News09 Oct 2000

Highlights of the 84th Japanese National Championships

Highlights of the 84th Japanese National Championships
K. Ken Nakamura

10 October 2000 - Less than a week after the closing of the 2000 Olympic Games, the 84th Japanese national championships were held in the northern city of Sendai from 6-8 October. For obvious reasons, many Olympians were absent from the championships.

Hammer thrower Koji Murofushi, who competed in the IAAF Grand Prix Final on Thursday (5 October), was back in Japan to defend his title on Sunday, winning his event, as expected, for his sixth consecutive year.

His sister, Yuka Murofushi won the discus for the second year in a row with 52.71m. She also finished third in the hammer throw in 56.48m behind Aya Suzuki, a five-time champion who won the event with 60.46m, a championship record.

Yuka is expected to shift her emphasis to the hammer throw, her family’s favourite event. Her father, Shigenobu was the national record holder for many years until her brother Koji took over in 1998.

Two 400m hurdles Olympians - Hideaki Kawamura and Dai Tamesue - who competed in the first rounds of the Olympics were present at the Championships. Kawamura and Tamesue finished first and second in 48.85 and 48.86 respectively.

Other Olympians who won their events included high jumpers Yoko Ohta for the women and Takahisa Yoshida for the men, Takahiko Yamamoto in the men's 400m, Masaki Morinaga in the men's long jump and Yvonne Kanazawa in women's 100m hurdles.

Yoko Ohta who finished 11th in the Sydney 2000 high jump final, attempted the national record height of 1.95m, but was not successful. Yvonne Kanazawa, who set several national records over the 100m hurdles before the Olympic Games won her discipline for the sixth straight year. In Sydney she reached the semi-finals.

Two athletes who missed making Olympic "A" standard earlier in the season were double victors at the national championships. Maho Hanaoka won both the long and triple jump, events for which she holds the national records. It was her second national championships competing in these two disciplines. She was already national triple jump champion in 1999 and won the long jump title in 1994.

The other double winner was national sprint queen Motoka Arai who won both the 100m and 200m for her third consecutive year.

Kenyan Zakayo Ngatho, a Japanese resident won both the 5000m and 10,000m. Ngatho, who runs for Konica track team is Olympic marathon silver medallist Eric Wainaina’s team-mate.

Yoko Toyonaga set a national record of 16.46m in the women’s shot put. In addition, two national junior records were established. The women’s pole vault record moved up to 3.85m thanks to Ikuko Mori on 6 October, and this year's junior sensation Satoshi Hatase put the shot 16.64m the following day.

Several juniors also took part in the event. 16-year-old Yukari Soh, the daughter of Takeshi Soh (fourth place finisher in the 1984 Olympic marathon) was the 1500m runner-up. 1999 World Cross Country Championships junior bronze medallist Yoshiko Fujinaga won the 5000m in 15:27.82.

Several other athletes successfully defended their national titles won at the 1999 championships held in Shizuoka in addition to those mentioned previously. They include Hideki Ishizuak (men's 200m), Takahisa Yoshida (men's high jump), Daichi Sawano (men's pole vault), Yasutada Noguchi (men's shot put), Shigeo Hatayama (men's discus throw) and Kazue Kakinuma (women's 400m).

Next year, the national championships are scheduled for the month of June, and will serve as a selection meet for the IAAF World Championships in Edmonton 2001.

M100m (-0.7m/s)
1) Nobuharu Asahara 10.35

M200m (0.4m/s)
1) Hideki Ishizuka 20.79

M400m
1) Takahiko Yamamura 46.45

M800m
1) Hiroshi Sasano 1:51.06

M1500m
1) Junji Konomi 3:48.55

M5000m
1) Zakayo Ngatho (KEN) 13:35.95
2) Tomohiro Seto 13:36.42
3) Naoki Mishiro 13:36.79

M10,000m
1) Zakayo Ngatho (KEN) 27:44.01
2) John Kanyi (KEN) 27:47.44
3) Solomon Wachira (KEN) 27:57.19
4) Laban Kagika (KEN) 27:57.81
5) Naoki Mishiro 27:59.39

M110mH (0.0m/s)
1) Kimihiro Asami 13.72
2) Satoru Tanigawa 13.72
3) Ken-ichi Sakurai 13.76

M400mH
1) Hideaki Kawamura 48.85
2) Dai Tamesue 48.86
3) Ken Yoshizawa 49.99

M3000mSC
1) Yasunori Uchitomi 8:31.43
2) Wataru Izumi 8:38.03

MHJ
1) Takahisa Yoshida 2.21m

MPV
1) Daichi Sawano 5.40m
2) Satoru Yasuda 5.40m
2) Manabu Yokoyama 5.40m

MLJ
1) Masaki Morinaga 7.87m (-0.1m/s)

MTJ
1) Takashi Komatsu 16.34m (1.1m/s)
2) Takanori Sugibayashi 16.20m (2.1m/s)

MSP
1) Yasutada Noguchi 17.61m
2) Satoshi Hatase 16.64m National Junior record

MDT
1) Shigeo Hatakeyama 54.39m

MHT
1) Koji Murofushi 76.39m

MJT
1) Yukifumi Murakami 74.97m

MDec
1) Hitoshi Maruono 7414

W100m (1.1m/s)
1) Motoka Arai 11.74