Skip to main content

Miura and Mukari Top Windy Oda Memorial 5000 m


Tough conditions at the Oda Memorial Meet Friday, heavy rain in the first half of the meet and strong winds in the second, held back the times, but most of the favorites still rose to the top. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) ran as the top Japanese man throughout the 5000 m A-heat, shrugging off brief challenges from Tokyo Olympian Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) and Takuma Sunaoka (Konica Minolta) in the last 1000 m to kick past Cosmas Mwangi (Chugoku Denryoku) for the win in 13:32.42. The other Tokyo Olympian in the race, Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) was a distant 10th in 13:47.35. Nganga Waweru (Chugoku Denryoku) won the B-heat in 13:57.60 over teammate Taira Omori, 2nd in 13:59.19.

Agnes Mukari (Kyocera) took the win in the women's 5000 m A-heat, easily dropping Tabitha Njeri (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) over the last lap to win in 15:22.90 after being part of a Kenyan lead trio the entire way. Mukari, Njeri and eventual 4th-placer Naomi Muthoni (Univ. Ent.) spent the first 3/4 of the race behind frontrunner Mikuni Yada (Denso) before surging to break away, but when Tanaka was unable to follow they slowed down until she rejoined them. The B-heat was more of an honest race instead of a time trial set up for the top Japanese, with winner Teresia Muthoni (Daiso) setting a meet record 15:03.84 and 2nd-placer Esther Wambui (Starts) beating Mukari's A-heat winning time in 15:22.23.

Aisan Kogyo teammates Philemon Kiplagat and Kosei Yamaguchi went 1-2 in the men's 3000 mSC, Kiplagat soloing sub-8:30 pace the entire way to win in 8:29.25 and Tokyo Olympian Yamaguchi alone behind him in 8:34.72, 5 seconds off his winning time in Melbourne last month. 2000 mSC NR holder Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) was 3rd in 8:38.45. All-time JPN #2 Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) won the women's 3000 mSC in 9:52.16, with Yukari Ishizawa (Hitachi), Tokyo Olympian Yuno Yamanaka (Uniqlo) and Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu) all clearing 10 minutes.

The conditions meant times in the sprints and hurdles were nothing special. All-time JPN #3 Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) won the men's 100 m final in 10.49 (-3.3), while all-time #6 Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) failed to make it to the final after running only 10.57 (-0.7) for 5th in his heat. Midori Mikase (Sumitomo Denko) took the women's 100 m final in 11.79 (-0.7) following a retirement ceremony for NR holder Chisato Fukushima. Rachid Muratake (Juntendo Univ.) won the men's 110 mH final in in 13.55 (-1.5), with Australian Celeste Mucci leading the women's 100 mH final in 13.21 (-2.8). Sae Tsuji (Nittai Univ. Staff) and Yuya Sanbongi (Kinki Para AC) took the para 100 m titles, Tsuji winning the women's race in 13.21 (-1.7) and Sanbongi the men's in 11.12 (-2.3).

In the regional junior races, Yoshihiro Kusuoka (Keisei H.S.) set a meet record 14:09.88 in the boys' 5000 m. Kadogo Cheboitibin (Kojokan H.S.) ran 9:15.02 for 1st in the high school girls' 3000 m, with runner-up Kana Mizokami (Luther H.S.) also clearing 9:20. Naoya Doma (Chiyoda J.H.S.) won the junior high school boys' 3000 m in 8:47.26, Miku Okafuji (Ono Higashi J.H.S.) taking the junior high school girls' 1500 m in 4:45.71.

In field events:
  • Tatsuto Nakagawa (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) continued a solid season with a 70.65 m win in the men's hammer throw, beating Shota Fukuda (Nihon Univ.) by just 1 cm on his last throw in what was probably the meet's most dramatic moment.
  • Hikaru Ikehata (Sundai AC) only made one successful attempt in the men's triple jump, opening with 16.20 m (+0.2) on his first attempt, but it was enough for the win.
  • Minato Miyao (Rakunan H.S.) set a meet record 15.48 m (+0.7) to win the high school boys' triple jump.
  • Natsumi Aoyama (Dytex AC) cleared 1.74 m on her first attempt to win the women's high jump.
  • Mariko Morimoto (Uchida Kensetsu) won the women's triple jump with a 4th-round jump of 13.56 m (+1.2).
  • Taiwan's Ya Chen Yu won the women's hammer throw by over 3.5 m with a throw of 64.34 m.

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

RigaJags said…
The 5000m race had a great final lap and a decent rhythm.
Miura is making it a habit to destroy the opponents over the last 100 meters. I hope he won't always rely too much on that final sprint, to compete internationally he will need to up the rhythm a little as it won't always be possible to come back on the final straight.
That said, his talent is clear.
Next week he is going to be back at his 3000SC at the Tokyo Golden Gran Prix and that will be a very important race with a very good field to see where he is at.

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters