Doha World Championships Day Two Japanese Results

20 km race walk world record holder Yusuke Suzuki delivered Japan's first medal of the Doha World Championships, defying the heat and humid to lead to men's 50 km race walk start to finish for gold in 4:04:20. His teammates Hayato Katsuki and Tomohiro Noda didn't fare as well, Katsuki 27th of 28 finishers and Noda among the many casualties, but Suzuki's bold and brash performance in similar conditions to what the field will face in Tokyo next year, if darker, gives Japan hope that it's got at least one solid gold contender for the home game.

More history made at @IAAFDoha2019 as Yusuke Suzuki wins Japan's first ever race walking #WorldAthleticsChamps title 🇯🇵🥇

Fantastic victory for the @jaaf_official athlete one year before @Tokyo2020.

📰: https://t.co/gghIeeRTPa pic.twitter.com/bZ0UYTgVWs

— IAAF (@iaaforg) September 29, 2019

The lone Japanese woman in the 50 km, Masumi Fuchise just missed a top 10 finish in 4:41:02. One of Japan's top medal prospects this time around, Shotaro Shiroyama was off his best in the men's long jump final, ending up 11th out of 12 with a jump of only 7.77 m. His junior teammate Yuki Hashioka had a better day, making the top 8 with a 7.97 m jump.

With the withdrawal of national champion Rina Nabeshima with a stress fracture, only two Japanese women ran the 10000 m, last year's fastest Minami Yamanouchi and this year's fastest, Hitomi Niiya. Yamanouchi had some issues over the last couple of weeks and was never at her best, finishing 19th out of 20 in 32:53.46.

Returning from a five-year retirement following her last World Championships back in 2013, Niiya ran to character, nearly dead even throughout after the pack ran a slow opening 1000 m. When the break in the pack came after 3000 m Niiya tried to follow eventual winner Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) to regain contact with the all-African lead group but couldn't quite get there in time. Niiya spent the rest of the race alone between the first and second packs, picking off one straggler to move up to 7th but caught by a fast-closing American trio and one European over the last lap to finish 11th in 31:12.99. "That was a 3/10," she told JRN post-race. Despite her disappointment, Niiya's time was the fastest by a Japanese woman since 2013, when Niiya herself ran 30:56.70 in Moscow. Only four other Japanese women have ever run faster.

Qualifying action was a bust, with no Japanese athletes moving forward across four events. Men's 100 m national record holder Abdul Hakim Sani Brown had the worst day of it, last out of the blocks in his semi-final and clawing his way up to 5th but missing qualifying for the final. Japan's other two sub-10 men Yoshihide Kiryu and Yuki Koike also missed out, Koike far enough off in only 10.28 to raise the anxiety levels surrounding one of Japan's only other good chances at a medal, the men's 4x100 m.

Takatoshi Abe wasn't favored to make the men's 400 m hurdles final but came close, just 0.25 off in 48.97. Seito Yamamoto was the best of the three Japanese men in the pole vault, clearing 5.60 m but coming up short of qualifying. The mixed 4x400 m relay team led at the start of the final leg but ended up last. Still, they somehow delivered a national record 3:18.77, the first new Japanese NR of the Championships and a bookend to Suzuki's race walk gold.

Doha World Athletics Championships

Day Two Japanese Results
Doha, Qatar, 28 Sept. 2019
complete results

Finals

Women's 10000 m
1. Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) - 30:17.62 - WL
2. Letsenbet Gidey (Ethiopia) - 30:21.23 - PB
3. Agnes Jebet Tirop (Kenya) - 30:25.20 - PB
4. Rosemary Monica Wanjiru (Kenya) - 30:35.75 - PB
5. Hellen Obiri (Kenya) - 30:35.82 - PB
-----
11. Hitomi Niiya (Japan) - 31:12.99
19. Minami Yamanouchi (Japan) - 32:53.46

Men's Long Jump
1. Tajay Gayle (Jamaica) - 8.69 m +0.5 m/s - WL
2. Jeff Henderson (U.S.A.) - 8.39 m -0.1 m/s
3. Juan Miguel Echevarria (Cuba) - 8.34 m +0.1 m/s
-----
8. Yuki Hashioka (Japan) - 7.97 m -0.2 m/s
11. Shotaro Shiroyama (Japan) - 7.77 m +0.2  m/s

Men's 50 km Race Walk
1. Yusuke Suzuki (Japan) - 4:04:20
2. Joao Vieira (Portugal) - 4:04:59
3. Evan Dunfee (Canada) - 4:05:02
4. Wen Bin Niu (China) - 4:05:36
5. Ya Dong Luo (China) - 4:06:49
-----
27. Hayato Katsuki (Japan) - 4:46:10
-----
DNF - Tomohiro Noda (Japan)

Women's 50 km Race Walk
1. Rui Liang (China) - 4:23:26
2. Mao Cuo Li (China) - 4:26:40
3. Eleonora Anna Giorgi (Italy) - 4:29:13
4. Olena Sobchuk (Ukraine) - 4:33:38
5. Fa Ying Ma (China) - 4:34:56
-----
11. Masumi Fuchise (Japan) - 4:41:02

Qualifying Rounds

Men's 100 m Semifinal 1 -0.3 m/s
1. Christian Coleman (U.S.A.) - 9.88 - Q
2. Aaron Brown (Canada) - 10.12 - Q
3. Adam Gemili (Great Britain) - 10.13
4. Paulo Andre Camilo de Oliveira (Brazil) - 10.14
5. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Japan) - 10.15
6. Taymir Burnet (Netherlands) - 10.18
7. Lamont Marcell Jacobs (Italy) - 10.20
8. Bingtian Su (China) - 10.23

Men's 100 m Semifinal 2 -0.1 m/s
1. Andre de Grasse (Canada) - 10.07 - Q
2. Yohan Blake (Jamaica) - 10.09 - Q
3. Justin Gatlin (U.S.A.) - 10.09 - q
4. Zhenye Xie (China) - 10.14
5. Raymond Ekevwo (Nigeria) - 10.20
6. Ojie Edoburun (Great Britian) - 10.22
7. Yuki Koike (Japan) - 10.28
8. Emmanuel Matadi (Liberia) - 10.28

Men's 100 m Semifinal 3 +0.8 m/s
1. Akani Simbine (South Africa) - 10.01 - Q
2. Zharnel Hughes (Great Britain) - 10.05 - Q
3. Filippo Tortu (Italy) - 10.11 - q
4. Tyquendo Tracey (Jamaica) - 10.11
5. Michael Rodgers (U.S.A.) - 10.12
6. Yoshihide Kiryu (Japan) - 10.16
7. Jimmy Vicaut (France) - 10.16
8. Arthur Cisse (Cote D'Ivoire) - 10.34

Men's 400 m Hurdles Semifinal 2
1. Karsten Warholm (Norway) - 48.28 - Q
2. Abdelmalik Lahoulou (Algeria) - 48.39 - Q - NR
3. TJ Holmes (U.S.A.) - 48.67 - q
4. Ludvy Vaillant (France) - 49.10
5. Chris McAlister (Great Britain) - 49.18 - PB
6. Luke Campbell (Germany) - 50.00
7. Patryk Dobek (Poland) - 50.18
8. Masaki Toyoda (Japan) - 50.30

Men's 400 m Hurdles Semifinal 3
1. Rai Benjamin (U.S.A.) - 48.52 - Q
2. Abderrahman Samba (Qatar) - 48.72 - Q
3. Takatoshi Abe (Japan) - 48.97
4. Thomas Barr (Ireland) - 49.02
5. Jabir Madari Pillyalil (India) - 49.71
6. Fernando Vega (Mexico) - 49.96
7. Vit Muller (Czech Republic) - 49.97
8. Rilwan Alowonle (Nigeria) - 52.01

Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heat 2
1. Poland - 3:15.47 - Q
2. Brazil - 3:16.12 - Q - AR
3. India - 3:15.14 - Q
4. Belgium - 3:16.16 - q - NR
5. Italy - 3:16.52
6. Kenya - 3:17.09
7. Germany - 3:17.85
8. Japan - 3:18.77 - NR

Men's Pole Vault Qualification Group A
1. Sam Kendricks (U.S.A.) - 5.75 m - Q
2. Thiago Braz (Brazil) - 5.75 m - Q
3. Claudio Michel Stecchi (Italy) - 5.75 m - Q
-----
13. Daichi Sawano (Japan) - 5.45 m
14. Masaki Ejima (Japan) - 5.45 m

Men's Pole Vault Qualification Group B
1. Piotr Lisek (Poland) - 5.75 m - Q
2. Cole Walsh (U.S.A.) - 5.75 m - Q
3. Armand Duplantis (Sweden) - 5.75 m - Q
-----
12. Seito Yamamoto (Japan) - 5.60 m

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved