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Uzawa Breaks 200 m Championships Record, Yamamoto and Endo Double 5000 m Gold on Final Day of Asian Athletics Championships


The final day of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships kicked off with a gold medal in the men's 20 km race walk from Yutaro Murayama in a close race with China's Kaihua Wang that saw Murayama win by 49 seconds. Bronze medalist Vikash Singh was over 4 minutes behind Wang, while Murayama's teammate Hiroto Jusho dropped out mid-race. Yukiko Umeno took bronze in the women's race in 1:36:18, almost 4 minutes behind winner Liujing Yang. Miyu Naito finished just out of the medals in 4th in 1:37:35.

In the evening session, Yuma Yamamoto and Hyuga Endo made it a Japanese women's and men's double in the 5000 m. In the women's race, Yamamoto stayed behind Mongolia's Munkhzaya Bayartsogt and Kazakhstan's Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui through the early phases, then India's Parul Chaudhary before going to the front. After hitting 4000 m in 12:57.19 Yamamoto went faster and faster to burn Chaudhary off, officially clocking a 2:53.97 last 1000 m to win in 15:51.16 with Chaudhary just over a second behind. Indian Ankita moved up from further back over the last 1000 m to take bronze in 16:03.33. With a decent time and the bonus points for winning an area championship Yamamoto's position in the Budapest World Championships qualification quota looks a lot more secure than her pre-race 39th of 42.

In the men's race, Kazuya Shiojiri and Hyuga Endo needed to do the same to boost their Budapest standings after Shiojiri was bumped down to 40th and Endo out of the quota to 43rd by the results in Heusden the day before. Shiojiri took control from the start and led almost the whole way, splitting 2:45.74 - 2:45.38 - 2:43.17 - 2:44.43 - 2:45.20. Endo stayed right behind him as the rest of the field dropped off, then went to the front in the last 1000 m. With a sub-60 last lap Endo took gold in 13:34.94, just 0.47 off the championships record. Shiojiri cruised in for silver in 13:43.92, India's Gulveer Singh taking bronze in 13:48.33. With the win Endo was back in the quota around 32nd, with Shiojiri moving back up to 36th, almost definitely enough to survive there until the Budapest deadline at the end of the month.

Following Hiroki Yanagita's 100 m gold, 20-year-old Towa Uzawa added more new hope to Japan's aging men's sprinting scene with a championships record 20.23 -0.4 m/s/ gold medal in the 200 m final, enough to move him up to all-time Japanese #8 and collegiate #3. Taiwan's Chun Han Yang won silver in 20.48, Koki Ueyama scoring bronze in 20.53.

Japan ran in medal position almost the entire way in the women's 4x400 m, but in the home straight anchor Ami Yamamoto was run down by Sri Lanka and India, dropping from silver to 4th in 3:35.26. A very impressive team from Vietnam won the gold in 3:32.36, Sri Lanka just edging India for silver 3:33.27 to 3:33.73.

Roderick Genki Dean continued his early-30s comeback with a gold in the men's javelin, throwing a season best 83.15 m on his 4th attempt after already being in the top spot with a 81.27 m throw on the previous attempt. Silver and bronze medalists Manu Devarakeshavi Prakasha of India and Muhammad Yasir of Pakistan came up with big final throws to secure their medal positions, but at 81.01 m and 79.93 m neither came close to overtaking Dean. Ryohei Arai took 5th with a final throw of 72.43 m.

In the men's pole vault, Tomoya Karasawa was just out of the medals at 4th, clearing the same 5.51 m height as bronze medalist Bokai Huang of China but taking one more attempt to get over 5.41 m. Gold medalist Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines set a championships record 5.91 m for the win but came up short in his shot at a new Asian record of 6.02 m.

Airi Ikezaki and Ayano Shiomi went 4-5 in the women's 800 m in 2:04.21 and 2:04.25, gold medalist M.T.D.K. Dissanayaka of Sri Lanka setting a championships record 2:00.68 that broke the 90s-era Chinese mark of 2:01.16 that stood as the previous record for 25 years. NR holder Sho Kawamoto was last in the men's 800 m, his 1:49.59 over 4 seconds off winner Abubaker Haydar Abdalla of Qatar.

Remi Tsuruta was 5th in the women's 200 m final in 23.48 +0.1 m/s, with the gold medal going in yet another championships record time to Pereira Veronica Shanti of Singapore in 22.70. Arisa Kimishima was last in 28.00 after pulling up just before the home straight.

All told Japan's medal count came to 16 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze, about the same as the combined final counts for China and India. Complete results available here.

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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