The IAU 100 km World Championships are this Saturday in Berlin, Germany, and Japan has sent strong teams with every woman under 7:40 and 2 of the 3 men under 6:20 for the 100 km distance. 2018 gold medalist Hideaki Yamauchi (Hamamatsu Hotniks RC) is out after testing positive for coronavirus, but world record holder Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo) remains to lead the men. The fastest non-Japanese athlete on the entry list is American Rajpaul Pannu at 6:28:31. Considering that 3rd Japanese man Junpei Yamaguchi (Eldoreso) has run 6:22:35 it looks like the potential for a Japanese men's podium sweep is there, but things are never that easy.
2018 bronze medalist Mai Fujisawa (Sapporo Excel AC) and 7:27:46 runner Miho Nakata (Chiba T&F Assoc.) lead the women. Only three other women in the field, European record holder Dominika Stelmach (Poland), Radka Churanova (Czech Republic) and Camille Chaigneau (France), have broken 7:30, giving Nakata a good shot at an individual medal if she can perform up to the same level. For both the men's and women's lineups, team medal chances are looking very good.
Streaming starts at 6:00 a.m. local time Saturday, 13:00 in Japan. Most of the race will be on the stream above, with the finish apparently on a separate stream below. Live results will be here. Complete entry lists are here. Full Japanese team rosters:
Men
Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo) - 6:09:14 (Lake Saroma 2018)
Haruki Okayama (Comodi Iida) - 6:16:44 (Shibamata 2022)
Hideaki Yamauchi (Hamamatsu Hotniks RC) - 6:18:22 (Los Alcazares, 2016) - scratch
Junpei Yamaguchi (Eldoreso) - 6:22:35 (Shibamata 2021)
Women
Miho Nakata (Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 7:27:46 (Shibamata 2022)
Mai Fujisawa (Sapporo Excel AC) - 7:31:53 (Shibamata 2022)
Mikiko Ota (Kyoto Sumiyama RC) - 7:34:18 (Shibamata 2022)
Aiko Kanematsu (Team RxL) - 7:38:38 (Shibamata 2022)
photo c/o Eldoreso, © 2022 Tarzan Aqzawa all rights reserved
© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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