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.

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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