Working together to execute an aggressive frontrunning team strategy born from failure two years ago in Bydgoszcz, 2018 Asian U20 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka and 2018 Asian Junior Cross Country gold medalist Yuna Wada opened a massive lead over the African Junior Cross Country medalist Ethiopian duo of Meselu Berhe and Tsige Gebreselama in the early going of the Tampere World U20 Championships women's 3000 m. Tanaka took the lead from the gun before Wada went out front at 200 m to set a fast pace. Through splits of 3:00 and 3:03 for the first 2000 m, Tanaka kicked hard from 300 m out to close with a 2:51 for Japan's first-ever gold medal in the event, winning in a PB of 8:54.01.
Berhe and Gebreselama caught Wada on the back corner but weren't even close to matching Tanaka, taking 2nd and 3rd in PBs just under the 9-minute mark. Wada just held off Kenyan Jenali Jemutai Yego for 4th in 9:00.50, seeming happy in post-race interviews to have helped a teammate score gold. The Africans clearly underestimated the Japanese duo, but all 3 in the top 5 ran PBs too, suggesting along with a few other memorable recent examples that laughing at this Japanese tendency to go out hard might not always be the best idea. But in this case even the main chase pack was fast. The top 14 women and 15 of the 18 finishers all recorded new bests.
For Tanaka, the daughter of sub-2:30 amateur marathoner Chihiro Tanaka and former corporate league steepler Katsutoshi Tanaka, the gold medal was the cap to a stressful last few weeks. Graduating from high school in March, she is just a few months into an unusual arrangement in which she is going to university without running for the school's track team, instead training in a new club team with high school teammate Yume Goto. Last month she was caught on the train on the way to school during the large earthquake that hit the Osaka area, trapped on the train for over 4 hours before returning home to help repair damage to the house. Last week the Tanaka family were among the many ordered to evacuate their home ahead of record-setting flooding in Western Japan. In Tampere Tanaka showed no signs of that stress, displaying only strength, confidence and a future.
Her success rubbed off on at least one of her teammates. Standing inside the track preparing to start one of his attempts in the men's long jump final, Yuji Hashioka watched Tanaka go by at the top of the home straight, then turned to watch Wada in 4th, then turned back to see Tanaka take gold. Like her, Hashioka had finished out of the medals two years ago at the Bydgoszcz World U20 Championships. Summoning up his best, Hashioka jumped 8.05 m (+0.9 m/s) to take a gold of his own, the only man in the final to clear 8 meters. Teammate Yugo Sakai jumped a PB of 7.79 m (+1.7 m/s/) for 5th, just 11 cm out of the medals. Also competing at the same time, Tomoka Kuwazoe took silver in the women's javelin, her throw of 55.66 m just 29 cm off the best throw by Ukrainian gold medalist Alina Shukh.
World U20 Championships Day Two Japanese Results
Tampere, Finland, 7/11/18complete results
Finals
Women's 3000 m
1. Nozomi Tanaka (Japan) - 8:54.01 - PB - all-time JPN U20 #3
2. Meselu Berhe (Ethiopia) - 8:56.39 - PB
3. Tsige Gebreselama (Ethiopia) - 8:59.20 - PB
4. Yuna Wada (Japan) - 9:00.50 - PB - all-time JPN U20 #10
5. Jenah Jemutai Yego (Kenya) - 9:00.76 - PB
Men's 100 m Final +1.2 m/s
1. Lalu Muhammad Zohri (Indonesia) - 10.18 - U20 NR
2. Anthony Schwartz (U.S.A.) - 10.22
3. Eric Harrison (U.S.A.) - 10.22 - PB
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8. Daisuke Miyamoto (Japan) - 10.43
Men's Long Jump Final
1. Yuki Hashioka (Japan) - 8.03 m +0.9 m/s
2. Maikel Vidal (Cuba) - 7.99 m +0.9 m/s
3. Wayne Pinnock (Jamaica) - 7.90 m -0.1 m/s
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5. Yugo Sakai (Japan) - 7.79 m +1.7 m/s - PB
Women's Javelin Throw Final
1. Alina Shukh (Ukraine) - 55.95 m
2. Tomoka Kuwazoe (Japan) - 55.66 m
3. Dana Baker (U.S.A.) - 55.04 - PB
Semifinals
Women's 800 m Semifinal 2
1. Diribe Welteji (Ethiopia) - 2:01.89 - Q
2. Katy-Ann McDonald (Great Britain) - 2:03.20 - PB, Q
3. Ayano Shiomi (Japan) - 2:03.72
Women's 800 m Semifinal 3
1. Carley Thomas (Australia) - 2:03.19 - PB, Q
2. Gabriela Gajanova (Slovakia) - 2:03.36 - PB, Q
3. Ayaka Kawata (Japan) - 2:03.37 - q
Men's 100 m Semifinal 1 +1.0 m/s
1. 1. Anthony Schwartz (U.S.A.) - 10.19 - Q
2. Lalu Muhammad Zohri (Indonesia) - 10.24 - U20 NR, Q
3. Daisuke Miyamoto (Japan) - 10.33 - q
Men's 100 m Semifinal 2 +1.4 m/s
1. Henrik Larsson (Sweden) - 10.22 - U20 NR, Q
2. Michael Stephens (Jamaica) - 10.22 - PB, Q
3. Dominic Ashwell (Great Britain) - 10.28 - PB, q
4. Satoru Fukushima (Japan) - 10.33 - PB
Men's 110 m Hurdles Semifinal 1 -0.5 m/s
1. Cory Poole (U.S.A.) - 13.68 - Q
2. Anastas Eliopoulos (Canada) - 13.75 - Q
3. Matheo Bernat (France) - 13.88
4. Joshua Zeller (Great Britain) - 13.91
5. Kentaro Hiraga (Japan) - 13.93
Men's 110 m Hurdles Semifinal 2 +0.2 m/s
1. Orlando Bennett (Jamaica) - 13.45 - Q
2. Michael Obasuyi (Belgium) - 13.49 - Q
3. Enrique Llopis (Spain) - 13.51 - q
4. Shunsuke Iizuma (Japan) - 13.57 - q
Qualifying Rounds
Men's 400 m Heat 2
1. Jonathan Sacoor (Belgium) - 46.56 - Q
2. Matej Krsek (Czech Republic) - 47.05 - Q
3. Alfredo Jimenez (Spain) - 47.12 - PB, Q
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8. Daichi Sawa (Japan) - 48.15
Men's 400 m Heat 4
1. Chantz Sawyers (Jamaica) - 46.52 - Q
2. Gabriel Louw (South Africa) - 47.32 - Q
3. Bosko Kijanovic (Serbia) - 47.42 - PB, q
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6. Shuji Mori (Japan) - 48.12
Women's 400 m Hurdles Heat 2
1. Zeney Van Der Walt (South Africa) - 57.78 - Q
2. Viivi Lehikoinen (Finland) - 59.10 - Q
3. Moeka Sekimoto (Japan) - 59.16 - Q
Women's 400 m Hurdles Heat 5
1. Shiann Salmon (Jamaica) - 58.14 - Q
2. Natalia Wosztyl (Poland) - 58.46 - Q
3. Nea Mattila (Finland) - 58.82 - PB, Q
4. Kasumi Yoshida (Japan) - 1:00.61
Men's 110 m Hurdles Heat 3 +0.7 m/s
1. Joshua Zeller (Great Britain) - 13.59 - Q
2. Jeanica Laviolette (France) - 13.69 - Q
3. David Ryba (Czech Republic) - 13.75 - Q
4. Kentaro Hiraga (Japan) - 13.80 - q
Men's 110 m Hurdles Heat 4 +0.3 m/s
1. Michael Obasuyi (Belgium) - 13.62 - Q
2. Shunsuke Izumiya (Japan) - 13.86 - Q
3. Saoud Al Humadi (Qatar) - 14.11 - Q
Men's Pole Vault Qualification Group A
1. Armand Duplantis (Sweden) - 5.30 m - q
2. Zachery Bradford (U.S.A.) - 5.20 m - q
3. Ethan Cormont (France) - 5.20 m - q
3. Masaki Ejima (Japan) - 5.20 m - q
Men's Pole Vault Qualification Group B
1. Sondre Guttormsen (Norway) - 5.20 m - q
2. Shunto Ozaki (Japan) - 5.20 m - PB, q
3. Bo Kanda Lita Baehre (Germany) - 5.20 m - q
Men's Hammer Throw Qualification Group B
1. Mykhailo Havryliuk (Ukraine) - 73.71 m - q
2. Valentin Andreev (Bulgaria) - 72.44 m - q
3. Donat Varga (Hungary) - 71.72 m - q
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11. Masanobu Hattori (Japan) - 65.70 m
Women's Shot Put Qualification Group A
1. Alyssa Wilson (U.S.A.) - 17.02 m - Q
2. Meike Strydom (South Africa) - 15.72 m - Q
3. Linru Zhang (China) - 15.62 m - Q
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8. Honoka Oyama (Japan) - 14.23 m
© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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