No new medals for the host country on the 2nd day of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships, but there still some good performances across the day including a massive NR in the men's 400 m.
The least experienced member of the women's marathon squad, Kana Kobayashi took the early lead in the women's marathon, dropping as far back as 12th mid-race but clawing her way back into the top 8 on the hills at the end with a 2:28:50 for 7th. Sayaka Sato was off the back from the start but eventually ran down Yuka Ando for 2nd Japanese in 2:31:15 for 13th. Ando was 28th in 2:35:37. Peres Jepchirhir took gold in a track sprint against Tigist Assefa, 2:24:43 to 2:24:45, with Uruguay's Julia Paternain a distant 3rd in 2:27:23.
Next up, Asian champion Kazuto Iizawa didn't make it out of the first round heats in the men's 1500 m, taking 13th in Heat 1 in 3:41.76.
In the women's 100 m hurdles heats 2 of the 3 Japanese woman advanced to the semifinals on time, Mako Fukube 4th in Heat 5 in 12.92 and Hitomi Nakajima 5th in Heat 6 in 12.88. Yumi Tanaka was 6th in Heat 3 in 13.05 and didn't join Fukube and Nakajima in the next round.
In the men's 400 m heats, Fuga Sato ran a season best 45.10 but didn't move on. In the next heat Joseph Yuki Nakajima blasted a 44.44 NR for 2nd, moving on to the semis with room to spare. Nakajima broke 45 for the first time in August with a 44.84, so the step up in quality he showed here was pretty impressive.
In the men's high jump, arguable the toughest Japanese squad to make this time outside road events, both Ryoichi Akamatsu and Yuto Seko cleared 2.25 m to go on to the final. Struggling this season, Tomohiro Shinno cleared only 2.21 m and didn't go on.
In the women's 400 m heats, Nanako Matsumoto ran 52.41 for 7th in Heat 5 and did not make the next round.
A bit predictably, Mebuki Suzuki and Jun Kasai took an early lead in the men's 10000 m only to fade once it really got going. In a race with only 23 finishers Suzuki ended up 20th in 29:33.60 and Kasai 22nd in 29:41.84. Up front it was wild, with France's Jimmy Gressier taking gold in 28:55.77, Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha silver in 28:55.83 and Sweden's Andreas Almgren bronze in 28:56.02.
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