Hironaka Silver, Murayama and Fujii Bronze - Hangzhou Asian Games Day 1 Highlights

Athletics started Friday at the Hangzhou Asian Games, with Japanese athletes scoring medals in 3 of the day's 5 finals. Yutaro Murayama and Nanako Fujii kicked it off at 7:00 a.m. in the 20 km race walk. Murayama was the only man able to go with Chinese duo Jun Zhang and Zhaozhao Wang, but both pulled away to make it a 1-2 for the Games hosts in the opening event. Zhang took gold in 1:23:00, Wang silver in 1:24:08 with Murayama 33 seconds back in 1:24:41 for bronze. Tomohiro Noda was well back in 4th in 1:27:08, having served a 21-second penalty mid-race.

Starting 10 minutes later, the women's race podium ended up looking exactly the same but with very different race development. China's Jiauyu Yang and Zhenxia Ma were way out front most of the way and couldn't have been closer at the end, Yang taking gold in 1:30:03 and Ma silver in 1:30:04. Fujii was almost a kilometer behind in 1:33:49 for silver, with teammate Yukiko Umeno 4th in 1:39:44.

In the evening session, women's hammer throw NR holder Joy McArthur couldn't perform up to the level she was at earlier this season when she threw her 69.89 m NR. In Hangzhou the best she could manage was a season-worst 61.01 m for 6th. It was another 1-2 for China, Zheng Wang winning gold at 71.53 m and Jie Zhao silver at 69.44 m, with South Korea's Taehui Kim throwing a 64.14 m PB to take bronze.

All-time JPN #3 Ririka Hironaka was the only Japanese woman in the 10000 m, which had only 8 starters including 3 African-born women. Hironaka set the early pace on sub-32 track before Bahraini duo Viola Jepchumba and Bontu Edao Rebitu took over, and well into the late stages of the race they stayed a trio. Hironaka slipped off midway through the second half, but retook Rebitu, who ultimately dropped out, and closed again to within 7 seconds of Jepchumba. Jepchumba took gold in a PB 31:43.73, Hironaka 31:50.74 for silver. With Rebitu dropping out Kenyan-born Caroline Kipkirui of Kazakhstan beat China's Yaxuan Li to the line for bronze in 33:15.83.

No Japanese athlete were in the women's shot put, where it was another Chinese 1-2. Lijao Gong won gold with a throw of 19.58 m, Jiayuan Song taking silver at 18.92 m. Baliyan Kiran put India on the medal table with a 17.36 m throw for bronze.

In qualifying rounds, men's 400 m NR holder Kentaro Sato and fellow sub-45 man Fuga Sato both won their heats, Fuga the fastest overall qualifier for the final at 45.56 in H3 and Kentaro 45.57 45.57 in H2. H1 winner Kalinga Kumarage of Sri Lanka matched that with a 45:57 of his own.

In the men's 100 m heats veterans Yoshihide Kiryu and Yuki Koike both moved on to the semifinals, Kiryu 2nd in H1 in 10.27 (-0.2) behind Thailand's Soraoat Dapbang, who ran a 10.26 PB, and Koike winning H2 in 10.27 (-0.2). China's Zhenye Xie was the fastest qualifier, putting on a show for the home crowd with a 10.07 (-0.2) to win H4.

Complete results here.

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

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