Finals
Women's Discus Throw Final - 14:00
2023 national champion Maki Saito is at 45th in the Paris rankings, and even a win around her 58.47 PB from March wouldn't crack the top 40. NR holder Nanaka Kori has been off more than on this season and has only thrown over 57 m three times. The win will pretty much come down to the two of them.
Maki Saito (Tokai Univ.) - 58.47 m SB / PB
Nanaka Kori (Niigata Albirex RC) - 57.85 m SB / 59.03 m PB
Minori Tsujikawa (Uchida Yoko AC) - 53.84 m SB / 54.46 m PB
Akane Kawaguchi (Wizas) - 52.03 m SB / 54.05 m PB
Mika Yamamoto (Kondotech) - 50.06 m SB / 50.51 m PB
Natsumi Fujimori (STAC) - 49.53 m SB / 52.97 m PB
Women's Pole Vault Final - 17:00
Coming in off a trio of good performances in Canada, NR holder Misaki Morota currently sits at 33rd in the Road to Paris rankings with the top 32 going to the Olympics. She might drop further based on other countries' national championships this final weekend of qualifying, but what would it take to for her to overtake current 32nd-placer Anjuli Knasche of Germany? The win in 4.31 m. She's cleared higher than that 6 times this year, but has missed it 6 times too.
Misaki Morota (Art Home) - 4.48 m SB / PB
Rena Tanaka (Yoshida Seikyu) - 4.20 m SB / PB
Megumi Dainobu (Nittai Univ. SMG). 4.20 m SB / PB
Kanae Tatsuta (Nippatsu) - 4.20 m SB / 4.30 m PB
Mitsuki Kobayashi (Nittai Univ.) - 4.13 m SB / PB
Akari Osakaya (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) - 4.13 m SB / PB
Women's Triple Jump Final - 18:10
#2-ranked Maoko Takashima is a DNS, so it's all up to NR holder Mariko Morimoto. Morimoto's Paris chances are looking pretty good, currently at 23rd of 32 in the Olympic quota. A winning jump equaling her 13.37 m season 2nd-best would be enough for her to pass current 22nd-placer Aleksandra Nacheva of Bulgaria, but as long as she's top 3 here Morimoto should make it to Paris.
Mariko Morimoto (Orico) - 14.16 m SB / PB
Akari Funada (Mukogawa Joshi Univ.) - 13.54 m SB / 13.81 m PB
Sakura Miyahata (Seven) - 13.16 m SB / PB
Moeno Saito (Sunrise) - 13.00 m SB / PB
Saki Kenmochi (Hasegawa) - 12.94 m SB / 13.42 m PB
Women's Javelin Throw Final - 18:40
With 2023 world champion Haruka Kitaguchi in the house it's pretty safe to say that today will have the biggest crowds at the stadium of the entire four days. What else is there to say, except that it's pretty sad that the JAAF massively slashed the cash bonus it pays for an Olympic gold medalist for Paris by almost 90% right when they know they actually have a legit contender to get it. But to be fair, times are tough.
Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) - 67.38 m SB / PB
Marina Saito (Suzuki) - 62.07 m SB / 62.37 m PB
Momone Ueda (Zenrin) - 61.15 m SB / 61.75 m PB
Mahiro Osa (Kokushikan Club) - 61.10 m SB / PB
Yuka Sato (Niconiconori) - 60.37 m SB / 62.88 m PB
Kiho Kuze (Kondotech) - 59.16 m SB / PB
Women's 400 m Final - 18:45
With 2023 national champion Haruna Kuboyama out it's pretty much between sub-53.50 women Nanako Matsumoto and Yuna Iwata for this year's national title. Shizuho Moriyama and Abigail Ido should be in it for top 3.
Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 53.81, 1st, H3
Yuna Iwata (Suzuki) - 53.89, 1st, H1
Shizuho Moriyama (Ichigo) - 54.11, 2nd, H3
Yuki Nakao (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) - 54.12, 3rd, H3
Mayu Inaoka (Kagotani) - 54.48, 2nd, H1
Abigail Fuka Ido (Toho Ginko) - 54.50, 1st, H2
Yuika Mori (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) - 54.55, 3rd, H1
Keiko Iida (Chuo Univ.) - 54.77, 2nd, H2
Women's 100 m Final - 19:05
Expect to see Arisa Kimishima defend her national title here. Manaka Miura and Midori Mikase are the only ones who could challenge her, but realistically they're both competing for 2nd.
Arisa Kimishima (DKS) - 11.48 (+1.2) - 1st, SF1
Midori Mikase (Sumitomo Denko) - 11.55 (+0.1) - 1st, SF2
Manaka Miura (Ehima T&F Assoc.) - 11.60 (+1.2) - 2nd, SF1
Hinami Yamanaka (Shiga T&F Assoc.) - 11.68 (+0.1) - 2nd, Sf2
Yuhana Addia Ross (Josai H.S.) - 11.73 (+0.1) - 3rd, SF3
Aiko Iki (Osaka Gas) - 11.77 (+1.2) - 3rd, SF1
Yume Okuno (Konan Univ.) - 11.77 (+1.2) - 4th, Sf1
Ruho Sato (Hosei Univ.) - 11.83 (+0.1) - 4th, SF2
Men's 1500 m Final - 19:20
After favorite Kazuto Iizawa and four others fell on the last lap in their heat the final has 17 names on the start list, raising the danger it's going to happen again. A lot will come down to how much damage Iizawa took, but with 5 of the 8 fastest Japanese men ever over 1500 m in the race including NR holder Kazuki Kawamura it's not a completely done deal even if Iizawa is at 100%.
Alex Kipchirchir Kipirech (Comodi Iida) - 3:42.82, 1st H2
Atsuki Urushibara (Toenec) - 3:43.05, 2nd, H2
Yudai Noguchi (Toenec) - 3:43.51, 3rd, H2
Masato Saiki (Fujisan no Meisui) - 3:43.83, 4th, H2
Masaya Yanagimoto (Aisan Kogyo) - 3:43.96, 5th, H2
Koki Terada (Chuo Univ.) - 3:44.39, 6th, H2
Rikuto Iijima (Ami AC) - 3:45.72, 1st, H1
Keisuke Morita (Subaru) - 3:45.78, 2nd, H1
Shoma Funatsu (Komori Corp.) - 3:45.84, 3rd, H1
Ryuji Tatezawa (DeNA) - 3:45.87, 4th, H1
Nanami Arai (Honda) - 3:46.03, 5th, H1
Kazuki Kawamura (Toeneem) - 3:46.38, 6th, H1
Yusuke Takahashi (Earth Labo) - 3:54.11, 10th, H2 - qR
Takumi Shiobara (Juntendo Univ.) - 3:55.73, 11th, H2 - qR
Nao Kurihara (Josai Univ.) - 4:03.57, 13th, H2 - qR
Yusuke Inoguchi (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 4:12.84, 14th, H2 - qR
Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) - 4:27.39, 15th, H2 - qJ
Men's 400 mH Final - 19:35
Maybe the race of the day in one of Japan's all-around best events. Ken Toyoda and Kaito Tsutsue both have the Olympic standard and just need to make top 3 to go to Paris. Yusaku Kodama needs top 3 and at least 49.82 to do anything to increase his chances of hanging on to his spot in the 40-deep Olympic quota. Haruto Deguchi needs top 3 and 49.30 to break back into the quota. Both Kodama and Deguchi bettered those times to win their heats. And there's the grey zone around Kazuki Kurokawa, who has the Olympic standard but was a DNS at Nationals. It's going to be one of the most dramatic races at Nationals this year.
Ken Toyoda (Keio Univ.) - 48.62, 1st, H1
Daiki Ogawa (Toyo Univ.) - 49.02, 2nd, H1
Haruto Deguchi (Zenrin) - 49.17, 1st, H2
Shunta Inoue (Hosei Univ.) - 49.24, 3rd, H1
Yusaku Kodama (Nojima T&F Club) - 49.36, 1st, H3
Kaito Tsutsue (ST-Wako) - 49.40, 2nd, H2
Masaya Oda (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 49.68, 2nd, H3
Tatsuhiro Yamamoto (Seki AC) - 49.70, 3rd, H2
Women's 1500 m Final - 19:45
Hand the win to NR holder Nozomi Tanaka now, because unless she goes Mu there's nobody here who can beat her. Kenyan Hellen Ekarare is pacing her through 1000 m to hit the 4:02.40 Olympic standard, and she might have company from Mirriam Cherop, competing OC after entering the Japanese trials before running Kenya's Olympic Trials as a way to take a shot at the Olympic standard if she placed top 3 at her own trials. High-profile high schooler Sherry Drury made the final, which puts two of Japan's three biggest female media magnets in track and field in the same race.
Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:06.93, 1st, H1
Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 4:08.16, 1st, H2
Mirriam Cherop (Shin Nihon Jusetsu) - 4:11.95, 2nd, H1
Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 4:12.07, 3rd, H1
Yume Goto (Uniqlo) - 4:12.35, 4th, H1
Haruko Hosaka (Panasonic) - 4:14.03, 5th, H1
Ayano Ide (Shiseido) - 4:14.69, 2nd, H2
Saki Katagihara (Edion) - 4:15.25, 3rd, H2
Maki Izumida (Daiichi Seimei) - 4:16.61, 4th, H2
Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) - 4:16.69, 6th, H1
Ai Fujita (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:16.83, 5th, H2
Tomoka Kimura (Sekisui Kagaku) - 4:17.40, 6th, H2
Men's 5000 m Final - 20:00
It took sub-13:30 to make the field of 30 this year, something only Kenya and the U.S.A. could also pull off, but with the withdrawal of #1-ranked Keita Sato and Ryuto Igawa 30th in the field is now Takashi Ichida, 13:30.08. Sato was the only one close to the Olympic standard with a 13:09.45 this season before an injury in April set him back, leaving 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri and all-time Japanese #3 Hyuga Endo as the only ones possibly in range of making the quota of 42 on rankings. Shiojiri is currently at 60th and Endo at 61st. What would it take? Shiojiri can't do it and would need to run the standard, which his coaching staff told JRN isn't in the plan. To catch current 42nd-place Santiago Catrofe of Uruguay, Endo needs the win in 13:18.27. Given his 13:20.28 season best, that seems in range, especially with Shiojiri, sub-13:18 man Tatsuhiko Ito, and Kenyan Amos Kurgat in the race too.
Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) - 13:17.65 SB / PB
Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 13:19.85 SB / 13:16.53 PB
Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) - 13:20.28 SB / 13:10.69 PB
Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) - 13:21.18 SB / PB
Shunsuke Yoshii (Chuo Univ.) - 13:22.01 SB / PB
Nagiya Mori (Honda) - 13:23.08 SB / PB
Shota Nakano (Honda) - 13:24.11 SB / PB
Yohei Ikeda (Kao) - 13:24.14 SB / PB
Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 13:24.38 SB / PB
Kiseki Shiozawa (Fujitsu) - 13:24.44 SB / PB
Mebuki Suzuki (Toyota) - 13:24.55 SB / PB
Masaya Tsurukawa (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 13:24.90 SB / PB
Men's 200 m Final - 20:30
Shota Iizuka, Koki Ueyama and Towa Uzawa are all currently well inside the Paris quota of 48 and need to place top 3 here to make the Paris team. Can 2010 U20 World Championships 200 m gold medalist Iizuka make his 4th Olympic team? What a way to end the night.
Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.46 (+0.6) - 1st, H1
Koki Ueyama (Sumitomo Denko) - 20.47 (+0.6) - 2nd, H1
Soshi Misakubo (Miyazaki Sports Assoc.) - 20.51 (+0.3) - 1st, H3
Yudai Nishi (Mint Tokyo) - 20.56 (+0.3) - 2nd, H3
Towa Uzawa (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.57 (+0.7) - 1st, H2
Shoto Uno (Orico) - 20.61 (+0.7) - 2nd, H2
Kento Matsui (Kansai Univ.) - 20.63 (+0.6) - 3rd, H1
Futo Takasu (Waseda Univ.) - 20.79 (+0.3) - 3rd, H3
Heats and Semifinals
Men's 400 m Prelims - 18:20
Nothing to see here, folks. Move along and wait for Saturday's heats where the contenders for the final will be running.
© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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