London World Championships - Day Ten Japanese Results

Rio Olympics men's 50 km Race Walk bronze medalist Hirooki Arai followed up with Japan's first silver medal of the London World Championships, leading teammate Kai Kobayashi to a Japanese double medal haul. Far behind the championships record pace set by eventual gold medalist Yohann Diniz of France, Arai, Kobayashi and teammate Satoshi Maruo all sat together in the chase pack through 15 km. Maruo began to drop back approaching 20 km, but Arai and Kobayashi stayed up front through 35 km before making a break that took them all the way to silver and bronze medal finishes 2 seconds apart just over 8 minutes behind Diniz. Maruo fought his way back through the pack, ultimately finishing 5th just over a minute and a half behind his medalist teammates.

On paper the men's 20 km crew had the potential to repeat the 50 km results, but it wasn't to be. One by one Rio Olympics 7th placer Daisuke Matsunaga and world #2 and #3-ranked Eiki Takahashi and Isamu Fujisawa slipped off the back of the pack. Fujisawa ended up with the top Japanese spot at 11th in 1:20:04, one minute out of the medals. Takahashi was 32 seconds behind him in 14th. Matsunaga wound up in serious trouble, weaving and staggering over the final few laps before finishing 38th another 3 minutes back. Lone female race walker Kumiko Okada couldn't better her male teammates, off the pack within the first 5 km and ultimately taking 18th almost 5 minutes out of bronze.

London World Championships Day Ten Japanese Results

London, England, 8/13/17
click here for complete results

Women's 20 km Race Walk
1. Jiayu Yang (China) - 1:26:18 - PB
2. Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez (Mexico) - 1:26:19
3. Antonella Palmisano (Italy) - 1:26:36 - PB
-----
18. Kumiko Okada (Japan) - 1:31:19

Men's 20 km Race Walk
1. Eider Arevalo (Colombia) - 1:18:53 - NR
2. Sergei Shirobokov (ANA/Russia) - 1:18:55
3. Caio Bonfim (Brazil) - 1:19:04 - NR
-----
11. Isamu Fujisawa (Japan) - 1:20:04
14. Eiki Takahashi (Japan) - 1:20:36
38. Daisuke Matsunaga (Japan) - 1:23:39

Men's 50 km Race Walk
1. Yohann Diniz (France) - 3:33:12 - MR
2. Hirooki Arai (Japan) - 3:41:17
3. Kai Kobayashi (Japan) - 3:41:19 - PB
-----
5. Satoshi Maruo (Japan) - 3:43:03 - PB

© 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
photo by Ekiden Mania, © 2017 Kazuyuki Sugimatsu, all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that Sis

Fujitsu and Toyoda Issue Statement on Circumstances of His Two-Year Suspension for Trenbolone

Following 400 m hurdler Masaki Toyoda 's suspension for a violation of anti-doping regulations , the Fujitsu corporate team published a statement on its website, including comments from Toyoda's legal team , explaining the ruling and the circumstances surrounding the case. Toyoda was a member of the 2019 Doha World Championships team and holds a best of 48.87. Early in the morning of May 19, 2022, the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) conducted a doping test of Toyoda. The prohibited substance trenbolone was detected in urine taken during the test, resulting in a two-year suspension that began May 21, 2022. He did not compete at the National Track and Field Championships the next month. The amount of trenbolone detected in Toyoda's urine sample was 1.4 ng/ml, well below the minimum analytical precision of 2.5 ng/ml required by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for analytical equipment. As a general rule, if a non-specified prohibited substance such as trenbolone is dete

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

japan running news

Search This Blog