There still aren't many Japanese athletes on the ground in athletics at the Paris Olympics. Day 3 on Saturday saw only 3 men in action, all in the 100 m. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown was the only one to make it out of the heats and into Sunday's semifinals, running 10.02 (0.0) for 2nd in Heat 4 behind Jamaican Oblique Seville. Ryuichiro Sakai missed a time qualifying spot by only 0.01, running 10.17 (+0.3) for 5th in Heat 7. Akihiro Higashida was 5th in Heat 1, running 10.19 (+0.6).
In the semifinals Sani Brown had an unlucky draw, running SF 3 against Kishane Thompson, Fred Kerley, Andrew De Grasse, Ferdinand Omanyala and others. Totally determined to make the final, Sani Brown ran a PB 9.96 (+0.5) for 4th, the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese man and just 0.01 off the NR. But with the fastest times ever in Olympic semifinals coming in two of the three races it took a 9.93 to make the final on time, putting it out of Sani Brown's range. His best just wasn't enough, but there's nowhere to criticize how Sani Brown approached Paris and performed there. On to the 4x100 m.
In the men's long jump qualification round on Sunday Japan's big hope Yuki Hashioka jumped only 7.81 m, 9 cm short of picking up a qualifying spot in the top 12.
Better luck in the men's 110 m hurdles, where both Rachid Muratake and Shunsuke Izumiya qualified for the semifinals. Murtake won Heat 1 in 13.22 (+0.1), 2nd-fastest in the entire field, with Izumiya running 13.27 (+0.3) for 3rd in Heat 4. Shunya Takayama ran only 13.46 (+0.7) for 4th in Heat 5, sending him to the repechage round on Tuesday.
All three Japanese men in the 400 m are also headed for repechage, Joseph Nakajima running 45.37 for 6th in Heat 3, Kentaro Sato 5th in Heat 1 in 45.60 and Fuga Sato 6th in Heat 6 in 46.13.
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