Summary of Japanese Medalists at Asian Athletics Championships

With a roster somewhat depleted of top-level talent Japan took no gold but managed to pick up five silver and nine bronze medals at the July 6-9 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, India. Japanese women scored the majority of the medals, taking three silver and eight bronze medals to the men's count of two silver, one bronze.

Women's 10000 m national champion Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) and men's 110 m hurdles national champ Shunya Takayama (Zenrin) were the only athletes already named to Japan's London World Championships team to participate. Matsuda took the bronze medal in the 10000 m behind Daria Maslova (Kyrghizstan) and national championships 5th-placer Yuka Hori (Japan), while Takayama missed out on bronze by 0.04 seconds as he took 4th in 13.65 (-0.6 m/s).

With none of the Japanese medalists clearing London standards at the Asian Athletics Championships there were no additions beyond Matsuda and Takayama to the London team from among those who competed in Bhubaneswar. Among those who opted to stay home, women's javelin national champion Yuki Ebihara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) threw 61.95 m at Sunday's Nambu Memorial Meet in Hokkaido to clear the London standard and position herself as an addition to the Worlds team. Likewise for men's 400 m hurdles runner-up Yusuke Ishida (Waseda Univ.) who hit the London standard dead on to win the Nambu 400 mH in 49.35 for a probable place in London.

A breakdown of Japanese medalists at the Asian Athletics Championships:

22nd Asian Athletics Championships

Bhubaneswar, India, July 6-9, 2017
click here for complete results

Women's 800 m Final
1. Nimali Waliwarsha Konda Liy (Sri Lanka) - 2:05.23
2. Gayanthika Thushari (Sri Lanka) - 2:05.27
3. Fumika Omori (Japan) - 2:06.50

Women's 1500 m Final
1. Chitra Pu (India) - 4:17.92
2. Geng Min (China) - 4:19.15
3. Ayako Jinnouchi (Japan) - 4:19.90

Women's 10000 m
1. Daria Maslova (Kyrghizstan) - 32:21.21
2. Yuka Hori (Japan) - 32:23.26
3. Mizuki Matsuda (Japan) - 32:46.61

Women's 100 m Hurdles Final -0.1 m/s
1. Jung Hyelim (South Korea) - 13.16
2. Ayako Kimura (Japan) - 13.30
3. Wang Dou (China) - 13.36

Women's 400 m Hurdles Final
1. Nguyen Thi (Vietnam) - 56.14
2. Anu R. (India) - 57.22
3. Sayaka Aoki (Japan) - 58.18

Women's 3000 m Steeplechase
1. Sudha Singh (India) - 9:59.47
2. Hyo Gyong (North Korea) - 10:13.94
3. Nana Sato (Japan) - 10:18.11

Men's Pole Vault Final
1. Ding Bangchao (China) - 5.65 m
2. Masaki Ejima (Japan) - 5.65 m
3. Ernest John Obiena (Phillippines) - 5.50 m

Men's Long Jump Final
1. Huang Changzhou (China) - 8.09 m -1.3 m/s
2. Chan Ming Tai (Hong Kong) - 8.03 m -1.0 m/s
3. Shotaro Shiroyama (Japan) - 7.97 m +1.5 m/s

Women's Shot Put
1. Manpreet Kaur (India) - 18.28 m
2. Guo Tianqian (China) - 17.91 m
3. Aya Ota (Japan) - 15.45 m

Women's Hammer Throw
1. Luo Na (China) - 69.92 m
2. Liu Tingting (China) - 69.45 m
3. Hitomi Katsuyama (Japan) - 60.22 m

Women's 4x400 m Relay
1. India - 3:31.34
2. Vietnam - 3:33.22
3. Japan - 3:37.74

Men's Decathlon
1. Suttisak Singkon (Thailand) - 7732
2. Kazuya Kawasaki (Japan) - 7584
3. Guo Qi (China) - 7495

Women's Heptathlon
1. Swapna Barman (India) - 5942
2. Meg Hemphill (Japan) - 5883
3. Purnima Hembram (India) - 5798

© 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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...

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...

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...

japan running news

Search This Blog