Momoka Muraoka was the only Japanese athlete in action in the finals on the sixth day of track and field competition at the Tokyo Paralympics. A quintuple medalist at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics including a gold in the women's sitting giant slalom, Muraoka made her summer Paralympic debut in the T54 100 m partly out of sense of staleness and frustration with para-skiing. Making it to the final, she placed 6th out of eight in 16.71, 0.38 behind bronze medalist Cheri Madsen of the U.S.A. Muraoka will have a quick turnaround to the 2022 Beijing Paralympics just over six months away.
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...

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