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Fukube Breaks 100 mH NR at All-Star Night Games - Japan's Olympians Make Final Tune-Ups


Getting stuck in the shinkansen cancelation headaches yesterday means we're a day late getting to the weekend's track roundup, but better late than never. At the top of the list, women's 100 mH national record holder Mako Fukube (NKK) took 0.04 off her own record to win in 12.69 (+1.2) at the All-Star Night Games in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa in her last race before the Paris Olympics. Other Paris team members won their races too:
  • 4x400 m squad member Takuho Yoshizu (GK Line) took the win in the men's 400 m in 45.89.
  • Men's 400 m hurdler Daiki Ogawa (Toyo Univ.) set a meet record 49.09 for the win.
  • Sumire Hata (Sumitomo Denko) set a women's long jump MR of 6.61 m (+0.8).
  • Marina Saito (Suzuki) and Momone Ueda (Zenrin) both threw over the old MR held by world champion and Paris teammate Haruka Kitaguchi, Saito getting the win with a final attempt of 58.45 m, Ueda next at 57.93 m and 3rd-placer Yuki Yamamoto (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) also going over the old MR at 57.89 m.

Kitaguchi was overseas at the London Diamond League meet, where she was only 4th at 62.69 m after winning last week's Monaco Diamond League with a season best 65.21 m throw. Australian Mackenzie Little won in London with a PB 66.27 m first attempt. The Japanese men's 4x100 m team of Ryuichiro Sakai, Hiroki Yanagita, Yoshihide Kiryu and Koki Ueyama was also in London with a 38.07 SB tuneup for the win despite a sloppy first exchange where Yanagita started a fraction too early.


After picking up a roll down spot in the women's 1500 m, Yume Goto (Uniqlo) was in L.A. for her Paris tuneup, taking 4th in the Sunset Tour B-heat in 4:13.83. Non-Olympic team Japanese athletes in the meet included Ai Watanabe, 7th in the women's 800 m B-heat in 2:03.99, Shintaro Nakazono, 12th in the men's 3000 mSC in 8:57.23, and Sodai Shimizu and Kazuki Tamura in the men's 5000 m, Shimizu running 13:47.07 for 6th and Tamura 14:21.82 for 12th.


After a 13.16 SB for 3rd at the Paris Diamond League meet and a DNF after falling at the Monaco Diamond League, Japan breathed a sigh of relief as Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) won Tokyo's Twilight Games men's 110 mH with a SB and MR 13.10 (+1.6). It was too hot for 800 m national champion Ko Ochiai (Shiga Gakuen H.S.) to take a serious shot at the 1:45.75 NR that he missed by only 0.07 at last month's Nationals, but Ochiai still won easily in 1:48.28.


The last two Hokuren Distance Challenge meets of the season also happened in Hokkaido. In Fukagawa, Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) ran a PB 31:06.89 to win the women's 10000 m, runner-up Shiho Tachizako (Tenmaya) running a big PB of 32:16.31 but still finishing 70 seconds behind. Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) rolled on in what's been a surprising breakthrough season, soloing a 15:00.92 PB in the women's 5000 m A-heat and almost lapping 2nd-placer Kotone Hoshina (Route Inn Hotels). Diana Cherotich (Higo Ginko) also had a dominant win in the women's 3000 m, running a 22-second PB of 8:56.04 to win by 21 seconds over Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo).

Jonathan Ndiku (YKK) won the men's 10000 m A-heat in 27:50.38, and Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) took the men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:16.97. Also in the 5000 m, 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) ran 13:31.61 with a sub-60 last lap for 6th and top Japanese in his last race before Paris.


It was too hot at the Chitose HDC meet for the peak times a lot of athletes were aiming for, but some still pulled it off. 5000 m Paris Olympian Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) doubled with a 4:20.32 for 4th in the women's 1500 m A-heat, then a win in the 3000 m in 9:07.49. Men's 3000 mSC Olympic team member Ryoma Aoki (Honda) did the same, running a PB 3:40.83 for 3rd in the 1500 m A-heat and then the first 3000 m of the 5000 m A-heat, going sub-8 in the top Japanese spot.

Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH) won the 5000 m in 13:14.21, with the men's performance of the day going to Komazawa University captain Kotaro Shinohara, who negative split a 13:27.04 PB for top Japanese at 4th. The women's performance of the day went to Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera), who soloed a 14:49.21 PB to with the women's 5000 m A-heat. Caroline Kariba (Japan Post) also got under 15:00 for the first time, taking 2nd in 14:57.05. Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) cut almost a second off her PB in the women's 800 m A-heat, winning in 2:01.93 to move up to all-time Japanese #5. South Korean 3000 mSC NR holder Ha Rim Jo took almost 5 seconds off her record, winning in 10:01.99.

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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