - long jump - 7.76 m
     ・2015 National High School Champion
Yuki Hashioka (Hachioji H.S.) - long jump - 7.70 m
Mutsuki Harada (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - triple jump - 16.16 m

Throws
Shinichi Yukinaga (Shikoku Univ.) - shot put  - 18.41 m / discus throw - 56.65 m
     ・2015 National High School Champion, men's shot put and discus throw
Yume Ando (Tokai Univ.) - discus throw - 58.80 m
Junya Sato (Tokai Univ.) - javelin throw - 77.97 m
Hiroshi Ikegawa (Takigawa Daini H.S.) - javelin throw - 70.03 m

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...
3 comments
Read more

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...
1 comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more