Tanaka Breaks Meet Record in Andujar, Sakaguchi Just Short of Doha Standard

Running her first race as a 20-year-old two days after her birthday, 2018 World U20 Championships 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki TC) tuned up for the Doha World Championships with a 15:17.28 meet record in the Memorial Francisco Ramon Higueras meet in Andujar, Spain.

Running with support from JRN, Tanaka had an unexpected rematch against this year's 5000 m national champion Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido). With a projected 3000 m split of 9:13 Tanaka kept herself in 3rd place until the pacer dropped out a lap early at 2600 m. When frontrunning Ethiopian-born athletes Beyenu Degefa and Bontu Rebitu immediately slowed down Tanaka went to the front to keep the pace moving, dropping Kimura and others. Over the next three laps she and Degefa exchanged the lead at least three times before Tanaka put the hammer down from 800 m out.

Alone over the last 800 m, Tanaka was under 3:00 for the final 1000 m to take the win in 15:17.28, missing her PB by less than 2 seconds but beating Kimura's year-leading Japanese time by almost 3. Tanaka's time took 16 seconds off the meet record and opened 13 seconds on runner-up Degefa over the last two laps. "I totally blew it at Nationals," she told JRN post-race. "This time I ran the kind of race I was envisioning." Next up she will run the 5000 m in Doha.

Once she let go, national champion Kimura rapidly dropped back from Tanaka and the others in the lead group to finish 8th in 16:19.80. Pre-race her coach, men’s 3000 m steeplechase national record holder Yoshitaka Iwamizu, told JRN, “She’s been feeling pretty tired lately, and we’re kind of surprised there are other Japanese runners here. We’d been planning for her to come here so she could race without any other Japanese around and get a good mental image in place for Doha.” The fastest Japanese woman of the year prior to Tanaka’s win with a 15:19.99 in May, Kimura will need to make the most of the next month to recover and be ready for her World Championships debut.

Having missed Doha qualification by less than a second while winning June’s National Championships men’s 3000 m steeplechase, Ryohei Sakaguchi (Tokai Univ.) was also in Andujar in a last-ditch attempt to clear the standard. Three days earlier Sakaguchi raced in the Memorial Borisa Hanzekovica meet in Zagreb, Croatia alongside Nationals runner-up Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu). Shiojiri suffered a bad fall on the first water jump, landing with the edge of the water pit hitting directly across his thigh, and dropped out.

Sakaguchi frontran early but slowed, rallying over the last lap but again missing the standard by less than a second with a 9:29.91 for 8th. In Andujar he again went out at the front behind the pacer, but this time he showed real fatigue and slowed dramatically over the last 1000 m, absent of any sign of his characteristic closing speed and finishing 10th in 8:47.86.

His only hopes now are of earning an invitation from the IAAF based on his 8:29.85 at Nationals and of the JAAF accepting. Shiojiri’s fate is less clear, having gone under the standard earlier in the season but falling at both Nationals and in Zagreb to say nothing of the impact of his fall. The final lineup of the Japanese team will be announced Sept. 17.

Memorial Borisa Hanzekovica

Zagreb, Croatia, 9/3/2019
complete results

Men's 3000 m Steeplechase
1. Matthew Hughes (Canada) - 8:23.42
2. Topi Raitanen (Finland) - 8:25.51
3. Lawrence Kipsang (Kenya) - 8:26.93
4. Ben Buckingham (Australia) - 8:27.51
5. Yaser Bagharab (Qatar) - 8:28.45
-----
8. Ryohei Sakaguchi (Japan/Tokai Univ.) - 8:29.91

Memorial Francisco Ramon Higueras

Andujar, Spain, 9/6/19
complete results

Women's 5000 m
1. Nozomi Tanaka (Japan/Toyota Jidoshokki TC) - 15:17.28 - MR
2. Beyenu Degefa (Ethiopia) - 15:30.51 (MR)
3. Meraf Bahta (Sweden) - 15:35.17
4. Maja Alm (Denmark) - 15:35.81 - PB
5. Bontu Rebitu (Bahrain) - 15:50.60
-----
8. Tomoka Kimura (Japan/Shiseido) - 16:19.80
9. Nana Kuraoka (Japan/Denso) - 16:25.99
11. Mai Shoji (Japan/Denso) - 16:33.05
12. Mikuni Yada (Japan/Denso) - 16:34.08

Men's 3000 m Steeplechase
1. Yaser Bagharab (Qatar) - 8:27.25
2. Tom Karbo (Norway) - 8:27.67 - PB
3. Barnabas Kipyego (Kenya) - 8:34.02
4. Abdelhamid Zerrifi (France) - 8:35.82
5. Kaur Kiwstik (Estonia) - 8:38.44
-----
10. Ryohei Sakaguchi (Japan/Tokai Univ.) - 8:47.86

text and photo © 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

japan running news

Search This Blog