Coming up through the ranks as Japan's next top-level steeper, Yutaro Niinae broke through with a 5-second PB of 8:20.36 to win at the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup Sunday in Niigata and bump himself up to all-time Japanese #6. With pacing early on from Aisan Kogyo teammate Philemon Kiplagat, Niinae had the confidence to break away from the field of 6 just after halfway, opening over 10 seconds on Kiplagat by the end of the race. Hibiki Obara was 3rd in 8:36.68.
Teenaged national record holders Ko Ochiai, 17, and Rin Kubo, 16, went for aggressive times in the 800 m finals, Ochiai going through 400 m in 51 but fading to 1:46.88. "I wanted to go for the Tokyo World Championships qualifying standard," he said, "but that first lap felt really fast. I learned a lot at the World U20 Championships and that even though I'm at the top Japan I still have a long way to go internationally." Kubo almost perfectly matched the 200 m splits from her sub-2 NR this summer, but where in that race she picked it up after 600 m, this time she struggled to hang on and faded to win in 2:01.25. "I was in good shape and felt the same as I did when I ran 1:59," she said, "but after 600 m I just didn't have it."
The women's 400 mH was a close one, Akane Minamisawa getting 1st in 57.53 by 0.01 over Satsuki Umehara. Hosei University's Shunta Inoue had a bigger margin of victory in the men's race, 1st in 48.98 with Masaya Oda 2nd in 49.22. Ryota Machi won the men's 110 mH in 13.73 (-0.3), his main competition, co-NR holder Rachid Muratake, opting for the 100 m where he was 6th in the B-final in 10.57 (-0.2). Sub-10 man Yuki Koike won the A-final in 10.28 (-1.0), where Shuhei Tada was a DNS after running 10.39 (+0.4) in the heats. Midori Mikase was the women's winner in 11.58 (+0.1).
In the men's high jump, a week after winning the National Corporate Championships in 2.24 m, local Naoto Hasegawa cleared 2.26 for the second time in his career to beat rival Yuto Seko for the win. "I really wanted to PB this time, so it's a bit disappointing," he told JRN. "Maybe if the next height had been 2.27 instead of 2.29...."
Kyushu Kyoristu University student Rin Suzuki won the men's javelin throw with an opening attempt of 79.00 m. Latvia's Gatis Cakss was the favorite for the win but only managed 74.69 m for 6th. Sae Takemoto won the women's javelin at 60.40 m.
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