Following yesterday's five new Japanese National Track and Field Championships meet records, two more meet records fell on day three, both less than 0.1 off the national records and one an incredible new U20 NR. Complete results here.
Finals
Women's 5000 m Final
Wakana Kabasawa and Rina Kusu both had a shot at making the Paris Olympics if they finished 2nd behind NR holder Nozomi Tanaka in the low 15:20s, but when the race set off at a jog their chances were pretty much gone after the first lap. Having tuned up in the 800 m heats, Tanaka eventually pulled away for the win in 15:23.72, ensuring that she'll double in Paris. Currently 36th of 42 in the Paris quota, Yuma Yamamoto made enough of a comeback from injury to take 2nd in 15:34.64 a few steps ahead of teammate Chikako Mori, pretty much guaranteeing Yamamoto will be in Paris too. But Kusu and Kabasawa were only 6th and 9th, neither clearing even 15:40. With Ririka Hironaka injured it looks likely Japan will only have two women in the Paris 5000 m.
1. Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 15:23.72
2. Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:34.64
3. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:35.78
4. Rika Kaseda (Daihatsu) - 15:36.59
5. Sora Shinozakura (Panasonic) - 15:40.15
6. Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:40.33
7. Miyaka Sugata (Japan Post) - 15:41.07
8. Rino Goshima (Shiseido) - 15:41.25
9. Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 15:46.52
10. Kazuna Kanetomo (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 15:48.05
Men's Long Jump Final
The only Japanese man with the Paris standard, Yuki Hashioka sealed it up with the win in 7.95 m (+2.4) on his 2nd attempt. None of the other main contenders, Yuto Toriumi, Hiromichi Yoshida, and Shotaro Shiroyama, made even the top 12, meaning Hashioka will be the only Japanese male long jumper at the Olympics.
1. Yuki Hashioka (Fujitsu) - 7.95 m (+2.4)
2. Hibiki Tsuha (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 7.90 m (+0.5)
3. Natsuki Yamakawa (Team SSP) - 7.84 m (+0.1)
4. Kaito Yamaura (Katsuura Golf Club) - 7.82 m (+1.3)
5. Riku Shindome (Kokusai Budo Univ.) - 7.81 m (-0.2)
6. Koki Fujiwara (Toyo Univ.) - 7.77 m (+0.4)
7. Shunya Fujiwara (Ready Rakuin) - 7.68 m (+0.8)
8. Daiki Oda (Yamada Holdings) - 7.68 m (-0.7)
9. Hiroshi Tebira (Kagoshima Wings AC) - 7.63 m (-0.2)
10. Minato Ishikura (NTN) - 7.59 m (+0.6)
Men's Javelin Throw Final
Roderick Genki Dean finished 3rd with a 78.15 m throw, and with his position in the top half of the Paris quota is sure to be in Paris. Ryohei Arai threw an impressive 80.78 m for the win and Yuta Sakiyama 79.72 m for 2nd, but both were short of what they needed to make the top 32 in the Road to Paris rankings.
1. Ryohei Arai (Suzuki) - 80.78 m
2. Yuta Sakiyama (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 79.72 m
3. Roderick Genki Dean (Mizuno) - 78.15 m
4. Kenji Ogura (ASM) - 77.77 m
5. Hiroya Kiyokawa (Tokai Univ.) - 77.61 m
6. Gen Nakanuma (Suzuki) - 76.41 m
7. Rin Suzuki (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - 76.04 m
8. Ryusei Nakamura (Kokushikan Univ.) - 74.63 m
9. Taisei Aibara (OniGO) - 73.18 m
10. Haruka Higa (Fukumoto Kogyo) - 72.36 m
Men's Discus Throw Final
Yuji Tsutsumi defended his 2023 national title with a 60.21 m throw on his 3rd attempt, his main rivals Masateru Yugami and Shinichi Yukinaga taking 2nd and 3rd but nowhere near clearing 60 m.
1. Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) - 60.12 m
2. Masateru Yugami (Toyota) - 58.51 m
3. Shinichi Yukinaga (Shikoku Univ. AC) - 56.62 m
4. Hiroki Kitahara (Niigata Iryo Fukushi Univ.) - 54.43 m
5. Kosei Yamashita (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - 54.14 m
6. Kazumasa Yomogida (Kagotani) - 52.74 m
7. Yume Ando (Miharu Kyosei) - 52.12 m
8. Ryoga Tobikawa (Shiga T&F Assoc.) - 51.45 m
9. Masumi Nakamachi (Niigata Iryo Fukushi Univ.) - 50.68 m
10. Taiga Hamaguchi (Nittai Univ.) - 50.48 m
Men's Pole Vault Final
Veteran Seito Yamamoto had a good comeback to take the win in 5.50 m, the only one to jump higher than 5.40 m. Yamamoto went straight from there to the 5.82 m Paris standard, his only hope of making the Olympic team, but all three attempts were a miss.
1. Seito Yamamoto (Toyota) - 5.50 m
2. Shingo Sawa (Kiraboshi Ginko) - 5.40 m
3. Sota Ishimaru (Glanz AC) - 5.40 m
4. Kosei Takekawa (Marumoto Sangyo) - 5.40 m
5. Taishi Yamasaki (Takamatsu T&F Assoc.) - 5.30 m
6. Yosuke Osaki (Nittai AC) - 5.30 m
7. Keisuke Okubo (Sangan T&F Assoc.) - 5.30 m
8. Masaki Ejima (Fujitsu) - 5.30 m
9. Atsushi Haraguchi (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 5.20 m
10. Tomoya Karasawa (Nittai Univ.) - 5.20 m
10. Koki Kuruma (Striders AC) - 5.20 m
Heats and Semifinals
Men's 100 m Final qualifiers
Most of the big names made it through to the final, veterans Yuki Koike and Shota Iizuka both missing out but everyone else including former NR holder Yoshihide Kiryu getting through. Favorite Hiroki Yanagita was only 2nd in his SF in 10.20 (-0.2), well off top seed Ryuichiro Sakai's 10.11 (-0.1).
Ryuichiro Sakai (Osaka Gas) - 10.11 (-0.1) - 1st, SF2
Akihiro Higashida (Sekisho) - 10.16 (-0.2) - 1st, SF1
Bruno Dede (Seiko) - 10.18 (+0.1) - 1st, SF3
Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) - 10.20 (-0.2) - 2nd, SF1
Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 10.20 (+0.1) - 2nd, SF3
Ryo Wada (Miki House) - 10.21 (+0.1) - 3rd, SF3
Ryota Suzuki (Suzuki) - 10.22 (-0.1) - 2nd, SF2
Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.24 (-0.2) - 3rd, SF1
Women's 200 m Final qualifiers
Top-ranked Remi Tsuruta was faster than 100 m champ Arisa Kirishima in the semis, setting up a head-to-head showdown in tomorrow's final. But Tsuruta will need to find another half second better than her 23.56 in SF2 in order to make the Paris quota.
Remi Tsuruta (Minami Kyushu Family Mart) - 23.56 (-0.8) - 1st, SF2
Arisa Kimishima (DKS) - 23.76 (-1.0) - 1st, SF1
Ami Takahashi (Tsukuba Univ.) - 24.11 (-1.0) - 2nd, SF1
Aiko Iki (Osaka Gas) - 24.16 (-1.0) - 3rd, SF1
Midori Mikase (Sumitomo Denko) - 24.20 (-1.0) - 4th, SF1
Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 24.27 (-0.8) - 2nd, SF2
Shuri Aono (ND Software) - 24.35 (-1.0) - 1st, SF3
Aoi Sato (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 24.48 (-1.0) - 2nd, SF3
Men's 400 m Final qualifiers
43rd of 48 in the Paris quota, Yuki Joseph Nakajima turned in the fastest-ever time in Japanese National Championships heats, 45.16, to head to the final as the top qualifier. Relative unknown Takuho Yoshizu dropped a big PB of 45.57 to win SF1, outrunning Paris-qualified men Kentaro Sato and Fuga Sato. Masato Mori also ran a PB of 46.00 to make the final ranked 5th.
Yuki Joseph Nakajima (Fujitsu) - 45.16 - 1st, SF2
Takuho Yoshizu (GK Line) - 45.57 - 1st, SF1 - PB
Kentaro Sato (Fujitsu) - 45.69 - 2nd, SF1
Fuga Sato (Mizuno) - 45.79 - 1st, SF3
Masato Mori (Sunbelx) - 46.00 - 2nd, SF3 - PB
Kaito Kawabata (Chukyo Club) - 46.10 - 3rd, SF1
Daichi Inoue (Omatsu Unyu) - 46.66 - 4th, SF1
Mizuki Obuchi (Torihei AC) - 46.93 - 2nd, SF2
Men's 110 mH Final qualifiers
400 mH winner Ken Toyoda gave the 110 mH a miss, but the already-qualified Rachid Muratake turned in an Olympic standard 13.14 (-1.0) in SF1 to tune up for the final. Shusei Nomoto and Shunya Takayama both made it too, setting up the potential for three Japanese men in the 110 mH in Paris. A potential disrupting factor was Tatsuki Abe, 2nd-fastest in the semis with a 13.40 (-0.9) to win SF2.
Rachid Muratake (JAL) - 13.14 (-1.0) - 1st, SF1
Tatsuki Abe (Juntendo Univ.) - 13.40 (-0.9) - 1st, SF2
Shunya Takayama (Zerrin) - 13.42 (-0.9) - 2nd, SF2
Shusei Nomoto (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 13.51 (-0.9) - 3rd, SF2
Ryota Fujii (Mie Sports Assoc.) - 13.54 (-0.9) - 4th, SF2
Taiga Yokochi (Team SSP) - 13.57 (-0.9) - 5th, SF2
Ryota Machi (Niigata Albirex RC) - 13.61 (-1.0) - 2nd, SF1
Shuhei Ishikawa (Fujitsu) - 13.62 (-1.0) - 3rd, SF1
Women's 100 mH Final qualifiers
The women's 100 mH final is going to be VERY interesting. NR holder Mako Fukube, in the weakest position of the three contenders for Paris, knocked the other two back with a 12.75 (+0.8) National Championships meet record in SF1 to hit the Olympic standard and move up to the top Japanese position. Bumped down from 39th to 40th of 40, Yuma Tanaka fired back with a 12.85 (-0.3) to win SF2, tying the old MR and setting herself up to pick up a few places in the Paris quota if she can repeat in the final. Asuka Terada also made it under 13 in SF2 with a 12.98 for 2nd, but with Fukube and Tanaka performing so well faces an even steeper climb to get into the top 40.
Mako Fukube (NKK) - 12.75 (+0.8) - 1st, SF1 - MR
Yumi Tanaka (Fujitsu) - 12.85 (-0.3) - 1st, SF2 - MR tie
Asuka Terada (Japan Create) - 12.98 (-0.3) - 2nd, SF2
Yuki Omatsu (CDL) - 13.02 (+0.8) - 2nd, SF1
Hitomi Nakajima (Hasegawa) - 13.08 (+0.8) - 3rd, SF1
Chisato Kiyoyama (Ichigo) - 13.10 (+0.8) - 4th, SF1
Manaka Shibata (Edion) - 13.11 (+0.8) - 5th, SF1
Hitomi Shimura (Rida Japan) - 13.20 (-0.3) - 3rd, SF2
Men's 800 m Final qualifiers
But this was the race of the day. See the video up top. 17-year-old Ko Ochiai led start-to-finish in SF1, going through 400 m in 52 and hammering the last 100 m to finish in 1:45.82. That's a H.S. NR, an U20 NR, a National Championships meet record, and only 0.07 off the outright Japanese NR. In the heats. Bring on tomorrow's final! Ochiai pulled along the next three in his heat to make the final about two seconds faster than the winners of the other two heats, one of which was NR holder Sho Kawamoto. Tomorrow it's just him vs. himself.
Ko Ochiai (Shiga Gakuen H.S.) - 1:45.82 - 1st, SF1 U20 NR, MR
Yugo Shikata (Takatsuka T&F Assoc.) - 1:46.82 - 2nd, SF1
Hinata Maeda (Kantaiheiyo Univ.) - 1:47.09 - 3rd, SF1 - PB
Ryuto Hayakawa (Smiley) - 1:47.89 - 4th, SF1 - PB
Shuri Sato (Kanoya Taiiku Univ.) - 1:49.29 - 1st, SF3
Sho Kawamoto (Suzuki) - 1:49.53 - 1st, SF2
Yukichi Ishii (Penn State) - 1:49.69 - 2nd, SF2
Sota Okamura (Kanoya Taiiku Univ.) - 1:49.74 - 2nd, SF2
Women's 800 m Final qualifiers
Rin Kubo has been the main attraction in Japanese women's middle distance this season, and along with Ochiai is setting it up for high schoolers to take both 800 m national titles. Her main competitor Ayano Shiomi was only 0.04 slower in her semi, and interloper Nozomi Tanaka was less than a second behind in a warmup for the 5000 m, but while her win is less of a sure thing than Ochiai's it's at least going to be a great race.
Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) - 2:03.60 - 1st, SF3
Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:03.64 - 1st, SF2
Ai Watanabe (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) - 2:03.99 - 2nd, SF2
Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:04.09 - 2nd, SF3
Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 2:04.36 - 3rd, SF3
Yuki Hirota (Niigata Albirex RC) - 2:04.43 - 3rd, SF2
Airi Ikezaki (Daiso) - 2:04.93 - 1st, SF1
Ayaka Kawata (Niconiconori) - 2:05.33 - 2nd, SF1
Women's 400 mH Final qualifiers
Chuo University collegian Moe Matsuoka threw some chaos into the expected duel between Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto, running a PB of 57.25 to beat Utsunomiya by half a second in SF2 and head to the final ranked #1. Yamamoto's winning time in SF3 was close behind Utsunomiya's.
Moe Matsuoka (Chuo Univ.) - 57.25 - 1st, SF2 - PB
Eri Utsunomiya (Hasegawa) - 57.74 - 2nd, SF2
Ami Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 57.88 - 1st, SF3
Satsuki Umehara (Sumitomo Denko) - 58.02 - 1st, SF1
Meri Masuko (Chuo Univ.) - 58.11- 2nd, SF1
Hikari Okubo (Fun and Run) - 58.24 - 3rd, SF2 - PB
Akane Minamisawa (Matsumoto Doken) - 58.26 - 2nd, SF3
Mio Tsujii (Osaka Taiiku Univ.) - 58.38 - 3rd, SF3 - PB
Comments
Can't wait to see the Women's 800m race and 100m Hurdles final. The top runners in each event are running very well and it is closely matched.
Of course, the Men's 800m race will be the one that has everyone glued to their screens. Me included.