The Japanese men came out swinging in the first event of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships, the men's 35 km race walk. Hayato Katsuki and Masatora Kawano were up front and pushing the pace most of the way, but after a surge from Ecuador's David Hurtado they started to fade as the humidity rose. With a more patient early pace Canada's Evan Dunfee walked all 3 down for gold in 2:28:22. Brazil's Caio Bonfim also came up for silver in 2:28:55, with Katsuki getting Japan off on to a good start with a 2:29:16 for bronze as just about the only person who went out hard and held it together. Kawano faded badly to 18th in 2:37:15, with Japan's 3rd man Satoshi Maruo 26th of 34th finishers in 2:40:29.
The women's race saw Spain's Maria Perez emerge from a lead group of 5 to repeat her 35 km gold medal from the 2023 Budapest World Championships, with Italian Antonella Palmisano narrowly beating Paula Milena Torres for silver 2:42:24 to 2:24:44, Torres' mark a new Ecuadorean national record. Yukiko Umeno was the top Japanese woman at 15th in 2:56:28, with Maika Yagi overtaking Masumi Fuchise late in the race to finish as 2nd Japanese at 20th in 3:01:27. Fuchise was 21st in 3:03:29.
In other morning session results, the mixed 4x400 m relay team of Kenki Imaizumi, Abigail Fuuka Ido, Takuho Yoshizu and Nanako Matsumoto ran a 3:12.08 NR for 5th in heat 1, making it to the final after Kenya was disqualified. Women's discus throw NR holder Nanaka Kori was 18th qualification group B and 36th of 37 overall, failing to move on to the final.
The 4x400 m team was back in the last event of the night but couldn't match their qualifying round performance, finish last in 3:17.53 almost 7 seconds out of the medals. The U.S.A. took gold in 3:08.80, Netherlands next in 3:09.96 and Belgium taking bronze in 3:10.61 by just 0.02 over Poland.
Ririka Hironaka turned in a good one in the women's 10000 m, going to the front after a slow first 1000 m and keeping it close to 31-flat pace through almost halfway, dropping back as far as 11th when the eventual medalists took off, then working back up to 6th in 31:09.62. Teammate Mikuni Yada was 20th in 32:28.94, with the medals going to 3 of the favorites, Kenyan Beatrice Chebet in 30:37.61, Italian Nadia Battocletti in a 30:38.23 NR, and Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay in 30:39.65.
In qualifying rounds in the evening session, 3000 m SC national record holder Ryuji Miura was the only Japanese athlete in any event to make the next round, taking 3rd in 8:30.43 in Heat 1. Among non-qualifiers:
- Women's long jump NR holder Sumire Hata was 10th in her qualification group and 20th overall at 6.45 m (+1.2).
- 1500 m NR holder Nozomi Tanaka and teammate Tomoka Kimura were both eliminated in the heats after taking time up front, Tanaka 10th in Heat 1 in 4:07.34 for 30th overall and Kimura 14th in Heat 3 in 4:15.70 for 51st.
- All 3 men were eliminated in the 100 m heats. National champion Yoshihide Kiryu was 5th in Heat 3 in 10.28 (-1.1), Yuhi Mori 7th in Heat 2 in 10.37 (+0.1), and Abdul Hakim Sani Brown 7th in Heat 7 in 10.37 (0.0). Let's hope for better in the 4x100 m.
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
Regarding the Women's 10000m Ririka Hironaka was excellent yet again. If she is fit and healthy she never disappoints in a major championships and this was no exception. A 6th place finish deserves high praise. Admittedly, I am disappointed that Mikuni Yada didn't do better given her run in the Asian Games. I am convinced she has a sub 31 minute race in her.
The biggest surprise was not seeing Nozomi Tanaka make the finals in the 1500m. I thought she ran a good race but failed to respond when it mattered. Maybe she is more invested in the 5000m later in the Championships and had that in the back of her mind? Tomoka Kimura's result was expected given her recent race results and in line with them in terms of time. Saying that, I don't think another athlete could have done much better given the level of competition.
The 100m men performance was mostly abysmal, at this point they better think carefully about the 4x100 and put some of the low 10s in perspective.
Miura qualified for the final and it was a tricky heat to do that, he handled it well. It still feels he never got the last 300 meters wonderful kick he had in 2021-2022 back and he will need it in the final. Girma, El Bakkali, Serem, Beamish seem better equipped for a medal, we'll see.