Skip to main content

National Track and Field Championships Day Two Highlights



Friday was day two of Japan's 104th National Track and Field Championships, and whatever else might have been happening in other parts of the world it was a good day at least for defending women's champions. Three scored repeat wins, Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei AC) winning the 400 m final in 53.55, Mariko Morimoto (Uchida Kensetsu AC) taking the triple jump in 13.14 m (-0.2) and Akane Watanabe (Maruwa) the hammer throw at 64.84 m.

As with day one a lot of the 2019 men's champs were missing, leaving Takatoshi Abe (Yamada) the only one to put a back-to-back title next to his name with a 49.73 win in the 400 m hurdles that saw him almost run down by Tatsuhiro Yamamoto (Nihon Univ.) after starting hard. 2017 and 2018 men's 1500 m national champ Ryoji Tatezawa (DeNA) made it back to the top after a bad year last year, winning in 3:41.32 with the top four all under 3:42. Times in the men's 100 m final were nothing special, but in maybe the most emotional performance of the day Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei), Japan's first man to break the 10-second barrier, won his first national title since 2014 in 10.27 (-0.2), running down a packed field that had all the big names in Japanese sprinting except Abdul Hakim Sani Brown and Ryota Yamagata.

After a set of great runs at last month's National University Championships that moved her up to all-time Japanese #3 for 100 m, Mei Kodama (Fukuoka Univ.) proved it wasn't a fluke with a win in 11.36 (+0.5). She couldn't have arrived on the scene at a better time, national record holder Chisato Fukushima fading from the scene and unlikely to make the Tokyo Olympic team. The breakthrough performance of the day came in the women's 1500 m, with Nanaka Yonezawa (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) running the fourth-fastest Japanese high school mark ever, 4:15.62, for 2nd. Koki Kuruma (Striders AC) had a good breakthrough day too, clearing 5.60 m for the first time to unexpectedly beat favorite Seito Yamamoto (Toyota) for the win.

The National Championships wrap up Saturday, everything broadcast live on NHK. There's no official live stream, but live results can be had here.

National Track and Field Championships

Day Two Highlights
Denka Big Swan Stadium, Niigata, Oct. 2, 2020
complete results

Women

Women's 100 m Final +0.5 m/s
1. Mei Kodama (Fukuoka Univ.) - 11.36
2. Remi Tsuruta (Minami Kyushu Family Mart) - 11.53
3. Yu Ishikawa (Soyo H.S.) - 11.65 - PB

Women's 400 m Final
1. Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei AC) - 53.55
2. Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 53.77
3. Saki Takashima (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 53.81

Women's 1500 m Final 
1. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:10.21
2. Nanaka Yonezawa (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 4:15.62 - PB
3. Yume Goto (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:16.18 - PB
4. Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 4:16.33
5. Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 4:18.65

Women's Triple Jump Final
1. Mariko Morimoto (Uchida Kensetsu AC) - 13.14 m -0.2 m/s
2. Asuka Yamamoto (Kokushikan Club) - 12.85 m +0.5 m/s
3. Eri Sakamoto (Nihon Shitsunai TC) - 12.17 m -0.5 m/s

Women's Hammer Throw Final
1. Akane Watanabe (Maruwa) - 64.84 m
2. Hitomi Katsuyama (Oriko) - 62.47 m
3. Miharu Kodate (Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) - 60.80 m

Women's 200 m Final Qualifiers
Remi Tsuruta (Minami Kyushu Family Mart) - 23.95 +0.4 m/s
Sayaka Oishi (Cerespo) - 23.99 +0.1 m/s
Mei Kodama (Fukuoka Univ.) - 24.07 +0.2 m/s
Ami Saito (Osaka Seikei Univ.) - 24.11 +0.1 m/s
Saki Takashima (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 24.22 +0.1 m/s
Sayumi Yoshida (Hitomiya AC) - 24.27 +0.4 m/s
Sae Miyazono (Kokushikan Univ.) - 24.29 +0.2 m/s
Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei AC) - 24.29 +0.4 m/s

Women's 800 m Final Qualifiers
Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 2:05.14
Ayano Shiomi (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 2:05.61
Miu Nakamura (Fukushima Univ.) - 2:05.80 - PB
Ayaka Kawata (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 2:06.92
Miki Shimura (Nittai Univ.) - 2:07.71 - PB
Yuki Taniguchi (Seiryo H.S.) - 2:08.22
Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:08.28
Rina Aoyama (Chukyo H.S.) - 2:08.53
Riku Kikuchi (Higo Ginko) - 2:08.61

Women's 100 m Hurdles Final Qualifiers
Asuka Terada (Pasona Group) - 13.13 +0.3 m/s
Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko) - 13.17 +0.1 m/s
Nana Fujimori (Zenrin) - 13.34 +0.1 m/s
Miho Suzuki (Hasegawa) - 13.36 +0.1 m/s
Miku Fujiwara (Sumitomo Denko) - 13.38 +0.1 m/s
Hitomi Shimura (Toho Ginko) - 13.46 +0.3 m/s
Yumi Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 13.57 +0.3 m/s
Maya Takeuchi (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ.) - 13.57 +0.3 m/s - PB

Women's 400 m Hurdles Final Qualifiers
Aisha Ibrahim (Sapporo Kokusai Univ.) - 57.80
Akiko Ito (Cerespo) - 58.01
Kana Koyama (Waseda Univ.) - 58.16
Ami Yamamoto (Kyoto Tachibana H.S.) - 58.34
Eri Utsunomiya (Hasegawa) - 58.47
Rui Tsugawa (Waseda Univ.) - 58.79
Yuka Kawamura (Waseda Univ.) - 58.80
Moeka Sekimoto (Waseda Univ.) - 59.19

Men

Men's 100 m Final -0.2 m/s
1. Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 10.27
2. Aska Cambridge (Nike) - 10.28
3. Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.30
4. Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 10.33
5. Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.34
6. Ryota Suzuki (Josai Univ.) - 10.41
7. Hiroki Yanagida (Tokyo Nogyo Daini H.S.) - 10.43
8. Ippei Takeda (Suzuki) - 10.52

Men's 400 m Final
1. Rikuya Ito (Waseda Univ.) - 45.94
2. Daichi Inoue (Nihon Univ.) - 46.48
3. Fuga Sato (Nasu Kankyo) - 46.50

Men's 1500 m Final
1. Ryoji Tatezawa (DeNA) - 3:41.32
2. Ryota Matono (Mitsubishi Juko) - 3:41.82 - PB
3. Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) - 3:41.89
4. Shoma Funatsu (Kyudenko) - 3:41.96
5. Yusuke Takahashi (Hokkaido Univ.) - 3:42.33 - PB

Men's 400 m Hurdles Final
1. Takatoshi Abe (Yamada) - 49.73
2. Tatsuhiro Yamamoto (Nihon Univ.) - 49.79
3. Masaki Toyoda (Fujitsu) - 49.96

Men's Long Jump Final
1. Hibiki Tsuha (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 7.99 m -0.1 m/s
2. Daiki Oda (Yamada) - 7.81 m -0.6 m/s
3. Riku Ito (Kinkidai Kogyo H.S.) - 7.75 m +0.7 m/s

Men's Pole Vault Final
1. Koki Kuruma (Striders AC) - 5.60 m - PB
2. Seito Yamamoto (Toyota) - 5.60 m
3. Kosei Takekawa (Marumoto Sangyo) - 5.50 m

Men's Hammer Throw Final
1. Ryota Kashimura (Yamada) - 71.03 m
2. Takahiro Kobata (Chukyo Univ.) - 70.23 m - PB
3. Shota Fukuda (Nihon Univ.) - 69.30 m

Men's 200 m Final Qualifiers
Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 21.03 -0.1 ms
Kazuma Higuchi (Hosei Univ.) - 21.05 -0.2 m/s
Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 21.05 -0.2 m/s
Ryota Suzuki (Josai Univ.) - 21.10 -0.2 m/s
Keigo Yasuda (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 21.11 0.0 m/s
Naoki Uemoto (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 21.14 0.0 m/s
Jun Yamashita (ANA) - 21.16 -0.2 m/s
Shota Hara (Suzuki) - 21.19 -0.1 m/s

Men's 800 m Final Qualifiers
Daichi Setoguchi (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:48.02
Kentaro Usuda (Tsukuba Univ.) - 1:48.19 - PB
Daiki Nemoto (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:48.60
Junya Matsumoto (Hosei Univ.) - 1:48.55
Daisuke Sakurai (Seiko) - 1:48.71
Sho Kawamoto (Suzuki) - 1:49.23
Mikuto Kaneko (Chuo Univ.) - 1:50.29
Kenta Umetani (Sunbelx) - 1:50.51

Men's 110 m Hurdles Final Qualifiers
Shunya Takayama (Zenrin) - 13.39 +0.8 m/s
Taio Kanai (Mizuno) - 13.40 +0.4 m/s
Shunsuke Izumiya (Juntendo Univ.) - 13.45 +0.8 m/s
Shusei Nomoto (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 13.54 +0.8 m/s
Shuhei Ishikawa (Fujitsu) - 13.58 +0.8 m/s
Kenta Masuno (Masonwork) - 13.59 +0.4 m/s
Taiga Yokochi (Hosei Univ.) - 13.60 +0.8 m/s - PB
Thomas Higashi Ishida (Katsuura Golf Club) - 13.61 +0.4 ms

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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...

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...

Shikama and Njeri Win Sendai International Half Marathon

Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won the Sendai International Half Marathon Sunday in Sendai, Shikama in 1:01:31 and Njeri in 1:09:20. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) was the top Japanese woman at 2nd overall. The men's race went through 5 km in 14:34 and 10 km in 29:22. Shikama ran alongside top competition including Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.), who has been running well in half marathons this season, and Tokyo World Championships marathon team member Naoki Koyama (Honda). On a course with many small ups and downs, Shikama attacked on a downhill just after 15 km, quickly breaking free of the lead group of 7. 13 seconds up by 20 km, Shikama covered the last 1.0975 km in 3:06 to seal his first Sendai title. A graduate of Juntendo University , Shikama is in his 4th season with Logisteed. At the 2024 National Corporate Half Marathon he ran 1:00:41, and at last year's East Japan Corporate Ekiden he won the Third Stage. In his marathon d...