Muratake Becomes Japan's 1st-Ever 110 mH Finalist - Paris Olympics Day 7 Evening Session Japanese Results

Former Juntendo University teammates and co-NR holders Rachid Muratake and Shunsuke Izumiya had the chance to make history in the first track event of the evening session on day 7 of athletics at the Paris Olympics. No Japanese man had ever made it to the final of an Olympic 110 m hurdles before, and with the top 2 finishers in each semifinal plus the next 2 fastest going on to the final both lined up in their SF with the 2nd-fastest season best time in their race.

Muratake was up first, but with a 13.26 (+0.1) for 4th in SF1 his chances of getting through didn't look good. Senegal's Louis Francois Mendy kept Muratake's hopes alive when he ran only 13.34 (-0.1) for 3rd in SF2, leaving it to SF3 and Izumiya. Izumiya was sluggish through the early and middle phases of the race but came back with a brilliant last 20 m to take 3rd. When his time of 13.32 (+0.6) came up it meant Muratake was in as Japan's first Olympic finalist, but Izumiya himself was just short of knocking his former teammate out at 9th overall.

Tsukuba University's Towa Uzawa was up next in the men's 200 m semifinals. Having run 20.23 to win last summer's Asian Games and 20.26 this season, the 20.31 that it ultimately took to make the final was in range of his ability. But Uzawa managed only a 20.54 (-0.2) for 6th in SF2, bringing his individual Olympics to an end.

Another Juntendo graduate, NR holder Ryuji Miura lined up in the 3000 m SC final to close the night. At the Tokyo Olympics Miura had made a splash with aggressive frontrunning that gave him an 8:09.92 NR and put him 7th in the final. Here he was more cautious, staying near the middle of the pack early, moving up behind the leaders mid-race and then dropping back out of the top 10 late. Over the last lap he picked up enough people to pick up 8th in 8:11.72, Japan's fourth top 8 finish in Paris but a small step backward from 3 years ago.

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