Women's Shot Put Final 14:45
Already having made a comeback in her main event with a win in the women's discus throw, local Nanaka Kori will be going for a repeat on her 2023 national title in the shot put. She's the only woman over 16 m this season, and one of only two in the field to have ever done it, along with #3-ranked Fumiko Ono.
Nanaka Kori (Niigata Albirex RC) - 16.19 m SB / 16.57 m PB
Honoka Oyama (Imamura Byoin) - 15.75 m SB / 15.78 m PB
Fumika Ono (Tsukuba Univ.) - 15.74 m SB / 16.37 m PB
Haruka Osako (Somay-Q) - 15.28 m SB / PB
Kotomi Okuyama (Okayama Shoka Univ.) - 15.26 m SB / PB
Ryoka Hinatsu (Fukuoka Univ.) - 14.99 m SB / PB
Men's High Jump Final 15:30
It's going to be a very interesting high jump. 2023 national champion Ryoichi Akamatsu and Tomohiro Shinno are both well inside the Paris quota of 32 and just need top 3 finishes here. Newcomer Yuto Seko is at 32nd right now and needs to finish 3rd and jump at least 2.22 m to overtake 31st-place Erick Portillo of Mexico. Budapest World Championships team member Naoto Hasegawa is 2 points behind Seko in the rankings and has to beat him, finish 3rd and clear 2.22 m. NR holder Naoto Tobe and others are in the field too, so it's not a done deal that either Seko or Hasegawa can make top 3.
Ryoichi Akamatsu (Seibu Prince) - 2.30 m SB / PB
Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) - 2.29 m SB / 2.31 m PB
Takashi Eto (KDL) - 2.26 SB / 2.30 m PB
Yuto Seko (FAAS) - 2.26 m SB / 2.27 m PB
Haruki Horii (Daishin Plant) - 2.25 m SB / PB
Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex RC) - 2.25 m SB / 2.26 m PB
Naoto Tobe (JAL) - 2.17 m SB / 2.35 m PB
Women's Long Jump Final 16:10
NR holder Sumire Hata is ranked 5th in the world in the Road to Paris rankings and should pick up another national title without problem. #2-ranked Ayaka Kora is out of range of the Olympics and would need an off day from Hata to have a shot at taking the top spot.
Sumire Hata (Sumitomo Denko) - 6.97 m SB / PB
Ayaka Kora (JAL) - 6.46 m SB / 6.50 m PB
Miu Kimura (Shikoku Univ.) - 6.36 m SB / PB
Maya Takeuchi (Mizuno) - 6.30 m SB / PB
Nagisa Yamamoto (Hasegawa) - 6.30 m SB / 6.31 m PB
Akari Funada (Mukogawa Joshi Univ.) - 6.29 m SB / PB
Women's 400 mH Final 16:40
Expected to have been a showdown between Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto, they've got company from Moe Matsuoka after Matsuoka beat Utsunomiya by half a second with a 57.25 PB in the semifinals.
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
Women's 800 m Final 16:55
High schooler Rin Kubo and Ayano Shiomi had almost the same times in winning their semis, but although 2023 national champion Airi Ikezaki was over a second slower than either of them in winning her semifinal she can't be counted out in the final. 1500 m and 5000 m national champ Nozomi Tanaka is also in the final and should give the others extra motivation.
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
Men's Shot Put Final 17:00
It's pretty close up front between U20 NR holder Jason Atuobeng and 2023 national champ Hitoshi Okumura, the only men in the shot put over 18.50 m. So far this year Okumura has thrown 18.28 m and Atuobeng only 18.19 m, so on paper at least they're in range of Ryuji Iwasa and Daichi Morishita.
Jason Atuobeng (Fukuoka Univ.) - 18.56 m SB / PB
Hitoshi Okumura (Senko) - 18.53 m SB / PB
Ryuji Iwasa (Team SSP) - 18.36 m SB / PB
Daichi Morishita (Kagotani) - 18.24 m SB / 18.29 m PB
Shinichi Yukinaga (Shikoku Univ. AC) - 18.00 m SB / PB
Akito Yamada (Hosei Univ.) - 17.74 m SB / PB
Men's 800 m Final 17:05
The race of the day. 17-year-old Ko Ochiai just missed the NR in the 800 m semifinals, winning SF1 in an U20 NR and National Championships MR 1:45.82. His nearest competitor, Yugo Shikata, was exactly a second behind. Sho Kawamoto holds the current NR of 1:45.75 and also made the final, so he may be on the track to watch his record go if Ochiai can repeat in the final. In his post-semi interview Ochiai said his goal in the final will be to hit the 1:44.70 Olympic standard, a massive jump from the current level of Japanese middle distance.
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 200 m Final 17:20
Remi Tsuruta needs a PB of 23.07 and the win to move into 48th of 48 in the Paris quota, a time that would almost definitely take down 2023 winner and this year's 100 m national champion Arisa Kimishima. The final will almost definitely go to one of them.
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 17:35
Kentaro Sato and Fuga Sato are almost 100% Paris-bound, and the main question in the final is who takes the national title. In the semifinals Yuki Joseph Nakajima ran the fastest qualifying time in Japanese National Championships history, 45.16, so it might not even be one of them. Nakajima is also in the Paris quota, so it's pretty likely they will make up the core of a solid 4x400 m team in Paris.
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
Women's 100 mH Final 17:50
The other most-anticipated race on the final day of the meet. Mako Fukube hit the Olympic standard of 12.77 in the semifinals with a meet record 12.75 just 0.02 off her own NR. That bumped Yumi Tanaka down to 40th of 40 in the Paris quota, but Tanaka tied the old MR of 12.84 to win her semi. Asuka Terada broke 13 behind Tanaka. So there will be one, maybe two, maybe three Japanese women in Paris depending on the outcome of the final.
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 110 mH Final 18:10
In the men's final Rachid Muratake and Shusei Nomoto both have the Paris standard, Muratake having hit it again in the semifinals. Shunya Takayama is in the Paris quota too, but Japan's 3rd standard-quality man Shunsuke Izumiya is absent. Muratake should win it, and if both Nomoto and Takayama make top 3 the assumption is they'll be the Paris team. Tatsuki Abe isn't in range of making the Olympic but was 2nd-fastest in the semifinals and could bump one of them out of top 3. The assumption in that case is they'll still get picked, but there's the slightest question mark there.
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
Men's 100 m Final 18:25
Hiroki Yanagita and Akihiro Higashida are the only men in the race in the Paris quota and just need a good top 3 showing here. Former NR holder Yoshihide Kiryu needs to beat one of them, make top 3, and run 10.35 to get into the quota. Ryuichiro Sakai and Ryo Wada could pull off a quota-placing run, and Bruno Dede, 3rd-fastest in the semis, could complicate the situation for any of them. It'll be a great ending to four days of record-breaking action in Niigata.
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
© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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