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Sani Brown's 200 m World Youth Lead Tops Day One of Japanese National Track and Field Championships

by Brett Larner
click here for Day Two and Day Three results 
videos by 陸上競技動画集 and naoki620



As expected, the men's 200 m brought a lot of the excitement to the opening day of the 2015 Japanese National Track and Field Championships.  The three favorites Kei Takase (Team Fujitsu), Kenji Fujimitsu (Zenrin) and Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) all won their heats, Fujimitsu bringing the fastest time of the day in 20.37 +0.9, but the biggest news came just behind Iizuka in Heat Three as 16-year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) ran a world youth lead 20.56 +1.4 for 2nd, making the final.  Sani Brown's time put him well ahead of teen sprint sensation Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) on the all-time world youth lists, coming in at #7.  And the final is yet to come.



The women's 10000 m was another highlight as defending champion Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) kept her head through a turbulent race and letting the people who still needed to chase a World Championships qualifying standard do the work, once moving near the front near 7000 m but never really making a move until the bell lap, when she kicked away to win in 32:06.48.  Already holding a sub-32 qualifying time, Nishihara sealed up a place on the Beijing team.  Pre-race favorite and runner-up in 32:0:7.91 Yuka Takashima (Team Denso) likewise holds a qualifying standard and should make the team, but 3rd-placer Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya), who did part of the work mid-race to try to keep it on track for her to earn a sub-32 qualifier, made it complicated as she outkicked qualified women Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo) and Rina Yamazaki (Team Panasonic) in the home straight for 3rd, just short of the Beijing standard in a slight PB of 32:08.59.  Ohara will now have to try again to get that standard if she hopes to join Nishihara and likely Takashima in August.

Having already cleared both the JAAF and IAAF standards for Beijing, Yuki Ebihara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) also sealed a place on the team as she won the women's javelin in a conservative 59.11 m.  In the men's 3000 m steeplechase, current #1 collegiate distance track runner Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), who set a 10000 m PB just last weekend, ran a solo race in pursuit of the World Championships standard, leading by nearly 50 m at 2000 m slowing just off pace in the last km but still winning in a large PB of 8:32.89.  Enigmatically, he exactly tied the PB of runner-up Jun Shinoto (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko), who likewise won the steeple at Nationals while a student at Chuo Gakuin University.

Other athletes who picked up national titles but came up short of qualifying for Worlds included Arisa Nakao (Yuwakai) with a PB 13.09 m in the women's triple jump, Kanae Tatsuta (Monteroza) likewise with a PB 4.15 m in the women's pole vault, Yuki Watanabe (Milite Techno) clearing 1.81 m in an exciting women's high jump, and Ayumi Sakaguchi (S.T.T.) throwing 53.58 m to win the women's discus.

The Japanese National Track and Field Championships continue Saturday and Sunday.  Live streaming will be available here from 11:00 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.

99th Japanese National Track and Field Championships Day One
Big Swan Stadium, Niigata, 6/27/15
click here for complete results

Women's 10000 m
1. Kasumi Nishihara (Yamada Denki) - 32:06.48
2. Yuka Takashima (Denso) - 32:07.91
3. Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) - 32:08.59 - PB
4. Ayumi Hagiwara (Uniqlo) - 32:10.11
5. Rina Yamazaki (Panasonic) - 32:11.40
6. Reia Iwade (Noritz) - 32:13.21 - PB
7. Michi Numata (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 32:13.57 - PB
8. Misaki Kato (Kyudenko) - 32:16.54
9. Sayaka Kuwahara (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:22.05
10. Hanae Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 32:28.63

Men's 3000 mSC
1. Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 8:32.89 - PB
2. Jun Shinoto (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 8:36.61
3. Minato Yamashita (NTN) - 8:36.61
4. Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) - 8:44.56
5. Shuya Tsuda (Tsukuba Univ.) - 8:46.74 - PB

Men's 1500 m Heat 1
1. Nanami Arai (Tokai Univ) - 3:47.60 - Q
2. Daiki Hirose (Osaka Gas) - 3:47.88 - Q
3. Yuki Akiyama (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 3:48.00 - Q

Men's 1500 m Heat 2
1. Toshiki Imazaki (Osaka Gas) - 3:49.45 - Q
2. Hiroya Inoue (Jobu Univ.) - 3:49.72 - Q
3. Tsukasa Anzai (Juntendo Univ.) - 3:49.92 - Q

Men's 1500 m Heat 3
1. Masahiro Takaya (JR Higashi Nihon) - 3:46.41 - Q
2. Hikaru Kato (JR Higashi Nihon) - 3:46.92 - Q
3. Takahiko Onishi (Kyoto T&F Assoc.) - 3:47.21 - Q
4. Kota Matsuda (SGH Group) - 3:47.28 - q
5. Toshihiro Kenmotsu (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 3:47.38 - q
6. Yoshihiro Nishizawa (Komori Corp.) - 3:48.07 - q

Women's 400 m Heat 1
1. Asami Shintaku (Chuo Univ.) - 54.52 - Q
2. Asami Chiba (Toho Ginko) - 54.66 - Q
3. Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei Univ.) - 54.75

Women's 400 m Heat 2
1. Sayaka Aoki (Toho Ginko) - 54.97 - Q
2. Konomi Takeishi (Toho Ginko) - 55.00 - Q
3. Manami Yoshinara (Art Home) - 55.02

Women's 400 m Heat 3
1. Sayaka Fujisawa (Cerespo) - 54.13 - Q
2. Haruka Ishitsuka (Higashi Osaka Prep H.S.) - 54.17 - Q, PB
3. Hinako Sato (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 54.19 - q, PB
4. Nanako Matsumoto (Tsukuba Univ.) - 54.74 - q

Men's 200 m Heat 1 +0.6 m/s
1. Kei Takase (Fujitsu) - 20.55 - Q
2. Takuya Nagata (Hosei Univ.) - 20.70 - Q
3. Kotaro Taniguchi (Chuo Univ.) - 20.98 - q
4. Shinji Takahira (Fujitsu) - 20.98 - q

Men's 200 m Heat 2 +0.9 m/s
1. Kenji Fujimitsu (Zenrin) - 20.37 - Q
2. Koki Koike (Keio Univ.) - 20.96 - Q
3. Masafumi Naoki (Chuo Univ.) - 21.03

Men's 200 m Heat 3 +1.4 m/s
1. Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.42 - Q
2. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) - 20.56 - Q, PB, WYL
3. Shota Hara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 20.65 - q

Women's 200 m Heat 1 +0.9 m/s
1. Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) - 23.36 - Q
2. Mizuki Nakamura (Osaka Seikei Univ.) - 24.24 - Q
3. Maki Wada (Mizuno) - 24.51

Women's 200 m Heat 2 +1.3 m/s
1. Sayaka Fujisawa (Cerespo) - 23.82 - Q, PB
2. Kana Ichikawa (Mizuno) - 24.05 - Q
3. Makoto Nakano (Anjo Gakuen H.S.) - 24.27 - q, PB

Women's 200 m Heat 3 +1.7 m/s
1. Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei Univ.) - 24.31 - Q
2. Rio Banno (Nanajunana Ginko) - 24.33 - Q
3. Kotomi Eguchi (Saitama Univ.) - 24.41 - q

Women's Triple Jump
1. Arisa Nakao (Yuwakai) - 13.09 +2.0 m/s - PB
2. Mayu Yoshida (Ayumu Athletics) - 13.06 +2.9 m/s
3. Waka Maeda (Peek) - 12.97 +2.1 m/s

Women's Pole Vault
1. Kanae Tatsuta (Monteroza) - 4.15 m - PB
2. Megumi Nakada (Mitoshin) - 4.10 m
3. Tomomi Abiko (Saga Lake Stars) - 4.00 m

Women's High Jump
1. Yuki Watanabe (Milite Techno) - 1.81 m
2. Nanami Inoue (Okuwa) - 1.78 m
3. Jeliah Tsuda (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 1.78 m

Women's Discus
1. Ayumi Sakaguchi (S.T.T.) - 53.58 m
2. Natsumi Fujimori (Juntendo Univ.) - 49.57 m
3. Eriko Nakata (Shikoku Univ.) - 49.23 m

Women's Javelin
1. Yuki Ebihara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 59.11 m
2. Hitomi Sukenaga (Okuwa) - 58.51 m - PB
3. Marina Saito (Kokushikan Univ.) - 57.73 m - PB

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
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