Shobu Takes Steeplechase Bronze - World University Games Day Three Japanese Results

Waseda University's Atsushi Shobu added another medal to Japan's so far petite haul on day 3 of athletics competition at the Chengdu World University Games. Running the men's 3000 mSC, Shobu sat at the back of the lead pack throughout the race. In 5th at the bell, Shobu moved up into 3rd on the back straight, then was overtaken by Germany's Nick Jager heading into the curve. Both passed Czech Damian Vich and kept up their duel for 2nd until the final obstacle, where Shobu hesitated and lost ground. Jens Mergenthaler took gold in 8:38.42, Jager making it a German 1-2 with a silver in 8:40.53 to Shobu's 8:40.84 for bronze.

The men's 400 m final was maybe the race of the day, with the top 6 all running new PBs and Portugal's Joao Coelho and Australian Reece Holder both going under the WUG record in a photo finish. Coelho was timed at 44.782 for gold, with Holder officially running 44.785 for silver. Romanian Mihai-Sorin Dringo took bronze in a PB of 45.27, with Hosei University's Naohiro Jinushi running a 45.58 PB for 4th. Tsukuba University's Kenki Imaizumi was far off his best, finishing last in 47.18. The top 3 in the women's 400 mH final also all ran new PBs, with Italian Alice Muraro winning gold in 55.48 by almost a second over Brazil's Marlene Dos Santos. Ritsumeikan University's Ami Yamamoto was 5th in 57.19.

Doubling from the 10000 m, Nittai University's Risa Yamazaki ran an easy 16:58.97 for 4th in Heat 1 of the women's 5000 m to make the final. Also doubling, Ritsumeikan's Tomo Muramatsu ran an even easier 17:10.66 for 4th in Heat 2 to join Yamazaki in the final. In the women's hammer throw qualification round, Raiki Murakami of Kyushu Kyoritsu University threw 63.63 m for 2nd in Group A and advanced to the final. Akari Funada of Mukogawa Joshi University also made it through in the women's triple jump with a 13.26 -0.5 m/s on her second attempt for 4th in Group B.

Waseda's Aoi Inage ran a PB of 20.84 +1.1 m/s for 2nd in the men's 200 m Heat 5 and moved on to the semifinals. His Waseda teammate Yudai Nishi ran almost the identical time in Heat 7, 20.85 -0.1 m/s, but finished 3rd and failed to advance on time. Konan University's Abigail Ido was 3rd in Heat 5 of the women's 200 m in 24.16 +1.0 m/s and did advance. No luck for Sonoda Joshi University's Manaka Miura in heat 6, though, as she finished 4th in 24.54 +0.7 m/s and didn't advance. Ayaka Ito of Fukuoka University didn't make it out of the first round of the women's 100 mH, running 14.18 +0.5 m/s for 7th in Heat 2.

Complete day 3 results here. The Chengdu World University Games continue through Sunday.

Weekend Road and Track Roundup

A roundup of the main road and track action on the last weekend of Japan's 2024-25 academic and fiscal year: Doubling off a 2:07:06 PB at the Tokyo Marathon 4 weeks ago, Tatsuya Maruyama took bronze at the Asian Marathon Championships in Jiaxing, China in 2:11:56. Gold went to North Korea's Il Ryong Han in a breakaway 2:11:18, with silver medalist Tianyu Chen of China just ahead of Maruyama in 2:11:50. Japan's Shungo Yokota was a distant 4th in 2:14:00, with Japan-based Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir 6th in 2:15:14. Japanese women Kaede Kawamura and Natsumi Matsushita were 5th and 6th in 2:31:26 and 2:34:40, with medals going to China's Bing Wu , gold in 2:26:01, North Korea's Kwang-Ok Ri , silver right behind her in 2:26:07, and defending gold medalist Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh landing in bronze this time in 2:28:56, her third sub-2:29 performance so far in 2025. Back home, four men broke 2:20 at the Fukui Sakura Marathon . Ko Kobayashi from the Shi...

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