Weekend Track Roundup

The Tokyo World Athletics Championships might have just ended, but there's still a lot of track action happening in Japan with some late-season championships and pre-ekiden season time trial meets.

The highlight at the Sept. 24 Kizuna Time Trials meet in Machida in western Tokyo was a solid 13:34.01 win in the fast heat by collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.), not quite a PB but a good shakeout ahead of the Oct. 13 Izumo Ekiden. The top 21 in Kuroda's heat went sub-14 minutes, 11 of them from Aoyama Gakuin, with 2nd-year Sota Orita continuing to struggle at AGU after a promising senior of high school, running only 13:58.77 for 21st.

Brian Kiptoo (Comodi Iida) almost tied Kuroda's time with a 13:34.61 win in the fast heat at the Sept. 27-28 Tokai University Time Trials meet south of Yokohama, where the top 20 broke 14 minutes in the fast heat plus another 2 in the B-heat. 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako (unattached) made a return to competition ahead of next month's Tokyo Legacy Half and December's Valencia Marathon, running 14:05.88 for 4th in the B-heat and then 14:05.83 for 22nd in the A-heat a few minutes later. Tokyo Worlds 1500 m team member Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) stepped down to the 800 m at Tokai with a 1:46.17 PB for the win.

Osako's alma mater Waseda University has put a new spin on the time trial meet format, getting a road loop on its Tokorozawa campus certified as a 5 km road course and registering its Road to Waseda series to the World Athletics calendar. 4 of the 5 heats in the series' 5th edition on Sept. 28 saw winning times under 14 minutes, with the fastest time going to Kaisei Okada, 1st in Race 1 in 13:41. 2nd through 4th in Race 1 all clocked 13:44, with the top 4 in Race 4, all from Teikyo University, clocking 13:45 and the win going to Yoshihiro Kusuoka. Chuo's top man Shunsuke Yamato was a DNF in Race 1 after 2 laps of the course.

The U20 National Championships also happened on the 27th and 28th in Shizuoka. The biggest news there was a new U20 national record of 71.86 m in the boys' hammer throw by Keita Takahashi (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.), and an U18 NR of 10:06.59 in the girls' 3000 m SC by Rei Taya (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.). New meet records included 46.51 in the boys' 400 m by Takumi Kubo (Takigawa Daini H.S.), 3:46.08 in the boys' 1500 m by Konosuke Tamura (Josai Univ.), 11.60 (+1.0) in the girls' 100 m by Kokoa Yamazaki (Asahikawa Shiho H.S.), and 9:57.11 in the girls' 3000 m SC by Anna Shubulchuk (Ushiku H.S.).

Last but not least was the 73rd National Corporate Track and Field Championships Friday through Sunday in Yamaguchi. Highlights there included:

• Abigail Fuuka Ido (Toho Ginko) set a meet record 23.19 (-0.5) to win the women's 200 m final after having unexpectedly making the semifinals at Worlds.
• Part of the NR-breaking mixed 4x400 m at Tokyo Worlds, Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) won the corporate 400 m inn 53.47.
• Women's 100 mH Worlds team members Hitomi Nakajima (Hasegawa) and Yumi Tanaka (Fujitsu) won their heats in 12.91 (+0.9) and 13.10 (+1.2) before bowing out, leaving Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko) to win the final in 12.99 by 0.01 over Chisato Kiyoyama (Ichigo).
• Fresh off Minori Hayakari's longtime NR falling at Worlds, her National Corporate Championships 3000 mSC meet record also went down, this time to Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) who bettered it by 7 seconds to win in 9:41.96. Momoa Yamada (Shimamura) just missed at 9:50.97, with Ayaka Koike (Denso) getting under 10 minutes in 9:59.63.
• Worlds team member Nagisa Takahashi (Senko) cleared 1.85 m to take the women's high jump title, while Sumire Hata (Sumitomo Denko) took the women's long jump at 6.26 m (+1.3) on her final attempt. Maoko Morimoto (Kyudenko) did the same in the women's triple jump, opening at 13.30 m (-0.2) for the win.
• NR holder Nanaka Kori (Niigata Albirex RC) was also back from Worlds with a 53.05 m throw to take the women's discus throw. 2 of the 3 women from the Worlds javelin throw squad competed, and of course went 1-2. Momone Ueda (Zenrin) won at 56.69 m, with Sae Takemoto (Orico) 2nd at 56.20 m.
• Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) won the men's 100 m final in 10.16 (+0.7) after running the lead leg on Japan's 4x100 m team at Worlds. His teammate there, Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) actually ran faster in the first-round heats, clocking 10.13 (+0.3), with Waseda' Naoki Inoue equalling Koike at 10.16 (+0.8), but neither college student was eligible to run the final. 200 m Worlds team member Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) was 5th in the 100 m final in 10.26.
• Fuga Sato (Mizuno) likewise won the men's 200 m in 20.68 (-0.5), 0.01 off his best, after running both the 400 m and 4x400 m at Worlds.
• Mixed and men's 4x400 team member Kenki Imaizumi (Uchida Ginko) won the 400 min 46.05.
• Gideon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) turned in the weekend's fastest 5000 m time, 13:31.55, to win the A-heat.
• Anthony Maina (Toyota Kyushu) got the win in the men's 10000 m by just 0.56 in 27:59.32 over Gideon Ronoh (Logisteed).
• Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) came back from a disappointing 2.21 m exit in the men's high jump heats at Worlds to win here in 2.28 m, his 2nd-best jump of the season.
• After running the 110 mH at Worlds, Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) was back in his other love, the long jump, winning with an opening jump of 8.06 m (+0.4).
• Masateru Yugami (Toyota) also came back from a disappointing first-round exit in the men's discus throw at Worlds, throwing almost 2.5 m better here to win in 58.87 m.
• Yuta Sakiyama (Ehime T&F Assoc.) was almost up to the level of his performance in the Worlds men's javelin throw, winning with a final attempt of 77.06 m.

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