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
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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
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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
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5. Satoshi Maruo (Japan) - 3:43:03 - PB

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

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...

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