Ochiai, Nakatani and Yoshida Get Japan on the Board - Lima World U20 Championships Day Four Japanese Results

Japan finally got on the medal board with a silver medal from Rikuya Yoshida and a pair of bronzes from Ko Ochiai and Kaisei Nakatani on the fourth day of the Lima World U20 Championships. Yoshida was up first in the men's pole vault, where he cleared a PB 5.40 m on his first attempt, good for silver behind German Hendrik Muller who made 5.45 m. Czech Jan Krcek also PBd at 5.30 m for bronze, with Ryota Murakoso 4th at 5.20 m.

After squeezing through the men's 800 m semifinals by 0.02, NR holder Ochiai started strong in the final, 2nd through 200 m in 25.13 and 4th at 400 m in 52.19, almost dead even with his NR last month. By 600 m he dropped to 6th, but over the final 200 m he ran down Kenyans Kelvin Kimutai Koech and Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech and Qatari Hatim Ait Oulghazi to take bronze in 1:47.03 behind Ethiopian General Berhanu Ayansa and Australian Peyton Craig. Ochiai's closing split of 27.33 was actually faster than Ayana's 27.53 and Craig's 27.46, but they were just too far out of range.

Nakatani followed that up with a 2.19 m clearance on his first attempt in the men's high jump, one of only three men to make it over that height. In the qualifying round Nakatani had cleared 2.21 m, but in the final he couldn't make it work and was stopped at 2.19 m. American Scottie Vines went over 2.21 m on his first try and went as far as 2.25 m to take gold. Italy's Matteo Sioli took three attempts before he cleared 2.21 m and did it again for 2.23 m, but 2.25 m was too much and he had to be content with silver.

Both the men's and women's 10000 m race walks were high-level, with all medalists delivering world leading times, championship records and/or national records and almost everyone in both fields turning in PBs. Sotaro Osaka was only 8 seconds out of bronze in the men's race, taking a strong 5th with a 39:39.36 PB. Taisei Yoshizako turned in a PB too, clocking 40:14.67 for 8th. Both Japanese women, Suzuka Kuge and Suzu Okuno, also PBd, Kuge taking 14th in 46:38.20 and Okuno 16th in 46:51.77.

After leading the field in the heats and semifinals, women's 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo couldn't quite put it together in the final. 5th through 600 m, Kubo dropped to 6th right before the line, finishing in 2:03.31. Medalists Sarah Moraa, Claudia Hollingsworth and Sophia Gorriaran all ran in the 2:00-2:01, times Kubo ran twice this summer, but as an international debut at age 16 her performance still suggested there's more to come.

Takuto Tsuchiya scored another top 8 placing for Japan in the men's long jump final at 7.56 m (+1.1), 24 cm from bronze medalist Temoso Masikane of South Africa. Eito Omori was 10th at 7.32 m (+1.4). In the women's 3000 m final Miu Suzuki had a tough time, finishing 15th of 16th starters in 9:41.15.

In qualifying rounds:

Both Kairi Gonda and Kyo Kikuta were eliminated in the men's 400 mH semifinals, Kikuta 3rd in SF 1 in 51.04 and Gonda 3rd in SF 3 in 51.80.
The men's 4x400 m relay team of Ryota Oishi, Kentaro Shirahata, Gonda and Kikuta ran a season best 3:07.04 for 2nd behind the U.S.A. among qualifiers for the final.
No luck for the men's 4x100 m relay team of Fukuto Komuro, Kei Wakana, Katsuki Sato and Naoki Nishioka though, as they were disqualified after a missed exchange in their qualifying heat.

The Lima World U20 Championships continue through Saturday. Complete schedule and results here.

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

japan running news

Search This Blog