The JAAF has set up one last chance for its middle and long distance athletes to hit the qualifying standards for next month's World Championships, adding an early meet to the Hokuren Distance Challenge series today ahead of Sunday's deadline to qualify. Streaming starts at 16:00 local time. A breakdown of the races:
- Men's 800 m - 16:15 - No Japanese man has ever broken the 1:45.20 Worlds standard, but national champion Mikuto Kaneko (Chuo Univ.) is close at 1:45.85. Given that he's currently 57th against the 800 m's 48-deep quota it'll take a NR for him to make it to Eugene.
- Women's 1000 m - 16:25 - Nationals 800 m top 2 Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) and Nozomi Tanaka (Jidoshokki) are both relatively close to making the quota, but instead of going for the standard or maxing points they're opting for a go at Tanaka's 2:37.72 NR for 1000 m. Only 3 athletes are entered.
- Women's 5000 m - 16:40 - Nobody in this race is in contention for the Oregon team, the fastest being Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) at 15:28.32. Pacing for the field of 5 is planned for 15:35.
- Women's 3000 mSC - 17:05 - Nationals runner-up Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu) was one of the people who had a massive breakthrough two weeks ago, running a PB of 9:38.95. Pacing is planned for the 9:30.00 standard, 3 seconds faster than the NR, but while that might be a stretch another fast time could move Nishide up from her current rank of 49th in the 45-deep podium. If that happened it would knock Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) out of the quota, making it a surprise that Yoshimura isn't one of the people in the field of 3.
- Men's 3000 mSC - 17:25 - Two Japanese men broke the 8:22.00 Oregon standard at Nationals, with 3rd-placer Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) just missing but currently in the top spot in the quota at 40th of 45. Like Yoshimura choosing to sit today out, that leaves Yamaguchi vulnerable to Nationals 4th-placer Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC), who ran a PB 8:25.70 there, and past national champ Hironori Tsuetaki (Fujitsu), 8:25.49 inside the qualifying window. If either hits the standard he'll replace Yamaguchi on the Worlds team.
- Women's 1500 m - 17:40 - This was going to be a chance for Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku), 43rd of 45 in the 1500 m quota, to score enough points to keep her inside the cut, but with Urabe a late scratch it's now down to whether Nationals runner-up Yume Goto (Toyota Jidoshokki) can score enough points to move up from her ranking of 50th. It would take the best performance of her career for that happen.
- Men's 1500 m - 17:50 - Another race where the World standard is faster than the Japanese NR, but not by much. NR holder Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec) leads the field at 3:35.42 vs. the 3:35.00 standard, with support from Nanami Arai (Honda) and national champ Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.), both sub-3:39. One of the two biggest races of the meet, with 14 entrants and 2 pacers.
- Men's 5000 m - 18:20 - The standard here is 13:13.50, and former steepler Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) is closest in the field with a recent 13:16.53. There were hopes that wunderkind Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) would have a shot, but at Nationals Sato looked tired and flat. With a full quota it'll take the standard for anyone to join national champ Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) on the team.
- Women's 10000 m - 18:40 - A time trial for Nationals 2nd-placer Kaede Hagitani (Edion) to get the standard. She wasn't far off in her debut at Nationals last month, running 31:35.67, and with 2 pacers and a good run in the Nationals 5000 m two weeks ago there's a pretty good chance she'll be doubling in Oregon. Only 4 women are entered not including pacers.
- Men's 10000 m - 19:20 - The top 3 at Nationals all went off to Hengelo to go for the standard and were blown out of the water, leaving top 2 Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) and Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) out of contention for the Oregon team. 3rd-placer Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) is giving it yet another go here, but with a best of only 27:48.22 it's not likely he'll bridge the gap to the 27:28.00 standard. Only Tomoki Ota (Toyota) looks capable of that, his best a solid 27:33.13. With support from the likes of Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) and Benard Koech (Kyudenko) maybe he'll get there. Rain forecast for late in the day might be one of the main factors.
Complete entry lists are available here.
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