Morota Breaks Pole Vault NR - Asian Games Athletics Day 4 Highlights

Women's pole vault national record holder Misaki Morota kicked off the evening session on the fourth day of athletics competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games with a new NR and a silver medal. Morota cleared every height from 3.80 m to 4.40 m on her first attempt, then did it again at 4.48 m, 7 cm over her old record. China's Ling Li and Chung Niu only jumped once each, both clearing 4.30 m on their first attempts, leaving all three women to go for 4.53 m. Li made it on her first attempt, but both Morota and Niu failed, leaving Li in gold, Morota in silver and Niu in the bronze position. Li went on from there to make it over 4.63 m, breaking her own Games record by 3 cm.

In the men's 200 m final, Koki Ueyama took the final in 20.60 (-0.2), beating Saudi Abdullah Akbar Mohammed by 0.03 to win Japan's first athletics gold medal in Hangzhou. Chun-Han Yang of Taiwan edged out veteran Femi Ogunode of Qatar for bronze, 20.74 to 20.75. A few minutes later Shunya Takayama delivered a second gold, winning the men's 110 mH in 13.41 (-0.4). Kuwait's Yaqoub Alyouha clocked the same time and was jointly awarded the gold, with China's Zhuoyi Xu taking bronze in 13.50. Japan's Shuhei Ishikawa was 5th in 13.63.

Women's long jump NR holder Sumire Hata came up short of the medals. China's Shiqi Xiong, India's Ancy Sojan Edappilly and Hong Kong's Nga Yan Yue all jumped PBs to take the medal spots, Xiong in 6.73 m (-0.0), Edappilly in 6.63 m (+0.3) and Yue in 6.50 m (+0.1). But Hata, who jumped her 6.97 m NR at July's Bangkok Asian Championships but only 6.41 m at the Budapest World Championships in August, was stuck in the 6.40s, going 6.42 m (+0.3) on her 3rd attempt, 6.48 m (+0.4) on her 4th, and 6.48 (+0.1) on her 5th, leaving her just 2 cm outside medal territory.

In the men's decathlon, Yuma Maruyama and Shun Taue stood in 4th and 5th after the first day of competition with 3880 and 3663 points. Both ran well in the 100 m, Maruyama with the fastest time in the 100 m at 10.96 (+1.0) and Taue 3rd at 11.08 (+1.0), but had the two lowest clearances in the high jump, Maruyama making 1.85 m and Taue only 1.82 m. India's Tejaswin Shankar led with 4260 points, China's Qihao Sun 2nd with 4010 and Thailand's Suttisak Singkhon 3rd with 4004.

In qualification rounds:

Both Tomohiro Shinno and Ryoichi Akamatsu cleared 2.15 m to make the men's high jump final, Shinno winning Group B and Akamatsu 2nd in Group A. WR holder Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar lead Group A with a 2.19 m clearance on his only jump.
Asian Games record holders China led the men's 4x100 m heats with a 38.62 season best in Heat 1, South Korea just behind with a 38.75 SB for 2nd. Asian record holders Japan led Heat 2 in 38.99.
NR holder Sho Kawamoto was eliminated in the men's 800 m, finishing 5th in Heat 3 in 1:52.93. India's Mohammed Pulikkalakath was the fastest qualifier, winning Heat 2 in 1:46.79.
Both Kazuki Kurokawa and Yusaku Kodama made the men's 400 m hurdles final, Kurokawa winning Heat 2 in 49.80 and Kodama getting through on time with a 49.99 for 3rd in Heat 1.
Ami Yamamoto also made it through in the women's 400 mH, running 57.55 for 5th in Heat 1.

Complete results here. The Hangzhou Asian Games continue through Thursday.

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

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