Ten years after his last appearance on the Japanese national team with a 9th-place finish at the London Olympics, Roderick Genki Dean put himself in good position in the qualification round of the men's javelin throw on Day 7 of the Oregon 22 World Athletics Championships. With all 12 qualifiers for the final going over 80 m Dean was right on the cusp with his first two throws, hitting 79.26 m and 79.33 m. But on his third attempt he pulled out a season best 82.34 m to make the cut, positioning himself at 7th going into the final. Teammate Kenji Ogura couldn't quite get there, throwing 78.48 m on his first attempt and unable to better it on his other two. Dean looks to be in good position to better his London performance in Saturday's final if he can replicate the same kind of form.
Neither of the other Japanese athletes in action advanced to the next round in their events. Running in Heat 2, all-time Japanese #2 Hyuga Endo only needed to finish 10th in 13:24.55 to make the final. That seemed doable given that Endo was the 12th-fastest in his heat this season at 13:10.69, but although the race played out exactly the right way for him, 9th-placer Sam Parsons of Germany making the final in 13:24.50 with a PB of only 13:21.17, Endo was totally ineffectual, fading early and finishing 13th in 13:47.07. Post-race he blamed his performance on not having enough competitive ability. Nozomi Tanaka was 7th in her first-round 800 m heat, 38th of 45 overall in 2:03.56.
© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
They came with NR in mind and my fear was that they both seemed to be in declining form compared to April-May (maybe Miura a bit more than Endo).
They were both flying throughout April and May, won without competition at the Nationals and then both ended up with no legs at the end of the race here.
I wonder what went wrong cause it's not a matter of competition, they both ended up way sub par compared to their own consistent times.
Well, like said, perhaps it's better talking about it once the world championship are over, looking forward to your considerations and sum-up after those.