Melbourne Track Classic

After three straight weeks of road racing that included a half marathon national record, Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) returned to the track alongside 2019 national champion Tomoka Kimura and teammate Yuka Takashima (both Shiseido) for a 5000 m at Australia's Melbourne Track Classic. Kimura collided with another runner at the start and never regained her composure, finishing 12th in 15:51.92. Takashima and Niiya went straight to the front, with Niiya's training partner Wakana Kabasawa (Keio Univ.) handling pacing duties in the early going.

Once Kabasawa stepped off at 1000 m Niiya took over, leading the rest of the way just off the pace she needed to break her 2012-era PB of 15:10.20. The leaders quickly boiled down to just her and Australians Jessica Hull and Genevieve Gregson. From 600 m out Hull kicked, going on to win unchallenged in 15:06.12. Niiya uncharacteristically dropped Gregson over the last lap, taking 2nd in 15:15.41 with Gregson 3rd in 15:20.60. Jenny Blundell was 4th, taking the third spot on the podium for the Australian championships title. Takashima faded to 13th in 15:53.80.

Also at the meet, last year's 800 m and 1500 m double national champion Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) kicked off her 2020 season with a 4:28.48 for 9th in the women's 1500 m. Daigo Hasegawa (Ito Chotanpa) was 7th in the men's triple jump with a jump of 15.26 m (+0.7 m/s).

Melbourne, Australia, 2/6/20
complete results

Women's 5000 m
1. Jessica Hull (Australia) - 15:06.12 - WL
2. Hitomi Niiya (Japan/Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:15.41
3. Genevieve Gregson (Australia) - 15:20.60
4. Jenny Blundell (Australia) - 15:22.14
5. Linden Hall (Australia) - 15:26.22
-----
12. Tomoka Kimura (Japan/Shiseido) - 15:51.92
13. Yuka Takashima (Japan/Shiseido) - 15:53.80
-----
DNF - Wakana Kabasawa (Japan/Keio Univ.) - pacer

Women's 1500 m
1. Lauren Reid (Australia) - 4:16.52
2. Sarah Billings (Australia) - 4:18.25
3. Katherine Camp (New Zealand) - 4:20.75
4. Rebekah Greene (New Zealand) -4:22.09
5. Bernadette Williams (Australia) - 4:22.76
-----
9. Ran Urabe (Japan/Sekisui Kagaku) - 4:28.48

Men's Triple Jump
1. Julian Konlee (Australia) - 16.66 m +0.7 m/s
2. Ayo Ore (Australia) - 16.21 m +0.4 m/s
3. Shemaiah James (Australia) - 16.16 m +1.8 m/s
4. Alwyn Jones (Australia) - 16.05 m +0.9 m/s
5. Connor Murphy (Australia) - 15.68 m +1.3 m/s
-----
7. Daigo Hasegawa (Japan/Ito Chotanpa) - 15.26 m +0.7 m/s

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .

Chesang Wins Osaka Women's Marathon in 2:19:31, Yada Drops 2:19:57 Debut NR

This year's Osaka International Women's Marathon was a race run with a high level of methodicalness, starting slower than the planned 3:19/km but ramping up until the lead pack was skimming around the 2:20:15-30 projected finish level. After hitting halfway in 1:10:13 with a group of 6, by 25 km only 4 were left up front, sub-2:19 runners Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa , and the debuting Mikuni Yada , and when the last 2 pacers stepped off at 30 km it was Yada who went to the front. Despite never have raced longer than the 10.6 km Third Stage at November's Queens Ekiden where she had helped the Edion team score its first-ever national title, Yada was very, very impressive, fearlessly surging from 12 km and never letting up, even laughing and smiling to fans along the course. When she started sustaining a pace around 3:15/km the projected finish dropped under 2:20 and all the way down to 2:19:28 by 35 km, and even when all 3 of the more experienced ru...

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...

japan running news

Search This Blog