Skip to main content

National Track and Field Championships Day Three Highlights

The last day of the 104th National Track and Field Championships saw a short stack of new records across disciplines, mostly on the women's side.

The biggest news came in the women's discus throw, where Maki Saito (Tokyo Joshi Taiiku Univ.) threw a new national junior record of 55.41 m on her fourth attempt and putting defending champ Minori Tsujikawa (Uchida Yoko AC) into 2nd before coming back on her last to almost equal it.

In the women's 100 m hurdles, it took a PB from Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko) to hold off national record holder Asuka Terada (Pasona Group) for the win, tying the meet record in 13.02 (-0.1). Taio Kanai (Mizuno) likewise held off national record holder Shunya Takayama (Zenrin), tying the meet record in 13.36 (-0.1) to win. Kanai and Takayama have alternated national titles for the last four years, with 13.36 their winning time for the last three.

The women's 200 m saw the top three all drop PBs, Remi Tsuruta (Minami Kyushu Family Mart) unexpectedly holding off 2019 national champ Mei Kodama (Fukuoka) for the win in 23.17 (-0.1), good enough for all-time Japanese #3. At 20.44 Kodama came in at #7 and #2 on the collegiate lists. The men's 200 m wasn't as fast relatively speaking, but in an exciting last 50 m Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) ran down Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) to score the national title in 20.75. Ryota Suzuki (Josai Univ.) nearly pipped Koike at the line for 2nd, coming up just short in 20.89 to Koike's 20.88.

Both the women's 800 m and 400 m hurdles were also good, with Ayaka Kawata (Higashi Osaka Univ.) and Aisha Ibrahim (Sapporo Kokusai Univ.) each winning their races by over half a second. Kawata took the 800 m in 2:03.54 over collegiate rival Ayano Shiomi (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and last year's national champ Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku), and Ibrahim the 400 m hurdles in a PB 56.50 that moved her up to all-time Japanese #6 and all-time #4 on the collegiate charts.

In the men's high jump, Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) followed up his 2.31 win at last month's National Corporate Championships, the #2 jump in the world this year, with a 2.30 for the win and solidifying his position alongside national record holder Naoto Tobe at the top of the game in Japan. 2019 men's discus throw winner Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) was the only national champ to defend on the last day of the meet, throwing 60.24 m to score another title.

National Track and Field Championships

Day Three Highlights
Denka Big Swan Stadium, Niigata, Oct. 3, 2020
complete results

Women

Women's 200 m Final -0.1 m/s
1. Remi Tsuruta (Minami Kyushu Family Mart) - 23.17 - PB
2. Mei Kodama (Fukuoka Univ.) - 23.44 - PB
3. Sayaka Oishi (Cerespo) - 23.78 - PB

Women's 800 m Final
1. Ayaka Kawata (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 2:03.54
2. Ayano Shiomi (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 2:04.24
3. Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:04.56

Women's 100 m Hurdles Final -0.1 m/s
1. Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko) - 13.02 - MR tie, PB
2. Asuka Terada (Pasona Group) - 13.14
3. Nana Fujimori (Zenrin) - 13.33

Women's 400 m Hurdles Final
1. Aisha Ibrahim (Sapporo Kokusai Univ.) - 56.50 - PB
2. Eri Utsunomiya (Hasegawa) - 57.09
3. Akiko Ito (Cerespo) - 57.34

Women's Discus Throw Final
1. Maki Saito (Tokyo Joshi Taiiku Univ.) - 55.41 m - U20 NR
2. Minori Tsujikawa (Uchida Yoko AC) - 51.62 m
3. Natsumi Fujimori (Fukui Sports Assoc.) - 50.46 m

Men

Men's 200 m Final -0.5 m/s
1. Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.75
2. Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 20.88
3. Ryota Suzuki (Josai Univ.) - 20.89

Men's 800 m Final
1. Daichi Setoguchi (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:47.70
2. Mikuto Kaneko (Chuo Univ.) - 1:47.95
3. Junya Matsumoto (Hosei Univ.) - 1:48.04

Men's 110 m Hurdles Final -0.1 m/s
1. Taio Kanai (Mizuno) - 13.36 - MR tie
2. Shunya Takayama (Zenrin) - 13.47
3. Shunsuke Izumiya (Juntendo  Univ.) - 13.48

Men's Triple Jump Final
1. Hikaru Ikehata (Surugadai AC) - 16.54 m +0.7 m/s
2. Yuki Yamashita (Kokushikan Club) - 16.28 m +0.6 m/s
3. Kohei Nakayama (Watanabe Pipe) - 16.05 m +1.1 m/s

Men's High Jump Final
1. Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) - 2.30 m
2. Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex RC) - 2.20 m
2. Ryo Sato (Niigata Albirex RC)- 2.20 m
2. Takashi Eto (Ajinomoto) - 2.20 m

Men's Discus Throw Final
1. Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) - 60.24 m
2. Masateru Yugami (Toyota) - 56.57 m
3. Shinichi Yukinaga (Shikoku Univ.) - 55.89 m

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...