On the final day of the Hokushinetsu Region National High School Championships qualifier Sunday at Niigata's Denka Big Swan Stadium, Saku Chosei H.S. 3rd-year Tetsu Sasaki won the boys' 3000 m steeplechase in 8:39.15, the 2nd-fastest time ever by a Japanese-born high schooler.
A day earlier Sasaki had run 9:06.93 in his qualifying heat. In the final he was out fast from the gun, but although he missed both the high school record of 8:32.12 set by Saku Chosei teammate Soma Nagahara and Nagahara's 8:36.06 meet record at last year's Hokushinetsu Regionals, Sasaki's time took over 10 seconds off the 8:50.04 PB he set at May's Nagano Prefecture High School Championships, the race in the video above. It also made him the fourth Japanese-born high schooler to break 8:40 in the 3000 mSC, just bettering the former high school record of 8:39.37 set by Tokyo Olympics 7th-placer and future national record holder Ryuji Miura.
Born in Aichi, Sasaki joined the TSM club team when he was in elementary school. At the 2018 National Elementary School Meet he competed in the high jump. At Aichi Kodai Leiden J.H.S. he took 2nd in the 3000 m at the National Junior High School Championships. Last year at the National High School Championships he was 8th in the 3000 mSC, and at December's National High School Ekiden he broke the 51-year-old Fifth Leg course record, running 8:14 for 3 km and playing a key role in Saku Chosei winning for the first time in six years.
3000 mSC High School All-Time Top 10
1. 8:32.12 - Soma Nagahara (3rd yr., Saku Chosei H.S., Nagano) Aug. 6, 2023
2. 8:39.15 - Tetsu Sasaki (3rd yr., Saku Chosei H.S., Nagano) June 16, 2024
3. 8:39.37 - Ryuji Miura (3rd yr., Rakunan H.S., Kyoto) June 27, 2019
4. 8:39.79 - Asahi Kuroda (3rd yr., Tamano Konan H.S., Okayama) June 26, 2021
5. 8:40.71 - Zen Kuroda (3rd yr., Tamano Konan H.S., Okayama) Aug. 6, 2023
6. 8:44.77 - Seiji Kushibe (3rd yr., Ube Kojo H.S., Yamaguchi) Sept. 16, 1989
7. 8:45.47 - Taisei Endo (3rd yr., Saku Chosei H.S., Nagano) Aug. 6, 2023
8. 8:45.66 - Kazuya Shiojiri (3rd yr., Isesaki Seimei H.S., Gunma) July 27, 2014
9. 8:46.85 - Oju Tsujimoto (3rd yr., Hamamatsu Kaiseikan H.S., Shizuoka) Aug. 6, 2023
10. 8:46.86 - Masataka Inaka (3rd yr., Yonago Shogyo H.S., Tottori) Oct. 1, 1998
Translator's note: For comparison, the U.S.A. high school boys' record for 3000 mSC is 8:47.04 by Bailey Roth of Coronado H.S. at the 2014 World Junior Championships.
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translated by Brett Larner
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