National Track and Field Championships Day One Highlights

The sprints, middle distance, hurdles, jumps and throws segment of Japan's 104th National Track and Field Championships kicked off Thursday in Niigata. The best competitions of the opening day were the women's and men's javelin throws.

Defending women's champ Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) got off to a slow start, taking until her fourth throw to take over the top spot from Yuka Sato (Nikonikonori), throwing 59.30 m to Sato's opening 59.03. Only throwing 57.45 m on her fifth attempt, on her final throw Sato dropped her biggest throw of the day. When the measurement came up it was 59.32 m, Kitaguchi falling to her hands and knees when she saw it before getting up laughing to congratulation Sato on her national title.

In the men's javelin throw, 2019 national champ Ryohei Arai (Suzuki) was relentless, throwing farther with each attempt except for a foul in the fourth round. Back in form this season after years of struggles and having cleared 80 m for the first time since 2012, Genki Dean (Mizuno) lagged behind Arai each step of the way until his fifth throw, when his 80.07 m throw put him well ahead of Arai's 77.41 m. But Arai wasn't finished, coming back in the final round with a 81.57 m closer to knock Dean back to 2nd.

Alongside Arai, 2019 women's pole vault champion Mayu Nasu (Run Journey) scored another title, clearing 4.20 m. All four of the other field event finals saw new names take the top spots, three of them college students. The lone exception was women's high jump winner Sheriai Tsuda (Tsukiji Gindako AC), who cleared 1.78 m for the win.

There were no finals on the track and few surprises, with almost all the favorites moving on easily. Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) had the fastest time in the first round with a 10.21 (-0.3), but in the semifinals he was only 3rd-fastest at 10.27 (-0.3), with Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) and Aska Cambridge (Nike) both running 10.23 (0.0). Just about the only surprise came in the men's 1500 m, where top-ranked Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) led almost the entire way in Heat 1 only to collapse with 50 m to go.

The National Track and Field Championships continue Friday and Saturday. Live streaming of Day Two is here, with live results here. The meet schedule and entry lists are here.

104th National Track and Field Championships

Day One Highlights
Denka Big Swan Stadium, Niigata, Oct. 1, 2020
complete results

Women

Women's Pole Vault Final
1. Mayu Nasu (Run Journey) - 4.20 m
2. Misaki Morota (Chuo Univ.) - 4.00 m
3. Jun Maekawa (Nittai Univ.) - 4.00 m - PB

Women's Javelin Throw Final
1. Yuka Sato (Nikonikonori) - 59.32 m
2. Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) - 59.30 m
3. Momone Ueda (Fukuoka Univ.) - 58.25 m - PB

Women's High Jump Final
1. Sheriai Tsuda (Tsukiji Gindako AC) - 1.78 m
2. Moe Takeuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1.75 m
2. Suzuna Tokumoto (Yuboku) - 1.75 m

Women's Long Jump Final
1. Ayaka Kora (Tsukuba Univ.) - 6.32 m +0.5 m/s
2. Nagisa Yamamoto (Kanoya Taiiku Univ.) - 6.25 m -0.3 m/s
3. Sumire Hata (Shibata Kogyo) - 6.12 m -0.3 m/s

Women's Shot Put Final
1. Yuka Takahashi (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - 15.26 m
2. Fumika Ono (Saitama Univ.) - 15.21 m
3. Honoka Oyama (Fukuoka Univ.) - 15.05 m

Women's 100 m Final Qualifiers
Mei Kodama (Fukuoka Univ.) - 11.53 -1.3 m/s
Remi Tsuruta (Minami Kyushu Family Mart) - 11.57 -0.6 m/s
Yu Ishikawa (Soyo H.S.) - 11.68 -0.6 m/s
Hina Ishido (Ritsumeikan Keisho H.S.) - 11.75 -0.6 m/s
Kanako Yuasa (Mie Sports Assoc.) - 11.80 -0.6 m/s
Marin Adachi (Kyoto Tachibana H.S.) - 11.80 -1.3 m/s
Hanae Aoyama (Osaka H.S.) - 11.82 -1.3 m/s
Aiko Iki (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 11.83 1.3 m/s

Women's 400 m Final Qualifiers
Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei AC) - 53.29
Airi Oshima (Chuo Univ.) - 53.96 - PB
Konomi Takeishi (Toho Ginko) - 54.19
Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 54.24
Mayu Kobayashi (J. Vic) - 54.42
Saki Takashima (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 54.49
Ayaka Kawata (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 54.69
Kina Matsuo (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 54.78

Women's 1500 m Final Qualifiers
Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:25.22
Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 4:25.92
Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Meijo Univ.) - 4:26.27
Yume Goto (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:26.44
Nanaka Yonezawa (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 4:26.48
Maho Shimizu (Yamada Denki) - 4:26.56
Yuna Wada (Meijo Univ.) - 4:26.69
Mizuki Michishita (Rikkyo Univ.) - 4:26.93
Yume Fukuda (Toyota Jidoshokki) 4:27.01
Riku Kikuchi (Higo Ginko) - 4:27.12
Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:27.35
Saki Katagihara (Tsukuba Univ.) - 4:27.51

Men

Men's Shot Put Final
1. Shinichi Yukinaga (Shikoku Univ.) - 17.77 m
2. Hikaru Murakami (Nittai Univ. Staff) - 17.73 m
3. Masahira Sato (Niigata Albirex RC) - 17.68 m

Men's Javelin Throw Final
1. Ryohei Arai (Suzuki) - 81.57 m
2. Genki Dean (Mizuno) - 80.07 m
3. Tatsuya Sakamoto (Osaka Taiiku Univ.) - 78.07 m

Men's 100 m Final Qualifiers
Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.23 0.0 m/s
Aska Cambridge (Nike) - 10.23 0.0 m/s
Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 10.27 -0.3 m/s
Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.28 -0.3 m/s
Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 10.29 0.0 m/s
Ippei Takeda (Suzuki) - 10.37 -0.3 m/s
Hiroki Yanagida (Tokyo Nogyo Daini H.S.) - 10.38 -0.3 m/s
Ryota Suzuki (Josai Univ.) - 10.39 -0.3 m/s

Men's 400 m Final Qualiiers
Rikuya Ito (Waseda Univ.) - 46.20
Mizuki Obuhi (Torihei AC) - 46.70
Kentaro Sato (Fujitsu) - 46.77
Takuho Yoshizu (Toyo Univ.) - 46.84 - PB
Fuga Sato (Nasu Kankyo) - 46.86
Daichi Inoue (Nihon Univ.) - 46.91
Tomohiro Kokubo (Waseda Univ.) - 46.97
Naoki Kitadani (Tokai Univ.) - 47.07

Men's 1500 m Final Qualifiers
Shoma Funatsu (Kyudenko) - 3:42.92
Ryoji Tatezawa (DeNA) - 3:43.14
Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) - 3:43.34
Hidenori Sakuma (Meiji Univ.) - 3:43.56
Rikuto Iijima (Ami AC) - 3:43.61
Yusuke Takahashi (Hokkaido Univ.) - 3:43.73 - PB
Kazuyoshi Tamogami (Ami AC) - 3:44.14
Ryota Matoba (Mitsubishi Juko) - 3:44.59
Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec) - 3:45.58
Riku Kimura (Aisan Kogyo) - 3:46.01
Masato Saiya (YKK) - 3:46.06
Haruto Ishizuka (Waseda Jitsugyo H.S.) - 3:46.26

Men's 400 m Hurdles Final Qualfiers
Takatoshi Abe (Yamada Denki)- 49.77
Hiromu Yamauchi (Waseda Univ.) - 50.04
Hiroya Kawagoe (Jaws) - 50.12
Masaki Toyoda (Fujitsu) - 50.22
Masaya Oda (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 50.27
Kazuki Kurokawa (Hosei Univ.) - 50.28
Tatsuhiro Yamamoto (Nihon Univ.) - 50.32
Yusuke Hataura (Doshisha Univ.) - 51.16

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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