At the Tokai University Time Trials meet June 8 at Tokai's Shonan Campus Field in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Kazuto Iizawa, 23, of the Sumitomo Denko corporate team, ran 3:35.62 for 1500 m, the second-fastest time ever by a Japanese man. His time improved on his already all-time Japanese #2 3:35.77 from the May 12 Kinami Memorial Meet and missed the 3:35.42 national record held by Kazuki Kawamura, 26, by just 0.20. Including the PB he ran his senior year at Tokai, it was Iizawa's third time coming in at all-time Japanese #2.
"It felt like my legs completely locked up with 30 m to go," he said post-race. "It's really disappointing." His coach at Sumitomo Denko, Yasuyuki Watanabe, was positive about Iizawa's performance, saying, "That was really close. He'll get the NR next time." The race happened on Watanabe's 51st birthday. "I'd wanted to give Coach Watanabe the NR as a birthday present," joked Iizawa.
Next on his schedule is the National Track and Field Championships, June 27 to 30 in Niigata. "Nationals are more about place than time, so I'll be focused on being on the podium," Iizawa said. On July 20 he plans to run for time at the Hokuren Distance Challenge Chitose meet. "I want to get the NR there. After that the next target is 3:33."
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translated by Brett Larner
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