Skip to main content

Asian Junior Championships Day Four Highlights


Japan capped the final day of its role as host nation for the Asian Junior Athletics Championships with a pair of championships records that erased marks set by China way back in that nation’s 90’s heyday.

Nozomi Tanaka, newly-graduated from high school and opting for the club runner life like her mother, sub-2:30 amateur Chihiro Tanaka, got the party started with a 9:04.36 record in the girls’ 3000 m that took almost 6 seconds off Li Xin Lan’s 1997 mark. Her high school and club teammate Yuna Wada wasn’t far off Lan’s old record with a 9:14.13 for silver more than 20 seconds ahead of China’s Fan Liu.

The Japanese girls’ 4x400 m likewise took down a Chinese record set in 1997, running 3:38.20 for gold. India and Sri Lanka were a distant 2nd and 3rd, with China nowhere to be found in the final. One member of Japan’s 4x400 m squad, Kasumi Yoshida, doubled after winning an individual gold in the 400 m hurdles earlier in the day in 58.43. Her teammate Natsumi Murakami missed silver by 0.04, finishing just behind Taiwan’s Jui Hsuan Yang 58.89 to 58.92.

Karin Odama rounded out the day’s girls’ medal haul with a gold in the heptathlon, scoring 5133. The only event of the day in which Japanese girls didn’t take gold was the 200 m, where Yanan Tao of China took the top spot in 24.01. Japan’s Miku Yamada missed getting into the medals by 0.05, running 24.52 for 4th.

On the boys’ side Japan scored two golds, Yusuke Shirao joining Yoshida on top of the 400 m hurdles in 50.52 and Kyohei Tomori clearing 2.16 m for the first time to win the high jump. As in the 10000 m, despite being Asia’s distance power the Japanese boys missed the low-hanging fruit of gold in the 5000 m, Ajeet Kumar of India running a PB 14:15.24 to beat Japan’s Ren Tazawa by 2 seconds and Kiyoto Suzuki finishing out of the medals in 4th.

Japanese boys also picked up bronze in the 200 m and triple jump courtesy of Justin Junpei Tsukamoto and Shunsuke Izumiya. Where the girls dominated the 4x400 m, it was the only event of the day where the boys came up empty-handed, finishing 4th in 3:10.01 almost 2 seconds behind gold medalist Sri Lanka.

In the final medal count Japan came out on top with 14 gold medals, 15 silver and 13 bronze. China was next, with 11 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze. The success of its national team in this championships is bound to buoy hopes for Japan's next big hosting gig two years down the road.  Watch complete replays of all four days of the 18th Asian Junior Athletics Championships here.

18th Asian Junior Athletics Championships

Day Four Highlights
Gifu, 6/10/18
click here for complete highlights

Girls
Girls’ 200 m Final +0.1 m/s
1. Yanan Tao (China) – 24.01
2. Amasha De Silva (Sri Lanka) – 24.47 – PB
3. Jisna Mathew (India) – 24.48
-----
4. Miku Yamada (Japan) – 24.52

Girls’ 3000 m
1. Nozomi Tanaka (Japan) – 9:04.36 – MR
2. Yuna Wada (Japan) – 9:14.13
3. Fang Liu (China) – 9:35.69

Girls’ 400 m Hurdles Final
1. Kasumi Yoshida (Japan) – 58.43
2. Jui Hsuan Yang (Taiwan) – 58.89 – PB
3. Natsumi Murakami (Japan) – 58.92
-----
5. Moeka Sekimoto (Japan) – 1:00.17

Girls’ 4x400 m Relay Final
1. Japan – 3:38.20 – MR
2. India – 3:41.11
3. Sri Lanka – 3:45.16

Girls’ Heptathlon
1. Karin Odama (Japan) – 5133
2. Cai Juan Chen (Taiwan) – 4925
3. Diana Geints (Kazakhstan) – 4804 – PB

Boys
Boys’ 200 m Final -0.2 m/s
1. Tai Sheng Wei (Taiwan) – 21.05
2. Min Kyu Shin (South Korea) – 21.06
3. Justin Junpei Tsukamoto (Japan) – 21.09 – PB
-----
6. Yuki Takagi (Japan) – 21.59

Boys’ 5000 m Final
1. Ajeet Kumar (India) – 14:15.24 – PB
2. Ren Tazawa (Japan) – 14:17.26
3. Seyedamir Zamanpour (Iran) – 14:25.25 – PB
-----
4. Kiyoto Suzuki (Japan) – 14:26.03

Boys’ 400 m Hurdles Final
1. Yusuke Shirao (Japan) – 50.52
2. Bassem Mohamed Awad Hemeida (Qatar) – 50.55
3. Mahdi Pirjahan (Iran) – 51.18 – PB

Boys’ 4x400 m Final
1. Sri Lanka – 3:08.70
2. Thailand – 3:09.20
3. Malaysia – 3:09.60
-----
4. Japan – 3:10.01

Boys’ High Jump Final
1. Kyohei Tomori (Japan) – 2.16 m – PB
2. Nuh Abdulkadir Ibrahim Anuh (Qatar) – 2.14 m
3. Hao Zhang (China) – 2.12 m
-----
13. Ryuta Bando (Japan) – 1.95 m

Boys’ Triple Jump Final
1. Kamalraj Kanagaraj (India) – 15.75 m -0.3 m/s
2. Gyu Min Yu (South Korea) – 15.56 m -0.3 m/s – PB
3. Shunsuke Izumiya (Japan) – 15.47 m +0.1 m/s

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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...
3 comments
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more