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Japan's Potential Team for Oregon World Championships


This week after the wrap of the 2022 National Track and Field Championships the JAAF had a press conference to announce additions to the already-announced road event members of its team for next month's Oregon World Championships team. 18 men and 9 women are on the team for sure with a combination of having the Worlds standard and meeting JAAF criteria for placing at the National Championships, and with just under two weeks until the deadline for qualifying those numbers could go as high as 36 men and 24 women based on where people sit right now in their event quotas.

Below is a list of events with Japanese athletes either already qualified or within their event quota. Right now there's potential that Japan could send full squads in the men's 110 mH, men's 400 mH, men's 3000 mSC, men's high jump, men's marathon, both men's race walks and both men's relays, and in the women's 5000 m, women's 10000 m, women's 3000 mSC, women's javelin throw, women's marathon, women's 35 km race walk, and women's 4x100 m, plus the mixed 4x400 m relay.

The only real medal chances are in the men's 20 km and 35 km race walks, where Japan has the #1-ranked athletes in Toshikazu Yamanishi (Aichi Seiko) and Masatora Kawano (Asahi Kasei), with realistic top-8 chances from Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) in the men's 3000 mSC, Yuki Hashioka (Fujitsu) in the men's long jump, others in the men's walks, and Serena Sonoda (NTN) in the women's 35 km race walk. One of Japan's typically strong events, the lineup of the men's 4x100 m relay remains to be seen as younger athletes step up to replace some of the top names of the current generation.

There are still chances for people on the cusp of making their quota to improve their standing, or to chase qualifying standards ahead of the June 26 deadline. The main opportunity for everyone from 800 m to 10000 m will be the June 22 Hokuren Distance Challenge meet in Fukagawa, which will have pacing for the standard in everything except the women's 5000 m. But with the way things stand right now, the main questions are:
  • With none of the top 3 at the National Championships men's 10000 m having cleared the standard, will the JAAF give a spot to Ren Tazawa (Komazawa Univ.), the only Japanese man to have cleared it but who ran badly at Nationals?
  • Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) is the top man in the 3000 mSC quota internationally but missed the standard by a second at Nationals. Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) is right behind him in the quota and ran a big PB at Nationals to finish 2 seconds behind Yamaguchi. If both miss the standard at Hokuren then Yamaguchi should pick up the 3rd place on the team, but can Kusu run another PB and get the standard to knock Yamaguchi out?
  • Men's high jump NR holder Naoto Tobe (JAL) was a DNS at Nationals with an Achilles tendon injury. That's probably enough to keep him out of Worlds, but with him still ranked solidly inside the quota will he make it to Oregon?
  • Two places on the women's 5000 m squad are already set, but the 3rd and 4th-place finishers at Nationals, Rino Goshima (Shiseido) and Yuka Ando (Wacoal) don't have the standard, while 5th-placer Kaede Hagitani (Edion) does. By not having standard-level pacing in the women's 5000 m the JAAF seems to be throwing the place to Hagitani, which leads to the 10000 m.
  • In the women's 10000 m, Goshima is one of two people whose spots are secure. Hagitani was top 3 here in her debut at Nationals but just missed the standard. The JAAF will have standard-quality pacing for the Hokuren 10000 m, so if Hagitani gets it there then she's in for the 5-10 double. But why her and not Goshima?
  • If Hagitani doesn't get it then who the 3rd person will be, if any, is a tough one. The top-ranked woman Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) was still recovering from an injury and didn't run at Nationals. The next-best, Ando, didn't run Nationals but is in great shape based on her 5000 m there. The next-best, Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo Univ.) ran Nationals but was obviously having injury problems and ran poorly. Ando seems like the most likely pick, but if so that would again make the question why a chance for the double for Hagitani and not her, unless she and Goshima just don't want to try?
36 men and 24 women would be one of if not the biggest and most equal team Japan has fielded in athletics, so we'll see how it ends up shaping up two weeks from now after the final deadline.

Men

Men's 100 m (48)
33. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Tumbleweed TC) - 10.04 (+0.8)
withdrawn* - 42. Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei)

*Although he is in the quota for the men's 100 m, Kiryu announced on June 17 that he will take the rest of the season off.

Men's 200 m (56)
quota - 36. Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko)
quota - 47. Koki Ueyama (Sumitomo Denko)

Men's 400 m (48)
quota - 33. Fuga Sato (Nasu Kankyo)
quota - 37. Kaito Kawabata (Chukyo Univ. AC)

Men's 5000 m (42)
33. Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) - 13:10.69

Men's 10000 m (27)
standard, not top 3 - 22. Ren Tazawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 27:33.44

Men's 110 mH (40)
13. Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) - 13.21 (-1.2)
19. Rachid Muratake (Juntendo Univ.) - 13.27 (-0.5)
in range of quota - 41. Shunya Takayama (Zenrin)
in range of quota - Shusei Nomoto (Ehime T&F Assoc.)

Men's 400 mH (40)
24. Kazuki Kurokawa (Hosei Univ.) - 48.89
quota - 38. Masaki Toyoda (Fujitsu) 
in range of quota - 45. Takayuki Kishimoto (Fujitsu)

Men's 3000 mSC (45)
8. Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) - 8:09.92
35. Ryoma Aoki (Honda) - 8:20.09
quota - 40. Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo)
quota - 43. Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC)

Relays
Men's 4x100 m
Men's 4x400 m

Men's High Jump (32)
quota - 16. Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko)
quota - 25. Ryoichi Akamatsu (Awas)
quota, did not compete at Nationals due to injury - 17. Naoto Tobe (JAL)

Men's Pole Vault (32)
quota - 29. Seito Yamamoto (Toyota)
quota, injured post-Nationals - 30. Masaki Ejima (Fujitsu)

Men's Long Jump (32)
9. Yuki Hashioka (Fujitsu) - 8.27 m (+1.4)
in range of quota - 34. Hiromichi Yoshida (Kamisaki T&F Assoc.)

Men's Javelin Throw (32)
quota - 19. Roderick Genki Dean (Mizuno)
in range of quota - 33. Kenji Ogura (Tochigi Sports Assoc.)

Men's Marathon (100)
13. Kengo Suzuki (Fujitsu) - 2:04:56
Gaku Hoshi (Konica Minolta) - 2:07:31
Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 2:07:47

Men's 20 kmRW (60)
1. Toshikazu Yamanishi (Aichi Seiko) - 1:17:20
7. Koki Ikeda (Asahi Kasei) - 1:18:53
9. Eiki Takahashi (Fujitsu) -1:19:04
Hiroto Jusho (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:20:14

Men's 35 kmRW (60)
1. Masatora Kawano (Asahi Kasei) - 2:26:40
2. Daisuke Matsunaga (Fujitsu) - 2:27:09
3. Tomohiro Noda (SDF Academy) - 2:27:18
withdrawn - Yusuke Suzuki (Fujitsu)

Women

Women's 800 m (48)
in range of quota - 50. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki)

Women's 1500 m (45)
11. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 3:59.19
quota - 44. Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku)

Women's 5000 m (42)
22. Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 14:52.84
26. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 14:59.93
standard, not top 3 - 25. Kaede Hagitani (Edion) - 14:59.36
standard, not top 3 - Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) - 15:02.48
standard, not top 3 - Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:08.72

Women's 10000 m (27)
18. Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 31:00.71
21. Rino Goshima (Shiseido) - 31:10.02
standard, not top 3 - Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo Univ.) - 31:22.34
standard, did not compete at Nationals - 12. Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) - 30:45.21
standard, did not compete at Nationals - Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 31:18.18

Women's 100 mH (40)
quota - 37. Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko)
quota - 39. Mako Fukube (NKK)

Women's 400 mH (40)
quota - 40. Eri Utsunomiya (Hasegawa)

Women's 3000 mSC (45)
quota - 39. Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko)
quota - 44. Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.)
in range of quota - 48. Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu)

Women's Long Jump (32)
quota - 24. Sumire Hata (Shibata Kogyo)

Women's Javelin Throw (32)
quota - 16. Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL)
quota - 26. Momone Ueda (Zenrin)
quota - 32. Sae Takemoto (Saga Sports Assoc.)

Relays
Women's 4x100 m
Mixed 4x400 m

Women's Marathon (100)
13. Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) - 2:20:52
14. Mao Ichiyama (Shiseido) - 2:21:02
15. Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:21:17

Women's 20 kmRW (60)
22. Nanako Fujii (Edion) - 1:29:29
23. Kumiko Okada (Fujitsu) - 1:29:31

Women's 35 kmRW (60)
6. Serena Sonoda (NTN) - 2:45:48
quota - 33. Kaori Kawazoe (SDF Academy)
quota - 36. Maika Yagi (Chiba Kogyo Ginko)

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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