Skip to main content

Yamamoto 3000 m Gold at Asian Indoor Championships



The Asian Indoor Athletics Championships took place Feb. 17-19 in Tehran, Iran, women's events happening in morning sessions and men's in evening sessions without overlap. The small Japanese team of 14 took four gold medals, four silvers, and one bronze.
  • Asuka Terada got things rolling for the small Japanese team with a silver in the women's 60 mH, running 8.18 to win her heat and then 8.21 in the final behind Indian gold medalist Jyothi Yarraji's 8.12.
  • China's Zhang Mingkun fouled on 4 of his 6 attempts in the men's, but his 5th attempt of 7.97 m was enough for gold. Japan's Yuto Toriumi and Daiki Oda took silver and bronze at 7.89 m and 7.76 m.
  • Nanako Matsumoto won the women's 400 m final in 55.14 over Iranians Nazanin Fatemeh Eidan and Kazan Rostami, with Haruna Kuboyama 4th in 56.28 almost a second behind Rostami.
  • Yuma Yamamoto had a dominant run for gold in the women's 3000 m, running 9:16.71 to win by almost 10 seconds over India's Ankita and Kyrgyzstan's Kalil Kyzy Ainuska.
  • Ryoichi Akamatsu and Yuto Seko went 1-2 in the men's high jump, both clearing 2.19 m but Seko in the silver position after missing his first attempt at 2.15 m. Bangladeshi Mahfuzur Rahman won bronze at 2.15 m.
  • Shuhei Tada won silver in the men's 60 m, Oman's Ali Anwar Ali Al Balushi taking gold in 6.52, Tada running 6.56, and North Korea's Jo Kum Ryong bronze in 6.66. Tada ran 6.60 in the opening heats and 6.53 in the semi-finals.
  • Yuma Maruyama dominated in the men's heptathlon, winning six of the seven events to take gold.
Non-medalists included:
  • Mariko Morimoto was 4th in the women's triple jump at 13.37 m on her final attempt, 11 cm out of the medals.
  • Shingo Sawa was 6th in the men's pole vault final, clearing only 5.25 m. Gold medalist Zhang Tao of China cleared 5.56 m.
  • Hikaru Ikehata took 4th in the men's triple jump, 30 cm out of the medals at 15.88 m on his opening jump.
  • The current #2 Japanese collegiate man over 5000 m, Shunsuke Yoshii ran only 8:20.34 in the 3000 m for 5th.
© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Stefan said…
Yuma Yamamoto's winning time of 9:16.71 even at altitude, shows the level of competition at this event. A gold medal is a gold medal but still I'm sure she would have wanted to go faster. 8:40.05 by Nozomi Tanaka on 11 Feb in the US shows the current gap between the two athletes at this event. Looking at Yamamoto's profile and progression in her events her times are not improving in a lot of her events since her move to the Sekisui team in 2023.

Most-Read This Week

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

Queens Ekiden Streaming and Preview

Sunday is the first big race of championship ekiden season, the Queens Ekiden in Sendai, the season-ending national championship for corporate women. 24 teams race 42.195 km in 6 legs, with the top 8 scoring places for 2025. TBS' live nationwide broadcast starts at 11:50, with multi-camera streaming on Youtube above. Last year Sekisui Kagaku won by almost a minute and a half, and with Paris Olympian Yuma Yamamoto , 2023 World Championships marathoner Sayaka Sato on its entry list and collegiate 1500 m record holder Mizuki Michishita having come on board this season it looks like a contender for another win. But last year's runner-up Japan Post got a big boost this season with the addition of its first non-Japanese member, two-time double 1500 m and 3000 m high school champion Caroline Kariba . The Queens Ekiden limits non-Japanese athletes to a 3.8 km leg, so it'd be tough for Kariba to bridge a 1:25 gap by herself with that little ground to work with. But what she can

Singh Breaks Indian NR to Win Hachioji Long Distance 10000 m, with 39 Going Sub-28

For the second time in two months Gulveer Singh was in Japan to race, and for the second time he outkicked Toyota corporate team rookie and 2023-2024 Komazawa University captain Mebuki Suzuki to win with a new Indian national record. Last time around it was September's Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup 5000 m in Niigata, where Singh ran a 13:11.82 NR, outpowering Suzuki over the last 200 m but Suzuki still coming in with an all-time Japanese #8 13:13.80. This time it was the Hachioji Long Distance 10000 m time trial meet in suburban Tokyo. Running the fastest heat targeting the 27:00.00 Tokyo World Championships standard, Singh started at the back of the pack and worked his way forward as the race progressed. The front end of the pack wore down to just Singh, Suzuki and Japan-based Kenyans Samwel Masai (Kao), Gilbert Kiprotich (Sunbelx) and Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko), splitting en route: 2:42 5:25 (2:43) 8:08 (2:43) 10:51 (2:43) 13:36 (2:45) 16:19 (2:43) 19:04 (2:45)