The biggest news of the Oregon 2022 World Championships Day Two on the Japanese front was the announcement that its top marathon hopes Kengo Suzuki and Mao Ichiyama had both had positive COVID tests along with their coaches and have withdrawn from their races. But there was more positive news.
Women's 5000 m NR holder Ririka Hironaka ran 30:39.71 for 12th in the 10000 m, a PB by exactly 21 seconds over the time she ran for 7th at the Tokyo Olympics last summer and moving her up to all-time Japanese #2, 19 seconds off the NR at age 21. Hironaka led the first half of the race and executed almost perfectly even splits:
1000 m: 3:04.80
2000 m: 3:04.04
3000 m: 3:03.03
4000 m: 3:03.20
5000 m: 3:04.21 (15:19.28)
6000 m: 3:07.02 (lost rhythm when Eilish McColgan took lead)
7000 m: 3:04.05
9000 m: 6:06.94
10000 m: 3:02.62
Of course she got dropped easily once things really got moving, Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey winning in 30:09.94 by 0.08 over Hellen Obiri, but not everyone's a contender for the win. If you've only got one gear, use it to the best of your ability. A well-known local said something along those lines once. Not giving 100% of her ability is one criticism you can't level at Hironaka. Let's hope for more from her, and not in the marathon. Yet. Teammate Rino Goshima was off the back early, finishing last in 32:08.68.
The day's other bright spot was in the men's 100 m, where Abdul Hakim Sani Brown became the first Japanese man to make a world-level final. After a 9.98 -0.03 in the opening round, Sani Brown ran 10.05 +0.3 in the semis to pick up one of the two time qualifier spots. In the final he ran 10.06 -0.1, beating Canada's Aaron Brown to take 7th. Compared to winner Fred Kerley's 9.86 and the American sweep of the podium maybe that's not much, but it was still historic for Japanese men's sprinting. He made the final, and he wasn't last. That's progress. Ryuichiro Sakai was 6th in his semifinal in 10.23 +0.1.
After taking the top spot in the qualifying round Yuki Hashioka was in a good position for the men's long jump final, but problems with his left foot that have bothered him this season resurfaced. Hashioka fouled on his first two attempts and managed only a 7.86 +0.4 on his third attempt, placing 10th and moving to the second set of jumps. Right after his third jump he sat down, took off his left shoe and rubbed his foot. He then took off his other shoe and walked with a visible limp and snarl of pain back to where the rest of his gear was, then sat on the ground again, took off his left sock and rubbed his foot more. Hopefully he'll now have some downtime to get the issue worked out before things start drifting closer to Paris qualifying season.
In qualifying action, two of the three men in the 110 m hurdles made the semifinals. Shuhei Ishikawa had a bit of luck in Heat 4 when American Daniel Roberts fell late in the race and bumped Ishikawa up into an auto-qualifying 4th in 13.53 -0.3. Shunsuke Izumiya was slower but took 3rd and another auto-qualifying spot at 3rd in Heat 5 in 13.56 +0.4. Third man Rachid Muratake hit the first hurdle hard and spent the rest of the race trying to make it up, finishing 6th in 13.73 +0.2 and not moving on.
In the men's 400 m hurdles, Kazuki Kurokawa was 4th in Heat 1 in 50.02, auto-qualifying for the semifinals. Takayuki Kishimoto was 6th in Heat 2 in 50.66, missing out on advancing.
None of the women in the 3000 m steeplechase or 1500 m were expected to advance, and all three performed to that expectation. Yuno Yamanaka was far off ability, last in the steeple Heat 1 in 10:18.18, with collegiate star Reimi Yoshimura last in Heat 3 in 9:58.07. Nozomi Tanaka took 6th in her 1500 m semi in 4:05.79, 15th overall and not moving on to the final.
Comments
Very good running by Hironaka, superb. My wish now is to see Seira Fuwa back and see them push each other ahead of Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2025.
2 young and very good talents...question is how Fuwa will be back from injury.
Sani Brown had a very good world championship and Sakai performed as expected. It will be interesting to see what happens with the 4x100, 2 of the guys seem to be in good form, with Italy losing Jacobs there could be potential for a podium with the right race. Who knows.
What a pity for Hashioka. Seeing the podium go with a measure lower than he had in qualification hurts. I hope he will be fine and looking forward to see him again.
Seems like the 110hs were overall pretty slow, not just by the japanese guys but from everyone. Let's see what happens from the semifinals on.
Despite the unfortunate news regarding Mao Ichiyama, I'm still positive on an excellent result tomorrow in the women's marathon. I've followed Hitomi Niiya once she set the half marathon and 10000m national records. I remember her setting an exceptional time in one of the Exiden legs a while back too. She did exceptional in the Tokyo marathon earlier this year and I think she will thrive in the conditions and will put in a performance to remember. I could be wrong but I just have a feeling this time she will deliver her best. I hope so. Of course, I hope Mizuki Matsuda can put in a strong showing after the disappointment of missing out on the Olympics last year.