Skip to main content

Rio Silver Medalist Kiryu Throws First Pitch in Solid Baseball Debut

http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00340126.html

translated by Brett Larner

The fastest man in Japan, Rio de Janeiro Olympics silver medalist Yoshihide Kiryu, 20, made his baseball debut throwing out the first pitch at a game for his school Toyo University.  In recognition of his dream of running Japan's first 9-second time in the 100 m, Kiryu took the mound wearing uniform #9.

His pitch wasn't fast, but it was good enough to draw cheers from the crowd.  "I have no idea how fast that was, what it might have been.  Hopefully it was over 100 km/h," Kiryu commented.  "Anyway, it wasn't a wild pitch so I'd probably give it a 5/10."

Earlier this month his Rio 4x100 m teammate Ryota Yamagata, 24, threw out the first pitch at a pro baseball game.  Yamagata's pitch bounced once, something Kiryu was aware of.  "I just wanted to make sure mine didn't hit the ground and bounce," he laughed.

Also this week, Chuo University, alma mater of Rio 4x100 m team member Shota Iizuka, took out a full page ad in the Asahi Newspaper featuring Iizuka.  The headline reads "The place I learned the joy of running."

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...