The 101st Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships continue today at Tokyo's National Stadium, the whole thing streamed live by organizers KGRR. It's a busy day, with finals in the women's and both D1 and D2 men's 1500 m, 100 mH and 110 mH, 100 m, 400 m and 4x100 m relay, plus the women's 10000 m RW, men's triple jump, women's high jump, men's shot put, women's hammer throw, the second half of the decathlon, and the qualifying heats in the men's 5000 m. The complete schedule for the day is here, with live results to be had here.
With Nihon University having run the 3rd-fastest collegiate time ever in the D1 men's 4x100 m heats, 38.72, the final at 17:40 local time could be the main event of the day. Nihon was just 0.18 from the collegiate record set back in 2010 in the old Olympic stadium by a Chuo University squad anchored by Shota Iizuka, and there's a lot of hope they can build on their first-round run to get it in the final. Chuo's current lineup was 3rd-fastest in qualifying at 39.24, with Waseda University having run 39.16 for the 2nd spot.
The favorites led their events in the qualifying rounds of the D1 men's 100 m, 400 m and 1500 m, Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) #1 in the 100 m heats in 10.29 (+0.0), Joseph Nakajima (Toyo Univ.) in the 400 m final qualifiers in 46.83, and Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.) in the 1500 m final qualifiers in 3:50.36. It'll be a surprise if any of them loses in the finals. The women's races are closer, the most interesting being the 100 mH which looks like a duel between Nanako Tamaoki (Kokushikan Univ.) and Kiyono Tanaka (Surugadai Univ.).
The other big race of the day will be the men's 5000 m, where qualifying heats are a new addition. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) has mostly skipped the steeple this season to build speed and stamina ahead of running it at the World Championships this summer. He'll be in the 5000 m here, running Heat 1 of the D1 men's race at 19:10 local time. His 13:26.78 best, the 3rd-fastest Japanese U20 mark ever, puts him 9 seconds ahead of his closest competition, 1st-year Tomonori Yamaguchi (Waseda Univ.) in Heat 2 with a best of 13:35.16. A shame Miura won't get to face 1st-year Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.), who leads the D2 field fresh off a 13:22.91 U20 NR earlier this month in Nobeoka. Sato races at 18:00.
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