On the second day of track and field at the Tokyo Olympic Games, joint national record holder in the 100 m hurdles Asuka Terada became the first Japanese woman since 2000 to make an Olympic semifinal, running just 0.08 off her NR. Running in the fifth heat, Terada had a good start and hung on to clock 12.95 (+0.3), the fastest among time qualifiers. Her NR co-holder Masami Aoki and veteran Ayako Kimura both failed to move on, Aoki finishing 7th in the third heat and Kimura 7th in the opening heat.
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In the men's pole vault, neither Seito Yamamoto nor Masaki Ejima advanced out of the qualification round. Both cleared only 5.30 m to finish near the bottom of the field.
In the evening session, Yuki Hashioka had a great showing in the men's long jump qualification round, winning his group with a jump of 8.17 m, third-best in the field overall and one of only three athletes to hit the auto-qualifying standard. National record holder Shotaro Shiroyama and third man Hibiki Tsuha both came up short of qualifying, Shiroyama jumping only 7.70 m and Tsuha 7.61 m with 7.96 m the dividing line.
Men's 100 m national record holder Ryota Yamagata also came up short, finishing 4th in his heat in 10.15 just 0.03 seconds shy of making the semi-final on time. Yuki Koike and national champion Shuhei Tada both clocked 10.22 in their heats, Koike finishing 4th in his heat and Tada 6th in his. A disappointing blow for Japanese fans, whose support will now turn to the 4x100 m relay where they hope to see all three runners mirror Japan's relay success at other recent Olympics and World Championships.
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