Rio de Janeiro Olympics Athletics Day Six Japanese Results

by Brett Larner

Japanese athletes were thin on the ground on the sixth day of athletics at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Men's javelin national champion Ryohei Arai (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) threw 84.16 m on his first qualifying round throw to make the final, the Japanese performance of the day, short and sweet. His Suzuki teammates Akihiko Nakamura and Keisuke Ushiro ended the first day of the decathlon ranked near the bottom of the field, Nakamura 24th with 3899 points and Ushiro 25th with 3886.

On the track in the men's 5000 m heats, 10000 m national record holder Kota Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei) echoed his run in the 10000 m final. Ranked 17th of 25 in Heat One, Murayama ran up front early with Richard Ringer (Germany) before fading to 22nd in 14:26.72. 5000 m national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) was ranked 8th of 26 on PB in Heat Two, giving him a chance of becoming only the second Japanese man post-war to make an Olympic 5000 m final. Osako has lost countless key races by relying on his kick but seemed to have learned his lesson with the long surges he used to win both the 5000 m and 10000 m titles this year. In Rio he kept himself in a good position near the mid-front end of the pack, and with around four laps to go he seemed to be setting up for a long move. But backing off, he settled back in the pack and was left behind when the kickers' race began.

Osako finished 16th in 13:31.45, the second-fastest time ever by a Japanese man at the Olympics but far from the cutoff from making the final and, relative to his ranking amid the competition, a weaker placing than Murayama's. The two men's performances underscored the strength of the women's 5000 m final-qualifying run by Miyuki Uehara (Team Daiichi Seimei) yesterday, the lone bright spot in Japanese long distance so far at the Rio Olympics. All that remains is her run in the final and Sunday's Olympics-ending men's marathon.

Rio de Janeiro Olympics
Aug. 17, 2016
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m Heat One
1. Hagos Gebrehiwet (Ethiopia) - 13:24.65 - Q
2. Albert Rop (Bahrain) - 13:24.95 - Q
3. Mo Farah (Great Britain) - 13:25.25 - Q
4. Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei (Uganda) - 13:25.70 - Q
5. Bernard Lagat (U.S.A.) - 13:26.02 - Q
-----
22. Kota Murayama (Japan) - 14:26.72

Men's 5000 m Heat Two
1. Paul Chelimo (U.S.A.) - 13:19.54 - Q, PB
2. Muktar Edris (Ethiopia) - 13:19.65 - Q
3. Dejen Gebremeskel (Ethiopia) - 13:19.67 - Q
4. Birhanu Balew (Bahrain) - 13:19.83 - Q
5. Andrew Butchart (Great Britain) - 13:20.08 - Q
-----
16. Suguru Osako (Japan) - 13:31.45

Men's Javelin Throw Qualification Group B
1. Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago) - 88.68 m - Q
2. Johannes Vetter (Germany) - 85.96 - Q
3. Ryohei Arai (Japan) - 84.16 - Q

Men's Decathlon Day One Standings
1. Ashton Eaton (U.S.A.) - 4621
2. Kai Kazmirek (Germany) - 4500
3. Damien Warner (Canada) - 4489
-----
24. Akihiko Nakamura (Japan) - 3899
25. Keisuke Ushiro (Japan) - 3886

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

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