Skip to main content

Miyao's Triple Jump U20 NR Leads Japanese Quintet of Gold on U20 Asian Championships Day 2


The second day of U20 Asian Championships took place June 5 in Yecheon, South Korea. In the men's triple jump, Minato Miyao (Toyo Univ.) set a new U20 NR of 16.38 m to win the gold medal. The previous U20 record of 16.35 m had stood for 20 years.

Miyao began his first year at Toyo in April after graduating from Kyoto's Rakunan H.S. Last summer he took 2nd at the Tokushima National High School Championships, then followed up in November with a 16.13 m high school NR jump at the Kyoto Private Schools Championships. Despite the changes to his lifestyle that came with going to college, at April's Oda Memorial Meet Miyao placed 5th overall and 3rd among Japanese men with a jump of 15.76 m +0.7 m/s. At May's Kanto Regionals he won at 16.12 m +2.8 m/s.

At the U20 Asian Championships, Miyao's first jump was 16.08 m into a 2.7 m/s headwind. He duplicated that distance on his fourth attempt and was in the top position at the end of the fifth round. A Chinese athlete moved into the lead on his final jump with a mark of 16.22 m, but Miyao responded with a big 25 cm PB on his last attempt, sealing up the gold medal.


In the men's 100 m final, Kaito Kuroki (Higashi Fukuoka H.S.) took gold in 10.37 - 0.3 m/s. Last year's U18 champion, Kuroki has had a good season with two 10.28 clockings in May. In the qualifying heats at the U20 Asian Championships he ran 10.44 +0.2 m/s to occupy the top spot, and in the final he looked relaxed and free of pressure in lane 3. He and Haruki Narushima (Toyo Univ.) ran 1-2 through the middle phase of the race, but as Kuroki pulled away in the final 30 m Taiwanese athlete Po-Hsun Lin overtook Narushima, knocking him back to the bronze medal position in 10.43.


In the men's 800 m, last year's National High School Championships 4th-placer Hironori Tachizako (Kagoshima Josai H.S.) won gold in 1:49.22. Tachizako led most of the way but had fallen to 3rd with 100 m to go. But with a dramatic kick that thrilled the fans watching the race he repassed his competition to go back into the top spot. Ryuto Aoki (Rikkyo Univ.) was 8th in the same race in 1:53.99.

The only Japanese athlete entered in the men's 3000 m steeplechase, Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) ran solo the entire way to win gold in 8:39.83. Miku Takino (Kyoto Tachibana H.S.) ran 58.92 to take gold in the women's 400 mH final. Last year's women's 10000 mRW world champion Ai Oyama (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) took silver in 46:56.24 behind China's Meiling Chen, the gold medalist in 46:11.08.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Tokyo Marathon Top Japanese Man Tsubasa Ichiyama Works 4 Days a Week, Walked On in College

38,000 people ran the 2025 Tokyo Marathon . Every runner had their own story, but one of the most special was Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx). Despite being on almost nobody's radar, he outran some of the best in the country to finish as the top Japanese man. Ichiyama ran most of the race in the 3rd pace group, going through halfway in 1:02:44 and 30 km in 1:29:13. When the pacers stopped, he showed what he could really do. "I'm not good at downhills, so in the first part it was hard to run smoothly," he said at the post-race press conference. "But after the downhill part ended I got into my rhythm, and I think that helped me over the 2nd half." After dropping Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and others, he quickly bore down on the Japanese athletes who had gone out faster in the 2nd pace group. Overtaking Paris Olympics 6th placer Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), at 39.8 km he caught all-time Japanese #2 man Yohei I...

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...