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Japanese Athletes in Action on Tokyo World Championships Day 1




Saturday is the first day of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships. A quick guide to Japanese athletes in action in the morning and evening sessions:

7:30 - Women's 35 km Race Walk
Yukiko Umeno (Juntendo Univ.) - 2:46:53 - 1st, Nationals
Masumi Fuchise (Kenso) - 2:52:38 - 3rd, Nationals
Maika Yagi (Chiba Kogyo Ginko) - 2:56:18 - 4th, Nationals

Prognosis: Umeno is 16th in the field on season best and 20th in the Road to Tokyo rankings. Top 8 is a stretch.

7:30 - Men's 35 km Race Walk
Masatora Kawano (Asahi Kasei) - 2:21:47 - 1st, Nationals 2024
Satoshi Maruo (Aichi Seiko) - 2:24:24 - 2nd, Nationals
Hayato Katsuki (SDF Academy) - 2:24:38 - 1st, Nationals

Prognosis: One of Japan's best chances to score a medal and rack up top 8 placings at this World Championships. Kawano is ranked #2 behind the legend Evan Dunfee of Canada, Katsuki has the 4th-best SB, and Maruo is ranked #5.

9:00 / 10:40 - Women's Discus Throw Qualification
Nanaka Kori (Niigata Albirex) - 59.41 m - 1st, Nationals

Prognosis: The NR holder, Kori has been struggling recently and is the bottom-ranked athlete in the field with only a 59.08 SB. Even her 60.72 m NR is the weakest PB in the field. The qualification round is as far as she'll go.

11:40 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats
Arie Aoki (Nittai Univ.) - 51.71 - 3rd, Nationals
Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 52.14 - 4th, Nationals
Abigail Fuuka Ido (Toho Ginko) - 22.79 (+1.0) - 1st, Nationals
Shinya Hayashi (Tsukuba Univ.) - 45.65 - 6th, Nationals
Sorato Shimizu (Seiryo H.S.) - 10.00 (+1.7) - 4th, SF#, Nationals
Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) - 10.00 (+0.3) - DQ, Nationals

Prognosis: Fair enough selection for the women's half of the team, where Arie Flores is competing under her new last name following her nationality transfer this summer, but the men will feature at least one 100 m specialist who's run 10.00. Expect that to be high schooler Shimizu, and don't expect to see them make the final.

18:05 - Men's 3000 m Steeplechase Heats
Ryuji Miura (Subaru) - 8:03.43 - DNS, Nationals

Prognosis: Medal contender.

18:30 - Women's Long Jump Qualification
Sumire Hata (Sumitomo Denko) - 6.47 m (-0.7) - 3rd, Nationals

Prognosis: NR holder Hata has seen better days, and this time around she's in the same boat as Kori in the discus throw, ranked at the bottom of the field on SB. She might make the final is she's somehow back near her 6.97 m NR, but there's no real chance that happens.

19:50 - Women's 1500 m Heats
Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 3:59.69 - 1st, Nationals
Tomoka Kimura (Sekisui Kagaku) - 4:09.88 - 2nd, Nationals

Prognosis: Tanaka seems to be focusing more on the 5000 m this season, but she did go under 4 again last summer. Based on this season it doesn't look likely she'll make the final, but her chances for the semi-finals at least are decent. Kimura has gotten just under 4:10 and is ranked 6th from last in the field, so this is probably as far as she goes.

20:35 - Men's 100 m Heats
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Toray) - 9.96 (+0.5) - 4th, Heat 7, Nationals
Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 9.99 (+1.5) - 1st, Nationals
Yuhi Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.00 (+1.3) - 7th, Nationals

Prognosis: Sani Brown hasn't broken 10.30 this year while a lot of other people have been coming up fast. Kiryu and Mori have decent chances of going on to the semis, but Sani Brown needs to have a big return to form here to justify his selection over people like Yanagita and Shimizu.

21:30 - Women's 10000 m Final
Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 30:56.32 - 1st, Nationals
Mikuni Yada (Edion) - 31:12.21 - 2nd, Nationals

Prognosis: Hironaka is ranked 10th and Yada 14th on SB, but 4 Ethiopians in the field who've broken 30 minutes before haven't run a 10000 m this year. Top 8 would be a great day for either Japanese woman.

(22:20) - Mixed 4x400 m Final

Prognosis: Probably no Japanese team here.

text and photo © 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Comments

Anonymous said…
Yeah, the 35KM men walk has the opportunity to grab a medal early and boost the group. The weather could play a big role into that.

I'm not sure why they are putting one of the sprinters on the 4x400, Shimizu has run the 200 before but no idea why they should be on a mixed relay like that other than making some experience regardless.

I read a Sani Brown interview where he says he is now fit and is training well and feels healthy. Good thing the 100m heats are on the first day so we can check if it's a bluff or not. Either way it's good business for the 4x100 as they'll know if they can count on him or not.

Miura must be smart with his qualyfying heat performance and avoid a repeat of Oregon WC where he missed the final being in a very slow heat. He gets into the final and he has a chance.
I appreciated him giving a pass to the DL finals, he struggled some at times when flying back and forth from Japan to Europe and right back and I think that staying home training will pay dividends at the WC.
September 10, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Anonymous said…
Can't wait to see what Ririka Hironaka and Mikuni Yada do in the Women's 10,000m. Like you commented, a top 8 for either of them would be an excellent result. I hope they don't get caught up in the atmosphere too much and run too hard too early and ruin their chances of a good finish.

As for the Women's 1500m I expect Tomoka Kimura to not fair well with the jostling that comes about with strong international races. She performs well with an unimpeded run and a pacemaker but she won't have that benefit on Saturday. We will soon see. Nozomi Tanaka is a constant professional so I expect her to run well yet again but a finals berth will be difficult. Unfortunately, she seems a bit lacking in that sprint finish in the last 100-200m.
September 11, 2025 at 8:36 AM
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