Skip to main content

Yonezawa and Kanno Run World Leads in Sendai



Since July 23 official track time trials have returned to Miyagi prefecture. Despite this summer's National High School Championships having been canceled local high school athletes have been training hard, and the work they put in has paid off with good results.

On July 25 the 41st Sendai Long Distance Time Trials meet took place at Athlete Park Sendai Field in Sendai's Miyagino Ward. Sendai Ikuei H.S. 2nd-year Nanako Yonezawa 16, produced the biggest result of the day in the women's 1500 m. Last season as a first-year she won the Second Stage at the National High School Ekiden Championships, contributing to Sendai Ikuei's team victory.

In the 1500 m she led from the early stages of the race, kicking off the last corner to take the win. Her time of 4:18.52 was a PB that broke the 25-year-old Miyagi prefecture high school record. It was also the fastest U18 time in the world this year and second-fastest U20 time by just 0.22. "My goal was to hit the National Championships qualifying standard of 4:21.50, so I'm really happy that I did it," said Yonezawa. "I want to stay focused on doing my best and overcoming each challenge that faces me one by one."

Also running a strong time of 4:20.82 was Sendai Ikuei 1st-year Kokone Sugimori, 15. Last year's 1500 m winner at the National Junior High School Championships, Sugimori graduated from the same junior high as Yonezawa a year later and followed her to Sendai Ikuei. "I always wanted to go to Sendai Ikuei, so it's really exciting to finally get to wear the uniform," she said. "I always respected Yonezawa even in junior high, and I want to keep trying to stay with her."

Along with Yonezawa and Sugimori, a third Sendai Ikuei runner, 2nd-year Natsumi Yamanaka, also cleared the National Championships qualifying mark in 4:21.18. All three doubled in the 3000 m, with Yonezawa running 9:36.35 for 2nd behind teammate Haruka Kokai, winner in 9:36.14.

At a separate meet in Osaki, Miyagi on July 23, Sendai Daiichi H.S. third-year Kohei Kanno ran the a PB of 50.67 in the men's 400 m hurdles, the fastest U20 time in the world this year. At another meet in Kurihara, last year's National High School Championships 100 m and 200 m winner Towa Uzawa, 17, was just off his 100 m PB, running a strong 10.46. Like Yonezawa and Sugimori, the cancelation of Nationals didn't stop Kanno or Uzawa from putting in the work, and they finally had the chance to show what they could do.

source article:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cNkvO9-qpo&feature=youtu.be
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...
Post a Comment
Read more

Keita Satoh Running New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile

1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh (Nike Swoosh TC) is running this weekend's New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile , the first time that a Japanese man has been invited in the race's 45-year history. In university Sato had to change focus away from middle distance to the half marathon-scale lengths of the Hakone Ekiden stages, but since graduating in March and relocating to Flagstaff he has refocused on the 1500 m, going from 3:43.19 in April in his first 1500 m in almost 4 years to 3:38.30 over the course of 5 races. Fifth Avenue will be his last race before heading back to Japan for one more track 1500 m and some down time. Men's entries with best 1500 m times in last 3 years: Stefan Nillessen (NED) - 3:29.23 (2025) Flavien Szot (FRA) - 3:30.74 (2025) Oliver Hoare (AUS) - 3:31.07 (2024) Jake Heyward (GBR) - 3:31.18 (2026) Titouan Le Grix (FRA) - 3:31.46 (2026) Romain Mornet (FRA) - 3:31.62 (2025) Adam Spencer (AUS) - 3:31.83 (2026) Pieter Sisk (BEL) - 3:31.85 (2025) Gary Martin (...
2 comments
Read more