Skip to main content

Drury and Mashiko Lead Four Japanese Golds - U20 Asian Championships Day 4


The closing day of the Dubai U20 Asian Athletics Championships saw Japan go out big, with four gold medals led by dominant runs by Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) and Yota Mashiko (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.).

Making her international debut, the 16-year-old Drury led start to finish in the women's 1500 m final, grinding down the rest of the field and putting over 4 seconds on runner-up Sandilea Vinod of India over the last 300 m to win in 4:21.41. Drury's splits: 1:11-2:24-(3:19)-3:35-4:21. There's still a long way for Drury to go, but in terms of form and confidence this was the best she has looked since her legendary breakthrough CR at last year's National Women's Ekiden, and you could see more than a glimmer of what everyone is hoping is really there.

Mashiko was even more dominant in the men's 3000 m. Coming out on the front end of some pushing and shoving in the first 50 m, Mashiko led the entire way. By 300 m he had a measurable gap that never got smaller, and after he ran 2:43 for the first 1000 m it was already a race for silver for everyone else in the field as Mashiko sailed on to win in 8:16.06. The other nine athletes in the main group waited until the bell lap to move, with Indian duo Bhosale Bhaskar and Bind Kumar going 2-3 in 8:31.20 and 8:33.00.

More gold came in the men's 800 m, where Ko Ochiai (Shiga Gakuen H.S.) held off Qatari Aitoulghazi Hatim by 0.38 for the win in 1:48.01. Hironori Tachizako (Waseda Univ.) came through for bronze in 1:49.73.

Japanese women improved on that in the women's 100 mH with a 1-2 finish. Surprisingly, Tenka Taninaka (Oita Oginodai H.S.) edged favorite Anna Matsuda (Nagasaki Nichidai H.S.) for the win in 13.52 (+1.3), Matsuda taking silver in 13.59 and India's Bolland Aiyappa bronze in 13.66.

One more silver came in the men's high jump. Kaisei Nakatani (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) cleared a PB 2.19 m for 2nd, with China's Dong Ziang likewise turning in a PB of 2.21 m to take gold. Korea's Choi Jinwoo was the bronze medalist at 2.11 m.

The men's 4x100 m team also raced, finishing near the back of the field, but as of this writing official results are not available on the main results site. They'll be added when available. The Japanese women's 4x100 m was a DNS.


© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Stefan said…
Well done Sherry Drury. I watched the race on the Youtube livestream and was impressed by her turn of speed at the 200m mark. I keep forgetting she is only 16 years old and it is very early in the season so getting the win and posting a good time not far outside her PB is a good start to the 2024 season. She improved a lot from her run 2 weeks ago.

Yota Mashiko's run was exactly as you said. Dominant. The gap and the ease at which he executed was a pleasure to watch. He was on a different level to the others in the race.

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...

Hakone Ekiden Qualifying Race Entry Roster Sizes Increased from 14 to 16

Hakone Ekiden organizers KGRR have announced details for the qualifying half marathon for next year's 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The Yosenkai qualifying race will be held Oct. 17 in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The combined times of the 10 fastest finishers from each participating team will be used for team scoring, with the 10 fastest teams going on the the main event next January and top-placing individuals from teams that do not qualify being names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team. One change from previous years is that the number of runners each school can enter has been increased from 14 to 16. Teams will still only be allowed to have from 10 to 12 athletes on the starting line, but the move gives coaches greater flexibility in making the final decision on their starting rosters. No changes have been made to the qualifying times of 34:00 for 10000 m or 1:13:00 for the half marathon, and the new earlier starting time of 8:30 a.m. introduced last year in an effort to mitigate ...

Nomura and Odagiri Go 3-4 at Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km

2010 Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km Nijmegen, Netherlands, 11/21/10 Women click here for complete women's results 1. Genet Getaneh (Ethiopia) - 47:53 2. Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) - 48:07 3. Sayo Nomura (Meijo Univ.) - 49:43 4. Aki Odagiri (Meijo Univ.) - 51:37 5. Benita Willis (Australia) - 51:51 Men click here for complete men's results 1. Leonard Patrick Komon (Kenya) - 41:13 - WR 2. Abera Kuma (Ethiopia) - 42:01 3. Ayele Abshiro (Ethiopia) - 42:01 4. Abraham Kiplimo (Uganda) - 43:03 5. Berhanu Delale (Ethiopia) - 43:08 ----- 14. Kazuya Watanabe (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 45:31