Japanese Athletes in Action on Tokyo World Championships Day 2

Sunday marks day 2 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships. Japanese athletes in action:

7:30 - Women's Marathon

Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:20:59 - 2nd, Nagoya 2025

Yuka Ando (Shimamura) - 2:21:18 - 1st, Nagoya 2024

Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:21:19 - 2nd, Osaka Women's 2025

Prognosis: Not much chance of getting close to the medals, but any of the Japanese women here could get into the top 8. The 24-year-old Kobayashi has the most headroom, still on an improvement curve in only her 3rd year running marathons.

9:35 - Men's 1500 m Heats

Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) - 3:36.81 - 1st, Nationals

Prognosis: Iizawa made Worlds by winning the Asian title, and with a season best that ranks him 8th from the bottom of the field it's pretty unlikely he'll advance past the heats.

11:05 - Women's 100 m Hurdles Heats

Hitomi Nakajima (Hasegawa) - 12.71 (+0.7) - 2nd, Nationals

Mako Fukube (NKK) - 12.73 (+1.4) - 3rd, Nationals

Yumi Tanaka (Fujitsu) - 12.80 (-0.1) - 1st, Nationals

Prognosis: Nakajima and Fukube have a decent chance of advancing to the semi-finals, but Tanaka will need to be close to her best to join them.

18:35 - Men's 400 m Heats

Yuki Joseph Nakajima (Fujitsu) - 44.84 - 5th, Nationals

Fuga Sato (Mizuno) - 45.16 - 1st, Nationals

Prognosis: Nakajima seems to be back at his best, but Sato's fitness is a bit of a question after the backdoor reversal of his Nationals DQ to get him into the qualifying bracket. Nakajima may move on, but the 4x400 m will probably be their main event.

18:40 - Men's High Jump Qualification

Yuto Seko (FAAS) - 2.33 m - 5th, Nationals

Ryoichi Akamatsu (Seibu Prince) - 2.31 m - 2nd, Nationals

Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) - 2.29 m - 1st, Nationals

Prognosis: Outside the road events and maybe the men's 100 m this was probably the hardest squad to make on the Japanese team. Seko miraculously hit the standard in mid-August, only the 3rd Japanese man to ever clear 2.33 m and one of only 5 in the Worlds field to hit the qualifying standard, also 2.33. Akamatsu and Shinno are 8th and 11th in the current world rankings, and while Akamatsu has not had a good season since Nationals he and Shinno are still top 8 threats. The big question is whether Seko, whose next-best jump since 2023 was only 2.25 m, can duplicate his one-off qualifying jump.

(19:12 - Women's Discus Throw Final)

Prognosis: It's not likely NR holder Nanaka Kori will make the final.

19:25 - Women's 400 m Heats

Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 52.14 - 4th, Nationals

Prognosis: Matsumoto was one of the athletes added to the team via Japan's host country rights, and at 4th from the bottom of the field on time this is probably as far as she goes. She'll also be running in the mixed 4x400 m heats the day before.

(20:40 - Women's Long Jump Final)

Prognosis: As with the discus, there's not much chance NR holder Sumire Hata will get to the final.

(20:45 - Men's 100 m Semi-Final)

Prognosis: Abdul Hakim Sani Brown has made three World Championships finals, but after not making it out of the heats at Nationals it all comes down to him having somehow turned around a season where he hasn't broken 10.30. Yoshihide Kiryu and Yuhi Mori both have realistic chances of making the semis, in the 21-year-old Mori's case in his first major international competition.

(21:07 - Women's 1500 m Semi-Final)

Prognosis: NR holder Nozomi Tanaka might make the semi-finals, but Tomoka Kimura probably won't be there with her.

21:30 - Men's 10000 m Final

Jun Kasai (Asahi Kasei) - 27:17.46 - 2nd, Nationals

Mebuki Suzuki (Toyota) - 27:26.67 - 1st, Nationals

Prognosis: 2024 national champ Kasai had some injury issues late spring but seems to be in good shape now. Suzuki beat him to win this year's national title, but as he is just back from training in cold rain at altitude in St. Moritz even his team staff has publicly questioned his readiness to deal with the prolonged heat and humidity in Tokyo. It would take a slow race for either of them to factor into the top 8, but they both have good kicks and could surprise.

(22:20 - Men's 100 m Final)

Prognosis: Can Sani Brown make a World Championships final for the 4th time? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Kiryu has good momentum this season but the final is a stretch.

Kobe Marathon Elite Field

Sunday's Kobe Marathon has announced its elite fields, finally. Japanese athletes have a shot at qualifying for next fall's MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, if they go sub-2:27 for the first Japanese woman across the line or sub-2:09 for the first 3 Japanese men to do it. There aren't a lot of contenders to pull it off. On the women's side, Kaede Hagitani , Ayaka Shimoyamada and Kotomi Tsubokura all ran 2:31-32 PBs in the spring and will need to step it up a couple of notches to get there. 2:23 Kenyan Antonina Kwambai is perfectly positioned to help. On the men's side, Keijiro Mogi is closest with a 2:09:06 at last year's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Hiroto Kanamori his closest domestic competition with a 2:10:01 PB in Osaka in February. The international trio of last year's winner Barnaba Kipkoech , Elisha Rotich and Goitom Kifle all have recent 2:06-7 times and should help set it up for someone to get there, wh...

Kenyan Graduate Student Athlete Posts Job Hunt for Ekiden Team on Twitter

A Kenyan runner who had tried to help lead his team to the Hakone Ekiden has taken an unusual approach to finding a post-graduation sponsor. Last week Patrick Kamau posted his job hunt on his Twitter account , saying, "I am looking for a club team or a corporate team where I can run in ekidens. I would be happy to run for any team that gave me a chance. I would be grateful for any opportunity and take it on with a positive attitude!" Kamau was 5th at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race half marathon in 1:01:10 last year during his 4th year at Jobu University . But despite his efforts, Jobu never qualified for Hakone during his 4 years there. He is currently working on a graduate degree while looking for "a team that will let me continue my competitive career." Fans responded to Kamau's job search posting, saying, "I hope it works out for you!" "Good luck comes to those who work hard" and "Kamau is going to graduate school? Given...

Hofu Yomiuri Marathon Elite Field (updated)

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