Suzuki Scores Japan's First Gold - Asian U23 Championships Day 1 Japanese Results

The first edition of the Asian U23 Athletics Championships kicked off Thursday in Ordos China with Japanese athlete picking up medals in 4 of the 6 finals in which they competed. With a 13:20.64 best in April this year Waseda University's Rui Suzuki had an easy win in the men's 5000 m, running 14:01.24 to pick up Japan's first gold. Sota Orita of 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University struggled, though, running only 15:02.19 for 6th despite having run 13:38.09 in April.

Sora Murata and Mitsuki Kobayashi picked up silver and bronze in the women's pole vault behind winner Lingxia Wei of China, with Aiha Yamagata adding another silver to the count with an 11.44 (+0.7) in the women's 100 m between Chinese gold and bronze medalists Kunzhi Xue and Xiajun Liu. One more bronze came in the women's hammer throw, where 2025/2026 national champ Raika Murakami threw a PB of 68.83 m on her 4th attempt.

Yuto Yamamoto led the men's decathlon standings after the first day of competition with 900 points, 71 points up on China's Chenghao Zhu. Ayana Yamashita missed out on a medal in the women's 3000 mSC by 6 seconds, taking 4th in 10:38.57. Kyota Takahashi was well out of the medals in the men's hammer throw, 6th at 63.48 m.

In qualifying rounds, both Kurumi Sugure and Yuri Nishida made the final in the women's 800 m, Sugure 2nd-fastest in qualifying at 2:08.79 for 2nd in H2 and Nishida 7th-fastest at 2:10.86 for 3rd in H1. The Asian U23 Athletics Championships run through Sunday.

1st Asian U23 Athletics Championships

Day 1 Japanese Results

Ordos, China, 9 July 2026

complete results

Women's 100 m Final +0.7 m/s

1. Kunzhi Xue (China) - 11.37

2. Aiha Yamagata (Japan) - 11.44

3. Xiajun Liu (China) - 11.53

Men's 5000 m Final

1. Rui Suzuki (Japan) - 14:01.24

2. SP Madappagoudra (India) - 14:08.19

3. Vinod Singh (India) - 14:23.67

-----

6. Sota Orita (Japan) - 15:02.19

Women's 3000 mSC Final

1. Yiting Yang (China) - 10:14.68

2. Yuxin Liu (China) - 10:25.51

3. Prachi Ankush Devour (India) - 10:32.69

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4. Ayana Yamashita (Japan) - 10:38.57

Women's Pole Vault Final

1. Lingxia Wei (China) - 4.20 m

2. Sora Murata (Japan) - 4.10 m

3. Mitsuki Kobayashi (Japan) - 4.00 m

Women's Hammer Throw Final

1. Ziyi Wang (China) - 71.04 m

2. Ling Fang (China) - 70.88 m - PB

3. Raika Murakami (Japan) - 68.83 m - PB

Men's Hammer Throw Final

1. Zixu Li (China) - 71.47 m

2. Ayyubkhon Fayozov (Uzbekistan) - 71.16 m

3. Zheng Xu (China) - 68.59 m

-----

6. Kyota Takahashi (Japan) - 63.48 m

Men's Decathlon Day 1 Standings

1. Yuto Yamamoto (Japan) - 900

2. Chenghao Zhu (China) - 829

3. Nodir Norbaev (Uzbekistan) - 788

Women's 800 m Final Qualifiers

Jonbibi Hukmova (Uzbekistan) - 2:08.54 - PB (1st, H2)

Kurumi Sugure (Japan) - 2:08.79 (2nd, H2)

Aiana Bolatbekkyzy (Kazakhstan) - 2:09.43 (3rd, H2)

VR Rawal (India) - 2:09.76 (4th, H2)

Gejing Zhu (China) - 2:10.49 (1st, H1)

BD Huidrom (India) - 2:10.60 (2nd, H1)

Yuri Nishida (Japan) - 2:10.86 (3rd, H1)

TM Kodithuwakku (Sri Lanka) - 2:10.99 (4th, H1)

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How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

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