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.
Comments
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.