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Very pleasing to see Christian Taylor back with a 16.89
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Adeleke finished her 400m strongly, but it was in the 200-300 phase that Wilson won the race. Still working on her pace judgement, and her arms need tidying up.Comment
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What an amazing run from Adeleke who is still only 20. She should win the NCAA title unless Britton Wilson decides to double in the 400m/ 400mh as she did so successfully at last year's SEC outdoor champs!
Amber Anning has been injured since the NCAA indoor finals. This was her first race since rehabilitating so in that light not a bad opening performance.Comment
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At the ASA Athletics Grand Prix Meet 2 in Germiston, South Africa ...
The Men's 400 Hurdles was an entertaining race with "Soks" Zazini and Wiseman Were Mukhobe (KEN) battling neck-and-neck down the home straight. In a classic example of what pressure from the next lane can do in the hurdles, they were both clattering the last few barriers. Zazini won in 49.54, Mukhobe 3rd in 49.78 with Kemorena Tisang (BOT) finishing fast for 2nd in a 49.62 NR.
Zeney van der Walt won the women's equivalent in 55.28. One of the commentators said that after her 50.81 flat 400 PB last week there was expectation tonight that she could have challenged Myrtle Bothma's 53.74 NR from 1986.
Omanyala won the Men's 100 in 10.05 (+0.1) with another Kenyan, Samwel Bitonyake Imeta, 2nd in 10.22.
The Women's 400 was a good race, Marlie Viljoen only pulling ahead of Line Kloster (NOR) in the last 40m, 51.81 (a 0.06s PB) to 52.18.
Gardeo Isaacs won the Men's 400 in 45.30, not far shy of his 45.15 PB from earlier this month.
There was a NR in the Women's Hammer for Leandri Geel, 66.11. Algerian Zahra Tatar 2nd with 63.05.
At Monday's Cape Milers Club/Endurocad Middle Distance Invitational 2 in Cape Town there was a fast Men's 1500 with Ryan Mphahlele winning in 3:32.90 PB with Tshepo Tshite, proving he's anything but, almost catching him, 2nd in 3:33.02 PB. Elijah Manangoi was way back in 3rd, 3:37.42.Comment
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On Day 1 (Friday) of the Japanese University Individual Championships at the Lemon Gas Stadium in Hiratsuka (I don't know what Lemon Gas is but I think I'd like to try some!) ...
The coverage on the streaming was very good and had everything you need - very good camera-work, an on-screen clock, startlists and results.
There were championship records in both the high hurdles, Ken Toyoda winning the Men's in 13.50 (+ 1.1) though some way off the collegiate record (& NR) - Shunsuke Izumiya's 13.06 from 2 years ago! In the Women's Rei Honda won her semi in 13.22 CR from Ayaka Ito, 13.25, but Ito turned the tables in the final to win in 13.32 (+0.9) to Honda's 13.34.
Nao Jinushi ran a 45.98 PB in the semis of the Men's 400.
There's no sub-32 10,000m women currently active in the Japanese university system what with Narumi Kobayashi & Yuka Suzuki having recently turned pro and 30:45 athlete Seira Fuwa still injured with achilles issues. Very worryingly, she's only toed a startline twice in the last 15 months.
However, I'm still impressed when 20 and 21 year-olds run 32:xx. It's strange but athletes in international races getting lapped when running 32-mid look slow and ponderous but, at the front of a race, 32-mid looks like they're shifting.
Anyway, in this race a group of 3 reached halfway in 16:20 having pulled away from 6 others in the previous kilometre. The pace slowed a bit heading towards a 33 minutes finishing time before, with 1500 to go, 20yo Risa Yamazaki (debuting at this distance) upped the pace by a couple of seconds per lap, shaking off Tomo Murumatsu in the process. Yamazaki won in 32:40.40 - she's got quite the range having run a 4:16.9 1500 at age 18. She's due to go again in the 5000 on Sunday (she was 2nd in that last year). Third placer Hikaru Kitagawa had already booked her place on July/August's World University Games team in the Half Marathon by winning those University Championships last month.
At the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto (Stanford), there were 2 South American Records in the 5000 ...
Federico Bruno (ARG) ran a 20s PB to win in 13:11.57 AR. He's also a 3:36 1500 athlete. Scott Beattie ran 13:30 and Charles Hicks a disappointing 13:33.
In the Women's race Joselyn Daniely Brea (VEN) won in 15:05.56 AR. WuGa He (CHN) 2nd in 15:11.10 PB, Leanne Pompeani (AUS), 15:19.40 PB, and an 8s PB for 32yo Yumi Yoshikawa (JPN) with 15:24.36. Nanami Watanabe (JPN) ran a disappointing 15:48, 11 seconds down on her SB from 2 weeks ago at the Kanaguri meeting.
The results in the 10,000 were poor - only 2 starters in the Women's race! I don't know what's happened to this meeting. It used to have big names competing with often 2 full fields for the Women's 10,000 and some stacked fields from 1500 up to 10,000. Is it just a post-COVID hangover or that the meeting isn't a Continental Tour meeting so athletes are choosing to compete elsewhere for the points?
Nothing too startling at the Tokyo Spring Challenge (Conti Tour Challenger meeting) ...
Nozomi Tanaka won the Women's Mile in 4:32.73 from a High School field. In the Men's 200 Yoshihide Kiryu won in 20.88 (-0.7), after running 20.83 (+0.7) in the heats. Riley Day (AUS) won the Women's in 23.65 (-1.0).
Wakana Kabasawa won the Women's 2 Miles in 9:42.44 (4:54/4:48), pulling away from Mikuni Yada over the last 3 laps. Roughly equivalent to a 9-flat 3000 this was a good early season hit-out for the 24yo with a 15:24 best at 5000 from last December.
Ayano Shiomi won a very competitive Women's 600 in 1:29.06 with 5 athletes across the track just behind her, fighting for 2nd place.
I'm going to watch the GP events at the Hyōgo Relay Carnival tomorrow when hopefully the much better TV broadcast videos will have been uploaded to YouTube.
I'll also report tomorrow or Monday on Days 2 & 3 of the Japanese University Championships and some road racing including how Tirunesh Dibaba fared in the Gifu Half Marathon.Comment
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10.80 WL for Shericka Jackson at Velocity Fest in Jamaica. After an underwhelming indoors, looks like she's picking up where she left off outdoors.Comment
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Couple of WLs:
88.38 from Vadlejch in the mJT
79.80 from Brooke Anderson in the wHT. Takes her to 3rd on the all time list and the equal 9th best throw of all time.Comment
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News from the other big marathons in Europe today (except Padova which I want to watch on Rai Sport tomorrow) ...
At the Hamburg Marathon there was a very dramatic finish in the Women's race. Tiruye Mesfin (ETH; 2:18:47 PB) had been the sole leader for the whole race but in the last kilometre her legs turned to jelly. With about 250m to go she stumbled then 50m later her legs gave way completely and she hit the deck. She got up quickly again but with 150m to go Dorcas Tuitoek (KEN) flew by her to take the win, 2:20:09 PB. As I surmised in my LSL teaser notes Tuitoek was capable of much of much better than her pre-race PB. She broke it by 4:45 here. Mesfin just hung on for 2nd.
In 3rd Stella Chesang set a Ugandan Record, 2:20:23, on her marathon debut. Giovanna Epis ran an 8s PB but was agonisingly close to breaking Valeria Straneo's 2:23:44 Italian Record - just 2 seconds outside, after being on sub-2:23 pace until about 35km. In 8th Fabienne Konigstein (GER) ran 2:25:48 to smash her PB by almost 7 minutes - I've never heard of her! Ecuador's Rosa Chacha ran a NR 2:26:34, breaking Silvia Ortiz's 2:27:36 record that had stood for just 2 months.
In the Men's race Bernard Koech (not to be confused with the Japanese-based Benard Kibet Koech) equalled his PB in winning in 2:04:09. He had been on sub-2:04 pace with 2 km to go. Joshua Belet (KEN) was 2nd, 2:04:38 on his marathon debut. In 6th the European Champion Richard Ringer (GER) ran a 41s PB in 2:08:08.
At the Madrid Marathon it seems that the top 4 or 5 leading contenders in both the Men's & Women's races didn't start. Visa issues maybe?
Anyway, there was double victory for Uganda here with Geofrey Kusuro winning in 2:10:29 and Doreen Chesang 1st in 2:26:31. She was 11th in this year's World XC and, like Stella Chesang in Hamburg, a debutant in the marathon today.
At the Vienna City Marathon, Samwel Nyamai Mailu (KEN) won by almost 2 minutes from Bethwell Yegon in 2:05:08, a 2 minute PB. Former European record-holder Sondre Moen's (NOR) best days are behind him I think - 8th in 2:10:23. Magadalyne Masai won the Women's race in 2:24:12, thirteen seconds ahead of Agnes Keino.
The number of elite starters and the results of the Belgrade Marathon were a bit disappointing - won in 2:14 & 2:30.respectively.Last edited by LuckySpikes; 24-04-23, 00:16.Comment
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Rounding up the rest of the Japanese weekend action in and out of a stadium ...
At the Nippon Sports Science University Long Distance Meeting in Yokohama, Kenya's Richard Etir ran a collegiate record in the 10,000 with 27:06.88. Emmanuel Maru (KEN) just dipped under 27:10, a 24s PB.
At the Hyōgo Relay Carnival (Conti Tour Challenger) meeting in Kobe ...
After defeat to Yume Goto 2 weeks ago, Nozomi Tanaka looked a bit more like her old self again, winning the 1500 in 4:09.79 with the last 700 run at 4:03 pace. Goto was a distant 4th this time behind Nyiva (4:12.97) & Akidor (both KEN). Japan's no.2, Ran Urabe, was a DNS again. I hope she's not injured.
In the Men's 1500 Ryoji Tatezawa (3:38 athlete) backed up his win at the Kanaguri Memorial 2 weeks ago. The early pace had been promising but it wasn't maintained. Winning time, 3:43.03.
In the 10,000 the 5 Kenyans, including World Silver medalist Stanley Waithaka (aka Mburu), set off with real intent covering the first 1000 at 26:40 pace but it ended up slowing and getting cagey. Emmanuel Korir Kiplagat produced a devastating last 150m kick to win in 27:32.07, Waithaka in 2nd. Kiplagat is 20yo with a 27:07 PB. The times of the Japanese were disappointing - there were several athletes with 27:30/40's PBs in the field but the fastest only ran 28:41.
There were a few withdrawals from the Women's 10,000 including fastest Japanese entrants Momoka Kawaguchi & Minami Yamanouchi. Esther Wangui (KEN) loped to a 32:22.45 victory. With 1450m to go, the tiny 21yo Kazuna Kanetomo took off from the other Japanese. For a while it looked like she might catch the leaders but in the end she had to settle for 3rd in 32:30.56, a 9s PB (after a 5000m PB 2 weeks ago at the Kanaguri Memorial). She covered the last 2km in 6:17 though (sub-31:30 pace) so that seems indicative that she can go quite a bit faster over this distance.
In the Men's 2000m Steeple Ryoma Aoki just pipped Taisei Ogino on the line, winning in 5:30.39, a very good time in particular for Ogino who's 3000m SC best is 8:31.
Manami Nishiyama won the Women's 2000m Steeple in 6:27.31 from Yuzu Nishide, 6:29.89. They're both 9:39 3000m Steeplers.
Asian Indoor champion Sumire Hata won the Women's Long Jump with 6.35 (-0.9).
On Days 2 & 3 of the Japanese University Individual Championships in Hiratsuka there was a lot of exciting racing without there necessarily being a load of fast times.
In the Men's 100 19yo Naoki Inoue improved his pre-championship PB from 10.39 to 10.19 (+1.7) to win from Shota Nakamura, 10.23.
After going sub-46 for the first time on Friday in the Men's 400 semis, Jun Nishao won the final but only in 46.54. It wasn't a warm day (16C) but maybe the bigger factor in the slower times was that they'd run 2 rounds the day before. The Women's 400 winning time also wasn't as quick as expected.
In the Women's 3000 Steeple, 19yo Mayu Kawase won in what appears to be just her second Steeple race. 35m down on the 2 favourites at halfway she made up the gap and then went away from them to win and break her PB by 16s.
10,000m winner Risa Yamazaki didn't line up for the 5000 but the other two medalists, Tomo Murumatsu & Hikaru Kitagawa, did. Both were to the fore early on and Kitagawa was the only athlete to try to go with Sarah Wanjiru (KEN) when she injected a 3:03 second kilometre. In 2nd place Kitagawa established a healthy lead over the rest of the field but with 500m to go a group of 4 caught and passed her. Wanjiru won in 15:33.29 narrowly breaking Narumi Kobayashi's 2021 championship record. Haruka Ogawa, not yet 19yo, finished 2nd in what appears to be her 5000m debut and Tomo Muramatsu added bronze to her silver from 2 days earlier.
The number of starters in the Men's 5000 & 10,000 combined was only 7 (with 6 DNS's in the 5000). A bit pathetic!
In the field, the strongest actions was in the throws. Shota Fukuda won the Men's Hammer with 71.42 PB and a championship record but 2.40m short of Koji Murofushi's collegiate record. In the Women's Discus, Maki Saito broke her own championship record with 55.66 (almost 2 metres shy of her best). In the Women's Hammer 19yo Raika Murakami added 3 metres to the championship record with 63.44, but almost 2 metres shy of her collegiate record set 3 weeks ago. With 3 athletes over 55m in the Javelin it looks like Japanese women might continue to have good depth in that event in future.
In the Nagano Marathon there were 4 Japanese men with a realistic chance of qualifying for October's Marathon Grand Championship (MGC), their Olympic Trials for the Marathon. Each had run 2:08:xx recently and needed 2:11:xx here to achieve a sub-2:10 average over 2 races. There was no pacemakers but it did help that 2:07 Kenyan Michael Githae was also racing. All 4 Japanese plus 6 others reached halfway in around 64:45 and Kento Nishi led 2 other men to qualifying for the MGC by winning in 2:10:01 with the other 2 men inside 2:11. That brings the total of men qualified to 65 now with only 3 qualifying races left (all abroad) before the qualifying window shuts on 31st May.
I have to say, the system the Japanese have set up for selecting their Olympic marathon teams is absolute genius. This 18 month or so qualifying period with the tough standards needed to qualify for the MGC gives each of their big marathons more importance and intrigue. And then, come October there's still a twist in the tale. The Top 2 in each race at the MGC get selected for the Olympics but the third place remains open for a few months and is decided by whoever runs the fastest marathon - only a few marathons are eligible and they have to run below tough targets, e.g., 2:23:18 for the women, or else the 3rd placer at the MGC gets the nod. In 2020 Mizuki Matsuda was confident she had secured the third spot by winning in Osaka with 2:21:47 (she said so after the race). However, she didn't reckon on Mao Ichiyama, a few weeks later, breaking her PB by 4 mins to run 2:20:29. It was all very exciting and absolutely heeartbreaking for Matsuda!
At Sunday's Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, a WA Gold Label race ...
Tirunesh Dibaba finished 3rd in 69:57 but it was an improvement of 98 seconds on her first comeback race in Houston in January. Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (KEN) retained her title with 68:18. Izzi Batt-Doyle was the first Aussie of 3 in 70:16, just ahead of 2:23 marathoner Reia Iwade, the first Japanese in 70:23, one of her better races over the last 2-3 years.
Amos Kurgat won the Men's race in 60:20. As expected Kiyoshi Koga and Tetsuya Yoroizawa battled to be the first Japanese in the group behind Kurgat, with Koga taking that honour in 61:40 (51s shy of his best).
The next Japanese track & field on the live streams is this Saturday 29th - the Mikio Oda Memorial International Meet in Hiroshima, a Continental Tour Bronze meeting. There's good entry lists for that, including athletes from 7 other countries such as Australia & India.Comment
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Should probably get another thread, but here’s the Qual criteria for the five track relays going from Budapest -> Nassau 2024 World Relays -> Last Chance Saloon -> OK You Guys Positively Definitely Your Last Chance -> Paris.
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Mary Moraa just strolled to a 50.44s 400m victory at the Botswana Continental Gold Tour meet. It's her first outdoor race of the season and an effortless personal best and national record beating the time of 50.67s sen ran in Brussels last September.
The 800m is not just Athing and Keely. I'm sure Mary will have a say too!Last edited by LoveSprints1; 29-04-23, 14:19.Comment
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Omanyala 9.78! In Gabarone, American butts well & truly spanked.
Officiating maybe a bit on the errm…relaxed side.Comment
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19 year old Letsile Tebogo wins the 200m(-0.3) in 19.87 in Botswana. Together with his earlier in the day second place in the 100m 9.91(+2.3), he's going to cause the Americans a few problems.Comment
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