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Nagashima Wins 3000 m Gold, Yonezawa and Matsumoto Go 1-2 in 5000 m on Opening Day of Asian Juniors


The U20 Asian Championships started June 4 in Yecheon, South Korea with competition in eight events. In the men's 3000 m, Sonata Nagashima ran 8:19.49 to win the gold medal. With only five athletes in the race, Nagashima took the lead in the first 200 m with a 2:40 first 1000 m. Nobody else could follow that kind of pace, and with a 5:24 split at 2000 m his lead only grew as he coasted in to his first international title.

Nagashima joined the Asahi Kasei corporate team in April after graduating from Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S. Active in track and field since junior high school, he was a podium placer at the National High School Ekiden and won the opening stages at both last December's National High School Ekiden and January's National Men's Ekiden.


In the women's 5000 m, Nanaka Yonezawa of national champion Meijo University took the gold medal in 16:37.37, with Akari Matsumoto of the Sekisui Kagaku corporate team winning silver in 16:42.22. Nozomi Sakurai (Semi H.S.) won the women's javelin throw with a 50.02 m mark on her first attempt. Rui Kitada (Nittai Univ.) took bronze in the men's pole vault at 5.10 m with Eito Watanabe (Tsukuba Univ.) 4th at 5.05 m. Gold medalist S.M. Abselsalam (Qatar) set a meet record 5.50 m.

13 events will be contested on the second day of the championships on Monday. Kaito Kuroki (Higashi Fukuoka H.S.) and Haruki Narushima (Toyo Univ.) feature in the men's 100 m.

source article:
translated by Brett Larner

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