London World Championships - Day Ten Japanese Results

Rio Olympics men's 50 km Race Walk bronze medalist Hirooki Arai followed up with Japan's first silver medal of the London World Championships, leading teammate Kai Kobayashi to a Japanese double medal haul. Far behind the championships record pace set by eventual gold medalist Yohann Diniz of France, Arai, Kobayashi and teammate Satoshi Maruo all sat together in the chase pack through 15 km. Maruo began to drop back approaching 20 km, but Arai and Kobayashi stayed up front through 35 km before making a break that took them all the way to silver and bronze medal finishes 2 seconds apart just over 8 minutes behind Diniz. Maruo fought his way back through the pack, ultimately finishing 5th just over a minute and a half behind his medalist teammates.

On paper the men's 20 km crew had the potential to repeat the 50 km results, but it wasn't to be. One by one Rio Olympics 7th placer Daisuke Matsunaga and world #2 and #3-ranked Eiki Takahashi and Isamu Fujisawa slipped off the back of the pack. Fujisawa ended up with the top Japanese spot at 11th in 1:20:04, one minute out of the medals. Takahashi was 32 seconds behind him in 14th. Matsunaga wound up in serious trouble, weaving and staggering over the final few laps before finishing 38th another 3 minutes back. Lone female race walker Kumiko Okada couldn't better her male teammates, off the pack within the first 5 km and ultimately taking 18th almost 5 minutes out of bronze.

London World Championships Day Ten Japanese Results

London, England, 8/13/17
click here for complete results

Women's 20 km Race Walk
1. Jiayu Yang (China) - 1:26:18 - PB
2. Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez (Mexico) - 1:26:19
3. Antonella Palmisano (Italy) - 1:26:36 - PB
-----
18. Kumiko Okada (Japan) - 1:31:19

Men's 20 km Race Walk
1. Eider Arevalo (Colombia) - 1:18:53 - NR
2. Sergei Shirobokov (ANA/Russia) - 1:18:55
3. Caio Bonfim (Brazil) - 1:19:04 - NR
-----
11. Isamu Fujisawa (Japan) - 1:20:04
14. Eiki Takahashi (Japan) - 1:20:36
38. Daisuke Matsunaga (Japan) - 1:23:39

Men's 50 km Race Walk
1. Yohann Diniz (France) - 3:33:12 - MR
2. Hirooki Arai (Japan) - 3:41:17
3. Kai Kobayashi (Japan) - 3:41:19 - PB
-----
5. Satoshi Maruo (Japan) - 3:43:03 - PB

© 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
photo by Ekiden Mania, © 2017 Kazuyuki Sugimatsu, all rights reserved

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance? Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance. This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere. It was put into place in 1986. In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made. Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km. When a bicycle is u...

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .

japan running news

Search This Blog