Weekend Overseas Japanese Results

Following the Japanese success early Saturday at the IAU 100 km World Championships, Japanese athletes lined up in races across Europe over the weekend.

At Saturday's Prague Grand Prix 10 km, Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) followed up her 2:26:13 marathon debut in Paris with a 9th-place finish in 32:26. 2:08:48 at February's Tokyo Marathon, Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) was ineffectual in the men's race, nearly a kilometer behind winner Rhonex Kipruto at 17th in 29:21. Keita Shitara (Hitachi Butsuryu), twin brother of half marathon and marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara, was 23rd in 30:17 with Yuta's teammate Masaya Taguchi (Honda) overtaken by the top three women to finish 24th in 30:25.

On the track, Jakarta Asian Games men's 200 m gold medalist Yuki Koike had the best Japanese placing on the first day of the Continental Cup in the Czech Republic, finishing 4th in the 200 m in 20.57 (-1.6 m/s). Kosei Yamaguchi was next-best in the men's 3000 m steeplechase at 5th, with Takatoshi Abe, Ayako Kimura and Nozomi Tanaka each 6th in the men's 400 m hurdles, women's 100 m hurdles and women's 3000 m respectively.

Taio Kanai followed that trend up with a 6th place finish Sunday in the Continental Cup's men's 110 m hurdles. Eri Utsunomiya had the weakest showing of the Cup, finishing 8th in the women's 400 m hurdles.

At Sunday's Great North Run, Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Konica Minolta) broke 1:03 there for the second year in a row, taking 6th in 1:02:49. Naoya Takahashi (Yasukawa Denki) was 12th in 1:05:41. In the women's race National Corporate Half runner-up Yuka Hori (Panasonic) was 5th in 1:11:13.

Also Sunday, Asuka Tanaka (Yutori RC) attempted to qualify for Japan's MGC Race 2020 Olympic Trials at the Volksbank Muenster Marathon after having run 2:10:13 at this year's Tokyo Marathon. Tanaka needed to run 2:11:47 to make it, but despite starting off with the leaders on 2:10-flat pace he faded off before halfway. Dizzy by 27 km, he staggered in to an 11th-place finish in 2:32:31, collapsing at the finish line and carried to the medical area where he was found to be suffering from low blood sugar. Justus Kiprotich (Kenya) negative split a course record 2:09:27 for the win. 2017 Osaka Marathon runner-up Mitsuko Ino was expected to be a contender for the win, but after experiencing a ping in a tendon in her upper left leg on a corner just 4 km in the race she began to limp, dropping off pace and eventually out of the race. With six women have withdrawn before the start with injury, first-timer Sheila Rono (Kenya) won in 2:45:45.

text and photos © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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