Skip to main content

Kora and Murakami Break Meet Records, Fuwa Returns - National University Track and Field Championships Day 1


The 91st National University Track and Field Championships got underway in Kyoto Friday. Shion Ono (Juntendo Univ.) was the first athlete to take a national title on the track, beating Yuiri Ogata (Nittai Univ.) by 0.20 to win the women's 1500 m final in 4:22.75. The men's 1500 m looked like it would go the same way, with favorites Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) and Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.) side by side with 400 m to go. But on the back straight Chuo University duo Tomohiro Chimori and Tomoki Nakano made contact, and when Iizawa responded Sato was left behind. Iizawa hung on to the win in 3:45.33 with both Chuo runners within 0.90. Sato fell to 7th in 3:47.61.

The women's 10000 m was one of the most anticipated races of the weekend, with collegiate NR holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) entered after an Achilles injury in January that kept her out of the spring season and the Oregon World Championships. Saying that she was at about 40% fitness, Fuwa took the lead after a 3:16 opening 1000 m, holding steady on a very conservative 3:20/km pace through halfway until Yui Komatsu (Matsuyama Univ.) took over. Komatsu's lead only lasted 2000 m before Fuwa threw in a 3:14 to go back into the lead, then a 3:13, and finally closing in 3:06 to win in 32:55.31. That's over 2 minutes slower than her all-time Japanese #2 best from last December, but it was a big first step back toward full fitness for the highest-potential woman in Japanese distance running. Let's hope her coach has learned a lesson about doing too much too soon.

The men's 10000 m was all Philip Mulwa (Soka Univ.) all the way, except for a brief move to the front around 3000 m by Boniface Murua (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.). Mulwa dropped Murua and the rest of the lead pack early in the second half, at one point opening a lead of over 50 m before slowing in the final 2000 m. But that was enough of a lead to hold everyone off, Mulwa taking the national title in 28:36.70 with Murua 2nd in 28:38.37 and Charles Ndungu (Nihon Univ.) 3rd in 28:41.11. Jinichiro Kameda (Kansai Univ.) pulled off an upset for 4th, outkicking Yuito Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) 28:49.45 to 28:51.55. It's rare to see a runner from outside the Tokyo-area Kanto Region who can compete with Hakone Ekiden schools, but the Osaka-area Kameda did exactly that. Beating the course record breaker of the most competitive stage on Hakone Day 2, a key player in his team's overall victory this year, was worth bonus points for style.

In other track finals on the meet's opening day, Shizuho Moriyama (Fukuoka Univ.) won the women's 400 m final in 53.62 by 0.03 over Marin Adachi (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.), with Joseph Nakajima (Toyo Univ.) winning the men's 400 m in 46.18. Yusuke Oyoshi (Teikyo Univ.) took the men's 3000 mSC in 8:41.45 thanks in part to NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) having opted for the Diamond League final instead.

On the field, the biggest news was in the women's long jump, where U20 NR holder Ayaka Kora (Tsukuba Univ.) jumped 6.50 m +0.7 for the win, breaking the 6.46 m meet record set in 1987 by Minako Isogai. The meet record also went in the women's hammer throw, where first-year Raika Murakami (Kyushu Kyoritsu) cleared the old record by 2 cm to win in 62.72 m. Eri Furubayashi (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) won the women's pole vault, at 4.10 m the only athlete to go over 4 m.

Tatsuto Nakagawa (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) came tantalizingly close to men's hammer throw NR holder Koji Murofushi's 71.84 m meet record from 1996, throwing 71.39 m on his fifth attempt. Nakagawa was over 71 m on his last attempt too, but his fifth throw ended up the one that got him the win. His teammate Rin Suzuki won the men's javelin throw in 72.15 m by just 8 cm over Suguru Fukuoka (Juntendo Univ.). Sota Ishimaru (Juntendo Univ.) won the men's pole vault, clearing 5.40 m on his third attempt. Yuto Adachi (Fukuoka Univ.) took the men's long jump with a second jump of 7.68 m +0.3.

Complete results are here. The National University Track and Field Championships continue through Sunday in Kyoto.

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
Great to see Seira Fuwa back on the track and winning, albeit in a relatively slow time by her standards. At 40% fitness, there is a lot of upside! Viewership on the Youtube livestream at least doubled when her race came up so she has certainly captured the public interest. And probably a smart and prudent move by the coach to rest her from the 5000m race on Sunday. Now I am looking forward to the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in 2 weeks where I hope to see Ririka Hironaka race in the 10000m event. I'm curious to see what sort of time she posts. The rivalry between these 2 athletes is going to be interesting to follow in the coming years and hopefully will elevate the performances of both athletes.
September 11, 2022 at 10:46 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Team Performance at World U20 Championships

There wasn't much surprise in the events where Japan did well at the Oregon World U20 Championships , with medals in the men's 110 mH, 400 mH and 3000 m, and top 5 finishes in the women's and men's 5000 m race walks, men's 4x100 m relay, men's pole vault and long jump, men's 200 m, women's 800 m and 3000 m, and women's javelin throw. Jeremy Koga ran a 12.95 (+0.3) Asian U20 AR in the men's 110 mH semifinals, then came back in the final with a 12.97 (+0.7) in the final to take silver behind a brilliant 12.72 U20 WR by American Le'Ezra Brown . Taiju Goto was expected to medal in the men's 400 mH, but after leading the semifinals the best he could do was silver in 49.23, gold going to the Czech Republic's Michal Rada with a 48.59 European U20 AR. Expected to do better in the 1500 m, Ojiro Honda ran a 7:48.49 U20 NR in the men's 3000 m final to score bronze, only to come in near the back of the field in the 1500 m final at 14th in...
2 comments
Read more

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

Some Mid-Season Women's Corporate Team Roster Changes

The Daiichi Life women's corporate team announced last week on its official site that Paris Olympics 10000 m runner Haruka Kokai and teammate Yuka Masubuchi left the organization as of July 31. Kokai was born in 2003. Kokai rose to the national level while at Sendai Ikuei H.S. , winning the first leg at the National High School Ekiden her 2nd year to lead them to the overall national title. After graduating she joined Daiichi Life, then called Daiichi Seimei, in 2021. In March, 2023 she was the gold medalist in the women's 10000 m at the Asian Championships, and in December the same year she took 3rd in the National Championships 10000 m in an all-time Japanese #7 30:57.67 to score a place on the Paris Olympics team. In Paris she placed 19th. In a statement released by Daiichi Life Kokai said, "I want to thank the team, who always put the athletes first as they shared this journey, and all my teammates for so many good times together. There were times I got really disco...
1 comment
Read more