Skip to main content

Three Meet Records at U20 National Championships


Held in parallel with this weekend's senior National Championships, the U20 National Track and Field Championships happened Thursday through Sunday at Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai. The timing meant most of the top U20 talent was in the senior championships, but even so there were three new meet records across disciplines.

On Friday Raika Murakami (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) bettered the 9-year-old MR in the U20 women's hammer throw by almost a meter and a half, winning with a 59.43 m opening throw even though she fouled every attempt after that.

In Sunday's U20 men's long jump Nozomi Watanabe (Tsukuba Univ.) set a new MR, jumping 7.85 m (+1.6) on his fourth attempt. 2nd-placer Kosuke Tsuneizumi (Chuo Univ.) closed with a 7.66 (+2.1) jump but came short of overtaking Watanabe.

Also Sunday, the top 6 all broke the old U20 men's 3000 m MR of 8:16.20 despite running at the peak of mid-afternoon heat and sunlight. Shintaro Kudo (Ichinoseki Gakuin H.S.) took the national title in 8:08.05, Ren Sato (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) 2nd in 8:10.47 and Kotaro Suzuki (Koku Gakuin Kugayama H.S.) 3rd in 8:11.63, PBs by all. High schoolers taking the top 3 spots was no small feat given that over half the field was made up of university runners.

In other distance results, Hinata Maeda (APU) won a tight U20 men's 1500 m that saw the top 4 all within 0.13 sec. Maeda was the only runner under 4:00, winning in 3:59.97. Hiroto Yoshioka (Saku Chosei H.S.) won the U20 men's 5000 m in a solid 13:54.98, runner-up Rui Aoki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) getting under 14 minutes for the first time in 13:59.34. Ryotaro Onuma (Josai Univ.) outkicked Runa Yamaguchi (Nihon Univ.) in the home straight to win the U20 men's 3000 mSC 8:48.83 to 8:51.20.

Misaki Shitamori (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) ran a PB 4:21.43 for the win in the U20 women's 1500 m by nearly a second over Riho Yoshida (Toyokawa H.S.). Akari Matsumoto (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) had the same margin of victory in the U20 women's 3000 m, winning in 9:20.25. Corporate leaguer Ramu Shibata (Wacoal) took the U20 women's 5000 m in 16:09.17, beating Marin Machi (Suzuki) by just 0.48 sec. Karin Kameoka (Takushoku Univ.) won the U20 women's 3000 mSC in 10:29.15, everyone in the top 3 running a PB to make the podium.

Complete results from the U20 National Track and Field Championships are available here.

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...
Post a Comment
Read more