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Cali 22 World U20 Championships Day 2 Japanese Results


The next big talent coming up through the ranks of Japanese sprinting, Toyo University 1st-year Hiroki Yanagita ran a PB 10.15 +0.7 for 2nd in his semi-final on Day 2 of the Cali 22 World U20 Championships. Building on that in the final would have put him in range of bronze, but in the final Yanagita couldn't quite replicate it, 6th overall in 10.24 +0.8 behind a 9.91 U20 WR from gold medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, silver medalist Bouwahjgie Nkrumie of Jamaica's 10.02 U20 NR, and a 10.12 for bronze from South African Benjamin Richardson. The final featured 8 athletes from 8 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas, the best kind of international field for a global championships final.


Momoko Tsuji almost perfectly mirrored Yanagita's performances in the women's javelin throw. 2nd in the qualification round at 56.07 m, in the final she could only manage a 53.82 m for 6th. In the gold medal spot, Serbian Adriana Vilagos threw a championships record 63.52 m to take her 2nd-straight world title. Silver medalist Valentina Barrios threw a Colombian U20 NR 57.84, with bronze medalist Manuela Rotundo coming in at 55.11 m. As with Yanagita, bronze would have been in range if Tsuji had been able to perform up to the same level as in the earlier round. Aoi Murakami was 10th with a 51.60 m throw.

In qualifying action, Moe Matsuoka made the women's 400 m hurdles semi-finals with a 58.90 for 2nd in Heat 1, good enough for 8th among the 24 qualifiers. Both men in the 400 m also made the semis, Masataka Tomoda winning Heat 5 in 46.68, also ranking 8th of 24 qualifiers, and Shion Arita taking 4th in Heat 3 in 47.10. In the pole vault only 1 of the 2 men advanced, Atsushi Haraguchi making the grade with a 5.20 m clearance but Tsubasa Mizutani left behind after only clearing 4.90 m.

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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