6th in the men's pole vault two years ago, Masaki Ejima kept Japan's medal streak at the Tampere World U20 Championships alive with a bronze medal on the fifth day of competition. Both Ejima and silver medalist Zachery Bradford of the U.S.A. cleared 5.55 m on their third attempts and failed to clear 5.60, but as Ejima had struggled at 5.40 m the silver went to Bradford, who had cleared it with ease. Gold went to Armand Duplantis, who set a new championships record of 5.82 m.
A highly-anticipated medal failed to materialize in the men's 4x100 m, where the Japanese squad finished out of the medals by an agonizing 0.01 behind Germany, running in the top three throughout the race but outleaned at the line. Both the U.S.A. and Jamaica went under 39 seconds for gold and silver. Another near-miss came in the women's 10000 m racewalk, where Nanako Fujii set a PB of 45:08.68 but came only 4th. In both the men's 10000 m racewalk and men's high jump Japan scored top eight placers, Sho Sakazaki 8th in the racewalk and Kyohei Tomori 7th in the high jump.
Semifinals and qualification rounds were a bust, with no Japanese athletes advancing to the last day's finals. In both the women's and men's 4x400 m the Japanese teams finished 3rd in their heats, the women missing qualifying for the final by 0.20 and the men by 0.67.
World U20 Championships Day Five Japanese Results
Tampere, Finland, 7/14/18complete results
Finals
Men's 5000 m Final
1. Edward Zakayo Pingua (Kenya) - 13:20.16
2. Stanley Waithaka Mburu (Kenya) - 13:20.57
3. Jakob Ingebribtsen (Norway) - 13:20.78 - U20 AR
-----
17. Yuhi Nakaya (Japan) - 14:39.78
Men's 4x100 m Relay Final
1. U.S.A. - 38.88
2. Jamaica - 38.96 - U20 NR
3. Germany - 39.22
4. Japan - 39.23
Women's 10000 m Race Walk Final
1. Alegna Gonzalez (Mexico) - 44:13.88
2. Meryen Bekmez (Turkey) - 44:17.69 - U20 NR
3. Glenda Morejon (Ecuador) - 44:19.40 - U20 AR
4. Nanako Fujii (Japan) - 45:08.68 - PB
Men's 10000 m Race Walk Final
1. Yao Zhang (China) - 40:32.054 - PB
2. David Hurtado (Ecuador) - 40:32.060 - PB
3. Jose Ortiz (Guatemala) - 40:45.26 - PB
-----
8. Sho Sakazaki (Japan) - 41:50.91
10. Tatsuhiko Nagayama (Japan) - 41:58.12
Men's Pole Vault Final
1. Armand Duplantis (Sweden) - 5.82 m - MR
2. Zacdhery Bradford (U.S.A.) - 5.55 m - PB
3. Masaki Ejima (Japan) - 5.55 m
Men's High Jump Final
1. Antonius Merlos (Greece) - 2.23 m - PB
2. Roberto Vilches (Mexico) - 2.23 m
3. JuVaughn Blake (U.S.A.) - 2.23 m - PB
-----
7. Kyohei Tomori (Japan) - 2.19 m - PB
10. Naoki Higashi (Japan) - 2.16 m
Men's Triple Jump Final
1. Jordan Diaz (Cuba) - 17.15 m -0.4 m/s - MR
2. Martin Lamou (France) - 16.44 m +0.6 m/s
3. Jonathan Serems (France) - 16.18 m +1.9 m/s - PB
-----
10. Yuki Akiyama (Japan) - 15.40 m +1.0 m/s
Semifinals
Women's 100 m Hurdles Semifinal 2 +0.9 m/s
1. Tia Jones (U.S.A.) - 13.06 - Q
2. Cyrena Samba-Mayela (France) - 13.47 - Q
3. Nika Glojnaric (Slovenia) - 13.47
-----
5. Yuiri Yoshida (Japan) - 13.55
Qualifying Rounds
Women's 4x400 m Relay Heat 2
1. Australia - 3:35.48 - Q
2. Canada - 3:36.14 - Q
3. Japan - 3:36.70
Men's 4x400 m Relay Heat 1
1. Great Britain - 3:07.17 - Q
2. Belgium - 3:09.39 - Q
3. Japan - 3:10.06
Women's Triple Jump Qualification Group A
1. Aleksandra Nacheva (Bulgaria) - 13.68 m +0.0 m/s - Q
2. Mirieli Sanntos (Brazil) - 13.60 m +0.6 m/s - PB, Q
3. Georgiana-Juliana Anitei (Romania) - 13.24 m +0.4 m/s - Q
-----
NM - Chiaki Kawazoe (Japan)
Men's Discus Throw Qualification Group A
1. Kai Chang (Jamaica) - 59.27 - q
2. Giorgos Koniarakis (Cyprus) - 58.64 - q
3. Korbinian Haessler (Germany) - 58.35 - PB, q
-----
12. Kosei Yamashita (Japan) - 53.72
© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments