Kitaguchi, Ueda and Akamatsu Make Finals - Paris Olympics Day 7 Morning Session Japanese Results

Day 7 of athletics at the Paris Olympics kicked off with one of Japan's few chances at a medal, the marathon race walk mixed relay. Masatora Kawano took it out hard, leading early with honorary Japanese team member Evan Dunfee of Canada and staying with the pack once caught. 20 km NR holder Kumiko Okada took over for the 2nd half of the race but soon lost touch and drifted back to her final finishing position of 8th in 2:55:40, just over 4 minutes behind bronze medalists Australia. Spain took gold in 2:50:31, with Ecuador beating Australia by 16 seconds for silver in 2:51:22. Japan's B-team of Kazuki Takahashi and Ayane Yanai was 13th in 2:58:08. 8th place for the A-team was far off a medal, but as another top 8 finish to go with those in the men's 20 km race walk it clicks a box in the JAAF's metrics for success at this Olympics.

Japan's best chance at an individual medal, 2023 world champion Haruka Kitaguchi led off with a 62.58 m throw that put her over the 62.00 m auto-qualifying standard and sent her straight to the final. 6 other women threw further, and even though half of them took multiple attempts to better Kitaguchi's single throw a medal in the final is definitely not a done deal. Momone Ueda survived a tense last round in qualification group B to take the final qualifying spot with a 2nd throw of 61.08 m. Marina Saito threw 59.42 m for 10th in group A and did not advance.

In the men's high jump qualification, Ryoichi Akamatsu was one of only 5 men to clear 2.27 m, a season best for Akamatsu on his 3rd attempt that put him into the final alongside 2021 gold medalists Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi. Tomohiro Shinno struggled to clear the early heights at only made it over 2.20 m, missing out on the 2.24 m it took to make top 12 and go on to the final.

In the women's 100 mH, NR holder Mako Fukube made the semifinals with the last time qualifying spot, running 12.85 (-0.1) for 4th in Heat 1. Yumi Tanaka ran only 12.90 (0.0) for 5th in Heat 2 and was bumped to the repechage round.

In the day's only repechage, Yume Goto was 11th of 12 finishers in the women's 1500 m Heat 1 in 4:10.40, over 7 seconds off making top 3 and going on to the semifinal.

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

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...

M.I.A.

Sorry to have been silent for a while. JRN associate editor Mika Tokairin was in Taiwan for Ironman Penghu, where she won her age group to qualify for Kona for the first time. Right after that we moved for the first time in 14 years, and immediately after that I headed to the U.S. to help Keita Sato get settled in his new training base in Flagstaff. We'll be resuming normal operations shortly with a big roundup of results over the last 2 weeks. Brett Larner

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