This weekend's main event on the Japanese calendar is Saturday's Oda Memorial Meet in Hiroshima, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meet. Streaming starts at 10:30 a.m. local time, with the first main field final happening at 11:45 and the first one on the track at 14:15. Check the full meet schedule here. Entry lists are here. Track event previews:
Women's 1500 m Final - 14:15
No Japanese women have cleared the Budapest World Championships standard of 4:03.50, but four are currently in the quota of 56. Three of them, Yume Goto (Uniqlo), Mizuki Michishita (Wacoal) and Saki Katagihara (Tsukuba Univ.) are entered, along with Tokyo Olympian Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) who's looking for enough points to break into the top 56. Goto is closest to the standard at 4:09.41, but realistically this race will be mostly about points.
Men's 1500 m Final - 14:25
The four fastest men in the 1500 m, NR holder Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec), Nanami Arai (Honda), Keisuke Morita (Subaru) and Rikuto Iijima (Ami AC) are in the same situation as Urabe, facing two of the three top-ranked Japanese men in the world rankings, Ryoji Tatezawa (DeNA) and Yuki Yamasaki (Kagotani), and sub-3:40 runner Yuta Noguchi (Toenec). It'd take a NR for anyone to meet the 3:34.20 Budapest standard, but enough focus is finally being put into middle distance in Japan that there are enough people for there to be a chance of that happening sometime.
Men's 110 mH A-Final - 14:40
Two of the three Japanese men to have broken the 13.28 Budapest standard, Shunya Takayama (Zenrin) and Rachid Muratake (Juntendo Univ.) are in the race, along with the #4 and #5-ranked men Shuhei Ishikawa (Fujitsu) and Ken Toyoda (Ehime T&F Assoc.). Ishikawa has a chance of making the Budapest team on rankings if one of the three time qualifiers is out with injury.
Women's 100 mH A-Final - 14:55
NR holder Mako Fukube (NKK) is the only Japanese woman to have cleared the 12.78 standard, and she's entered in Oda along with both of the women currently in the quota, Masumi Aoki (17 Ginko) and Yumi Tanaka (Fujitsu).
Women's 100 m A-Final - 15:10
The 11.08 standard is out of range of the current top Japanese women, but both of the ones in the quota right now, Mei Kodama (Mizuno) and Arisa Kimishima (DKS), are on the list, with some international support from Symone Darius (Liberia), 11.17, and Riley Day (Australia), 11.48.
Men's 100 m A-Final - 15:20
The men's 100 m has been one of Japan's best non-road events, but the DNF at the Tokyo Olympics was a bit of a confidence blow. None of the sub-10 runners has hit the 10.00 standard inside the window, and only one in the quota won't be at Oda. Akira Harada (Kitakyushu RC) has the fastest qualifying time at 10.11, but some notable names on the list include Chun-Han Yang (Taiwan), Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.), Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) and Shota Iizuka (Mizuno).
Women's 3000 mSC Final - 16:35
None of the Japanese sub-10 women on the entry list, Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu), Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Reimi Yoshimura (Cramer Japan TC), is in the Budapest quota, so this will be another race about scoring points to get there. They'll have support from #4-ranked Australian Georgia Winkup.
Men's 3000 mSC Final - 16:50
None of the three current top-ranked Japanese men is in the race, but Tokyo Olympian Ryoma Aoki (Honda) and next-tier talent Hiroki Tsuetaki (Fujitsu) and Taisei Ogino (Asahi Kasei) are, with Japan-based Kenyan Philemon Kiplagat ;(Aisan Kogyo) the 2nd-fastest man on the list after Aoki.
Women's 5000 m A-Final - 18:30
#3 and #4-ranked Japanese women Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) and Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) lead the domestic field, but the list is dominated by some of the top-ranked Kenyans. #2-ranked Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) is slated to pace, with 14:44.89 runner Teresia Muthoni (Daiso), #4-ranked Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), #6-ranked Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) and 14:57.79 runner Rebecca Mwangi (Daiso) all there.
Men's 5000 m A-Final - 18:50
The last race of the night, this one looks like the best. Indoor 5000 m NR holder Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) faces #1-ranked Yuta Bando (Fujitsu), U20 NR holder Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.), HS NR holder Hiroto Yoshioka (Juntendo Univ.), 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.), and six Japan-based Kenyans led by Daniel Ndiritu (NTT Nishi Nihon).
JRN will be on-site in Hiroshima at the meet.
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