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
Comments
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.