Skip to main content

Endo Wins Men's 5000 m to Seal Up Place on Oregon Team - National Championships Day One Highlights


Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) opened the first day of the 2022 National Track and Field Championships in Osaka by becoming the first athlete at Nationals to score a place on the team for next month's World Championships. Saying post-race that he'd run the 5000 m envisioning the semis at Worlds, Endo hung back in the early stages, moved up to cover a mid-race move by Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu), then kicked away with ease in the last 1000 m to take the win in 13:22.15. Combined with his 13:10.69 in April it was enough to land him on the team. Olympian Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) was 2nd in 13:30.15, enough to move up the world rankings but still short of what he'd need to break into what's left of the quota places. Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) came up from the chase pack for 3rd in 13:31.51, with the next 7 all under 13:40. Shiojiri ended up 9th in 13:40.99, with Takuma Sunaoka (Konica Minolta), sub-13:20 this season, last in 14:53.51.

NR holder Naoto Tobe (JAL) was a DNS in the men's high jump with an Achilles tendon injury that will probably keep him home this summer, but Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) stepped up to win at 2.30 m, enough to move him up from 18th to 15th in the quota. Interviewed later he said that he felt pretty good about his chances of staying in the top 32. 2nd through 4th all cleared 2.20 m, with Ryoichi Akamatsu (Awas) scoring enough points to move him up from his more precarious spot at 30th in the quota.

Sumire Hata (Shibata Kogyo) overcame a -2.5 m/s headwind to win the women's long jump with a third-round 6.43 m jump. That was good enough to improve her quota spot from 22nd to 20th and improve her chances of making the cut. Nanaka Kori (Niigata Albirex RC) pulled out a 58.70 m throw for the win on her last attempt in the women's discus throw, just off her own national record and putting the Worlds quota in range if she can duplicate that performance one more time before the June 26 deadline. Likewise for Masateru Yugami (Toyota), who threw 59.43 m in the men's discus, his best since 2019, to move just outside the quota. But that was only good enough for 2nd, with Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) throwing 59.45 m for the national title.


In qualifying rounds the biggest news was the men's 100 m, where Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) failed to make the final. With Aska Cambridge (Nike) a DNS and NR holder Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) not even entered that meant a lot of the core of Japan's 4x100 m crew won't be on the starting line in the final tomorrow. Even Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) barely made it, squeezing through on time in 10.25 (+0.5). But even as those veterans struggled, there was good news. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Tumbleweed TC) was back, running 10.11 (0.0) to lead the heats and then clearing the Worlds standard with a 10.04 (+0.8) to top the semis. Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) won the first semi in 10.13 (+0.5) with Ryuichiro Sakai (Osaka Gas) 2nd in 10.15, and in the second semi 18-year-old Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) continued to climb the ranks with a 10.16 (0.0) PB for 1st. A win from Sani Brown in the final tomorrow looks like a given, but the lineup for the Worlds 4x100 m could be very different from last summer's Olympic DNF roster.

The women's 100 m title is less sure, with Midori Mikase (Sumitomo Denko), Arisa Kimishima (DK Shiken) and Mei Kodama (Mizuno) all within 0.02 of each other in the semis and Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko) just behind. Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) led the women's 400 m semis by over a second in a PB 52.74, with Worlds quota occupiers Kaito Kawabata (Chukyo Univ. AC) and Fuga Sato (Nasu Kankyo) both winning their semis in the men's 400 m. Sato dropped the fastest time overall, 45.55. There weren't any surprises in the women's 1500 m heats, where 4:18.58 was the slowest time qualifier and all the favorites advanced, but the men's 1500 m Heat 2 was unexpectedly fast. NR holder Nanami Arai (Honda) ran 3:41.47 for 1st, with 7th-place Daichi Takeuchi (Toenec) running 3:43.67 as the slowest time qualifier. 8th-place Shoma Funatsu (Kyudenko) ran 3:45.42, faster than Heat 1 winner Keisuke Morita (Subaru) but shut out of the final.

Complete results are available here. The National Track and Field Championships continue through Sunday. Look for Day Two preview and streaming shortly.

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Rigajags said…
As predicted, Endo won. Quite easily too. Not a good run by Sato after running 13.22 last month. He is young though, i hope he builds for autumn/winter
Yoshii out with injury.

I wonder what happened to kosuke ishida: been missing or terrible results after killing It at izumo and all Japan Ekiden.
Nowhere to be seen again.

Most-Read This Week

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

  Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...