Japan's small contingent of fourteen athletes brought home four medals from the 3rd Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Haruto Deguchi led the way with a gold medal in the men's 400 m hurdles. Kazuki Furusawa took silver in the men's pole vault, with Seiryo Ikeda and Koki Wada claiming silver in the men's 100 m and men's long jump. Rintaro Kaiyama had the best non-medaling performance on the boys' half of the team, finishing 5th in the 3000 m. None of the girls on the team placed among the medals, but Yuki Kanemitsu had a near-miss in the women's 1500 m where she took 4th. Miyaka Sugata also had a strong showing in the women's 3000 m, taking 5th. The inclusion of 4 km cross-country races on the program was an interesting move, and Kanemitsu again performed well there, placing 8th in the women's race. Now in his first hear of high school, junior high 1500 m, 3000 m and 5000 m national record holder Kosuke Ishida was 10th in the m...
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