Japan's Yukifumi Murakami throws the javelin during the IAAF World Championships in the Berlin Olympic Stadium (© Getty Images)
Two global championships medallists, Koji Murofushi and Yukifumi Murakami, extended their winning streaks to 16 and 11, respectively, at the 94th JPN national championships, held in Marugame from Friday June 4 to Sunday June 6.
It was the first time the national championships, which doubled as the selection meet for the upcoming Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, were held in the island of Shikoku.
Kensuke Takezawa took his first national title when he outkicked eight runners in the final lap to win the men’s 10,000m on the first day of the championships. On the other hand, Kayoko Fukushi led from start to finish to win the women’s 10,000m with 31:47.56. It was her sixth title over the distance. In the final day of the championships she also won the 5000m, although Ann Karindi of Kenya, a guest runner crossed the finish line first. Ryoko Kizaki finished second in both 5000m and 10,000m, while Yukiko Akaba finished third in both races. Yuka Murofushi, younger sister of Koji, won the women’s Hammer Throw for the fifth time with 63.50m. On the final day of the championships, she won the women’s DT for the 11th time.
The second day of the championships was not kind to many of the defending champions. The defending champion Shinji Takahira was only third in the men’s 200m in a race won by Kenji Fujimitsu with 20.38, a personal best. Daichi Sawano no-heighted in the men’s PV. Sawano came into the competition at 5.50m, the height cleared by Takafumi Suzuki in his first attempt and Hiroki Sasase in the second attempt. Thus Suzuki won while Sasase was second. Sawano was not able to clear the height and thus his winning streak at the National Championships came to an end at four. Yuichiro Ueno, defending champion at both 1500m and 5000m finished third at 1500m. A day later he finished 11th in 5000m.
Asami Chiba (formerly Tanno) also failed to defend her title at the women’s 400m. Chisato Tanaka won the race in a slow 54.46, thus ending the Chiba’s winning streak at three. As it turned out both Chiba and Takahira were behind in their training due to earlier injury problems. Yoshitaka Iwamizu, the defending champion chose not to contest 3000mSC this year, because he is preparing for his marathon debut. In his absence Takeshi Takeda won the competition. Actually he crossed the finish line in second place, but because Masatoshi Kikuchi, who crossed the finish line in 8:47.07, was disqualified Takeda was promoted to first. Kikuchi interfered with Takeda in the final home-straight.
Some defending champions were successful, however. Both Mika Yoshikawa at the women’s 1500m and Minori Hayakari at the women’s 3000mSC won the national title for the fifth time. It should be noted that Hayakari won every women’s 3000mSC contested since its inauguration. In the field events, Fumiyo Yoshida won the women’s Triple Jump while Yuki Ebihara won the women’s Javelin Throw.
On the men’s side, Kenji Narisako won the men’s 400m Hurdles. “Because Tamesue is not running this year, I must be the leader in this event,” said Narisako after the race. The winning time was slow 49.01, but Narisako’s preparation for the championships was far from perfect due to earlier injury problems.
Koji Murofushi threw 77.35m in his third throw to win the men’s Hammer Throw, thus extended his winning streak at the national championships to 16, the record in any event in the nationals. “Perhaps I could have thrown little further, but I will leave it to the next opportunity,” Murofushi said.
There was much anticipation for another national record in the women’s 100m, for Chisato Fukushima recently improved the national record to 11.21. Fukushima did win the race, from Momoko Takahashi but her winning time was only 11.30.
“The time was little disappointing, but I would like to see how my 11.30 translates to 200m tomorrow,” she said. A day later, their rivalry resumed at 200m. Fukushima started fast to take a commanding lead coming into the home straight. However, Takahashi worked her way back and moved ahead just before the finish. Takahashi won by one-hundredth of the second with 23.56. “She was so far ahead at the beginning, I thought, but my goal was to concentrate on running my own race. I thought the race would be decided in the final phase,” Takahashi said.
On the third day of the nchampionships, the defending champion won the men’s 100m, 400m and 800m. Masashi Eriguchi won the title of fastest Japanese from Naoki Tsukahara. “This year, I was only thinking about winning, so I am happy to win the race. My goal for the season is to win the Asian Games,” said Eriguchi.
Yuzo Kanemaru, a former high school sensation, won the men’s 400m for sixth consecutive time. Kanemaru’s first national title was won when he was still a high school student. “I felt the wind at the start, so I concentrated on winning today. With every victory, the pressure is mounting. I make sure I will not lose the title,” Kanemaru said. The national record holder Masato Yokota won the 800m.
Martin Mathathi of Kenya crossed the finish line first at men’s 5000m, but since he was a guest runner, the national championships went to Yuki Matsuoka, who held off Tomoya Onishi and the late charge by Kensuke Takezawa, the 10,000m champion.
In the 100m Hurdles, there was much anticipation for Asuka Terada, the national junior record holder, to break the national record. However, the wind did not cooperate. Terada won the race with 13.32 against the strong head wind of 2.0m/s. “I was running well in heat and semi-final, so I was hoping for a personal best in the final. My start was not very good, but the final phase of the race was quite good. My goal for the year is to challenge the 13 seconds barrier,” she said.
Kumiko Imura won the women’s Long Jump from the defending champion Sachiko Masumi. “It was technically a good jump despite the head wind. My goal for the year is to defend the Asian Game title,” said Imura (formerly Ikeda), who improved from 5.99m in the first round to 6.12m, 6.22m and then to 6.31m in the fifth round.
Yukifumi Murakami, the World bronze medalist in the Javelin Throw last year, won his specialty for the 11th time at the nationals, the second most titles after Murofushi’s 16 titles. His best throw of 80.60m, his first 80m throw in the national championships, was recorded in the sixth round.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Leading Results:
Men
100m 0.0m/s
1) Masashi Eriguchi 10.26
2) Naoki Tsukahara 10.45
3) Hirotaka Taguchi 10.47
200m 1.2m/s
1) Kenji Fujimitsu 20.38
2) Mitsuhiro Abiko 20.74
3) Shinji Takahira 20.80
400m
1) Yuzo Kanemaru 45.56
2) Yusuke Ishitsuka 46.03
3) Hideyuki Hirose 46.05
800m
1) Masato Yokota 1:47.25
2) Ryosuke Awazu 1:48.88
3) Yasuhiro Makino 1:50.16
1500m
1) Yasunori Murakami 3:45.76
2) Masahiro Takaya 3:45.81
3) Yuichiro Ueno 3:46.15
5000m
1) Yuki Matsuoka 13:40.11
2) Tomoya Onishi 13:40.52
3) Kensuke Takezawa 13:41.73
4) Yuki Sato 13:42.63
Guests Martin Mathathi (KEN) 13:16.91
Bitan Koroki (KEN) 13:23.85
10000m
1) Kensuke Takezawa 28:43.08
2) Satoru Kitamura 28:44.16
3) Yuki Sato 28:44.59
110mH 1.8m/s
1) Tasuku Tanonaka 13.58
2) Yuto Aoki 13.66
3) Yutaro Furukawa 13.72
400mH
1) Kenji Narisako 49.01
2) Naohiro Kawakita 49.63
3) Takayuki Koike 49.76
3000mSC
1) Tsuyoshi Takeda 8:47.61
2) Jun Shinotou 8:50.02
3) Hiroyoshi Umegae 8:50.93
HJ
1) Hiromi Takahari 2.21m
2) Saotru Kubota 2.18m
3) Naoyuki Daigo 2.18m
PV
1) Takafumi Suzuki 5.50m
2) Hiroki Sasase 5.50m
3) Yuya Ariake 5.30m
NH Daichi Sawano (came in at 5.50m)
LJ
1) Yohei Sugai 8.10m 1.8m/s
2) Rikiya Saruyama 7.87m 1.2m/s
3) Naohiro Shinada 7.83m 0.0m/s
TJ
1) Yoshihiro Suzuki 16.17m 0.8m/s
2) Yohei Kajiwara 16.09m 1.0m/s
3) Takayuki Tsunoyama 15.96m 0.0m/s
SP
1) Satoshi Hatase 17.96m
2) Yohei Murakawa 17.92m
3) Sotaro Yamada 17.88m
DT
1) Shigeo Hatakeyama 58.90m
2) Yuji Tsusumi 55.75m
3) Kazumasa Yomogida 54.21m
HT
1) Koji Murofushi 77.35m
2) Hiroaki Doi 71.33m
3) Hiroshi Noguchi 67.88m
JT
1) Yukifumi Murakami 80.60m
2) Nobuhiro Sato 76.49m
3) Genki Dean 74.06m
Women
100m 0.9m/s
1) Chisato Fukushima 11.30
2) Momoko Takahashi 11.39
3) Mayumi Watanabe 11.66
200m
1) Momoko Takahashi 23.56
2) Chisato Fukushima 23.57
3) Saori Imai 24.15
400m
1) Chisato Tanaka 54.46
2) Sayaka Aoiki 54.56
3) Asahi Chiba (formerly Tanno) 54.64
800m
1) Akari Kishikawa 2:05.22
2) Ruriko Kubo 2:06.47
3) Ayako Jinnnouchi 2:07.60
1500m
1) Mika Yoshikawa 4:18.68
2) Saori Yamashita 4:19.91
3) Yukari Nomura 4:20.98
5000m
1) Kayoko Fukushi 15:29.80
2) Ryoko Kizaki 15:41.40
3) Yukiko Akaba 15:41.96
4) Yurika Nakamura 15:46.19
5) Mari Ozaki 15:49.97
Guest Ann Karindi (KEN) 15:15.46
10000m
1) Kayoko Fukushi 31:47.56
2) Ryoko Kizaki 32:31.64
3) Yukiko Akaba 32:36.32
100mH -2.0
1) Asuka Terada 13.32
2) Rena Jyoshita 13.57
3) Mami Ishino 13.58
400mH
1) Satomi Kubokura 55.83
2) Miyabi Tago 56.31
3) Sayaka Aoki 56.90
3000mSC
1) Minori Hayakari 9:56.25
2) Yoshika Arai 10:04.37
3) Mai Hashimoto 10:13.37
HJ
1) Kiyoka Fujisawa 1.77m
2) Ayumi Mori 1.77m
3) Yuki Mimura 1.74m
PV
1) Tomomi Abiko 4.25m
2) Takayo Kondo 4.20m
3) Mami Nakano 4.10m
4) Ikuko Nishikori 4.00m
LJ
1) Kumiko Imura 6.31m -1.4m/s
2) Sachiko Masumi 6.23m -0.8m/s
3) Hanako Kotake 5.99m 0.4m/s
TJ
1) Fumiyo Yoshida 13.24m 2.2m/s
2) Waka Maeda 13.05m 1.1m/s
3) Aya Honda 12.88m 0.5m/s
SP
1) Yoko Toyonaga 15.79m
2) Reina Hiruta 14.95m
3) Yukiko Shirai 14.92m
DT
1) Yuka Murofushi 53.64m
2) Ai Shikimoto 51.51m
3) Ayaka Honda 49.19m
HT
1) Yuka Murofushi 63.50m
2) Masumi Aya 62.96m
3) Mika Takekawa 59.27m
JT
1) Yuki Ebihara 59.01m
2) Emika Yoshida 56.46m
3) Risa Miyashita 53.76m
It was the first time the national championships, which doubled as the selection meet for the upcoming Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, were held in the island of Shikoku.
Kensuke Takezawa took his first national title when he outkicked eight runners in the final lap to win the men’s 10,000m on the first day of the championships. On the other hand, Kayoko Fukushi led from start to finish to win the women’s 10,000m with 31:47.56. It was her sixth title over the distance. In the final day of the championships she also won the 5000m, although Ann Karindi of Kenya, a guest runner crossed the finish line first. Ryoko Kizaki finished second in both 5000m and 10,000m, while Yukiko Akaba finished third in both races. Yuka Murofushi, younger sister of Koji, won the women’s Hammer Throw for the fifth time with 63.50m. On the final day of the championships, she won the women’s DT for the 11th time.
The second day of the championships was not kind to many of the defending champions. The defending champion Shinji Takahira was only third in the men’s 200m in a race won by Kenji Fujimitsu with 20.38, a personal best. Daichi Sawano no-heighted in the men’s PV. Sawano came into the competition at 5.50m, the height cleared by Takafumi Suzuki in his first attempt and Hiroki Sasase in the second attempt. Thus Suzuki won while Sasase was second. Sawano was not able to clear the height and thus his winning streak at the National Championships came to an end at four. Yuichiro Ueno, defending champion at both 1500m and 5000m finished third at 1500m. A day later he finished 11th in 5000m.
Asami Chiba (formerly Tanno) also failed to defend her title at the women’s 400m. Chisato Tanaka won the race in a slow 54.46, thus ending the Chiba’s winning streak at three. As it turned out both Chiba and Takahira were behind in their training due to earlier injury problems. Yoshitaka Iwamizu, the defending champion chose not to contest 3000mSC this year, because he is preparing for his marathon debut. In his absence Takeshi Takeda won the competition. Actually he crossed the finish line in second place, but because Masatoshi Kikuchi, who crossed the finish line in 8:47.07, was disqualified Takeda was promoted to first. Kikuchi interfered with Takeda in the final home-straight.
Some defending champions were successful, however. Both Mika Yoshikawa at the women’s 1500m and Minori Hayakari at the women’s 3000mSC won the national title for the fifth time. It should be noted that Hayakari won every women’s 3000mSC contested since its inauguration. In the field events, Fumiyo Yoshida won the women’s Triple Jump while Yuki Ebihara won the women’s Javelin Throw.
On the men’s side, Kenji Narisako won the men’s 400m Hurdles. “Because Tamesue is not running this year, I must be the leader in this event,” said Narisako after the race. The winning time was slow 49.01, but Narisako’s preparation for the championships was far from perfect due to earlier injury problems.
Koji Murofushi threw 77.35m in his third throw to win the men’s Hammer Throw, thus extended his winning streak at the national championships to 16, the record in any event in the nationals. “Perhaps I could have thrown little further, but I will leave it to the next opportunity,” Murofushi said.
There was much anticipation for another national record in the women’s 100m, for Chisato Fukushima recently improved the national record to 11.21. Fukushima did win the race, from Momoko Takahashi but her winning time was only 11.30.
“The time was little disappointing, but I would like to see how my 11.30 translates to 200m tomorrow,” she said. A day later, their rivalry resumed at 200m. Fukushima started fast to take a commanding lead coming into the home straight. However, Takahashi worked her way back and moved ahead just before the finish. Takahashi won by one-hundredth of the second with 23.56. “She was so far ahead at the beginning, I thought, but my goal was to concentrate on running my own race. I thought the race would be decided in the final phase,” Takahashi said.
On the third day of the nchampionships, the defending champion won the men’s 100m, 400m and 800m. Masashi Eriguchi won the title of fastest Japanese from Naoki Tsukahara. “This year, I was only thinking about winning, so I am happy to win the race. My goal for the season is to win the Asian Games,” said Eriguchi.
Yuzo Kanemaru, a former high school sensation, won the men’s 400m for sixth consecutive time. Kanemaru’s first national title was won when he was still a high school student. “I felt the wind at the start, so I concentrated on winning today. With every victory, the pressure is mounting. I make sure I will not lose the title,” Kanemaru said. The national record holder Masato Yokota won the 800m.
Martin Mathathi of Kenya crossed the finish line first at men’s 5000m, but since he was a guest runner, the national championships went to Yuki Matsuoka, who held off Tomoya Onishi and the late charge by Kensuke Takezawa, the 10,000m champion.
In the 100m Hurdles, there was much anticipation for Asuka Terada, the national junior record holder, to break the national record. However, the wind did not cooperate. Terada won the race with 13.32 against the strong head wind of 2.0m/s. “I was running well in heat and semi-final, so I was hoping for a personal best in the final. My start was not very good, but the final phase of the race was quite good. My goal for the year is to challenge the 13 seconds barrier,” she said.
Kumiko Imura won the women’s Long Jump from the defending champion Sachiko Masumi. “It was technically a good jump despite the head wind. My goal for the year is to defend the Asian Game title,” said Imura (formerly Ikeda), who improved from 5.99m in the first round to 6.12m, 6.22m and then to 6.31m in the fifth round.
Yukifumi Murakami, the World bronze medalist in the Javelin Throw last year, won his specialty for the 11th time at the nationals, the second most titles after Murofushi’s 16 titles. His best throw of 80.60m, his first 80m throw in the national championships, was recorded in the sixth round.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Leading Results:
Men
100m 0.0m/s
1) Masashi Eriguchi 10.26
2) Naoki Tsukahara 10.45
3) Hirotaka Taguchi 10.47
200m 1.2m/s
1) Kenji Fujimitsu 20.38
2) Mitsuhiro Abiko 20.74
3) Shinji Takahira 20.80
400m
1) Yuzo Kanemaru 45.56
2) Yusuke Ishitsuka 46.03
3) Hideyuki Hirose 46.05
800m
1) Masato Yokota 1:47.25
2) Ryosuke Awazu 1:48.88
3) Yasuhiro Makino 1:50.16
1500m
1) Yasunori Murakami 3:45.76
2) Masahiro Takaya 3:45.81
3) Yuichiro Ueno 3:46.15
5000m
1) Yuki Matsuoka 13:40.11
2) Tomoya Onishi 13:40.52
3) Kensuke Takezawa 13:41.73
4) Yuki Sato 13:42.63
Guests Martin Mathathi (KEN) 13:16.91
Bitan Koroki (KEN) 13:23.85
10000m
1) Kensuke Takezawa 28:43.08
2) Satoru Kitamura 28:44.16
3) Yuki Sato 28:44.59
110mH 1.8m/s
1) Tasuku Tanonaka 13.58
2) Yuto Aoki 13.66
3) Yutaro Furukawa 13.72
400mH
1) Kenji Narisako 49.01
2) Naohiro Kawakita 49.63
3) Takayuki Koike 49.76
3000mSC
1) Tsuyoshi Takeda 8:47.61
2) Jun Shinotou 8:50.02
3) Hiroyoshi Umegae 8:50.93
HJ
1) Hiromi Takahari 2.21m
2) Saotru Kubota 2.18m
3) Naoyuki Daigo 2.18m
PV
1) Takafumi Suzuki 5.50m
2) Hiroki Sasase 5.50m
3) Yuya Ariake 5.30m
NH Daichi Sawano (came in at 5.50m)
LJ
1) Yohei Sugai 8.10m 1.8m/s
2) Rikiya Saruyama 7.87m 1.2m/s
3) Naohiro Shinada 7.83m 0.0m/s
TJ
1) Yoshihiro Suzuki 16.17m 0.8m/s
2) Yohei Kajiwara 16.09m 1.0m/s
3) Takayuki Tsunoyama 15.96m 0.0m/s
SP
1) Satoshi Hatase 17.96m
2) Yohei Murakawa 17.92m
3) Sotaro Yamada 17.88m
DT
1) Shigeo Hatakeyama 58.90m
2) Yuji Tsusumi 55.75m
3) Kazumasa Yomogida 54.21m
HT
1) Koji Murofushi 77.35m
2) Hiroaki Doi 71.33m
3) Hiroshi Noguchi 67.88m
JT
1) Yukifumi Murakami 80.60m
2) Nobuhiro Sato 76.49m
3) Genki Dean 74.06m
Women
100m 0.9m/s
1) Chisato Fukushima 11.30
2) Momoko Takahashi 11.39
3) Mayumi Watanabe 11.66
200m
1) Momoko Takahashi 23.56
2) Chisato Fukushima 23.57
3) Saori Imai 24.15
400m
1) Chisato Tanaka 54.46
2) Sayaka Aoiki 54.56
3) Asahi Chiba (formerly Tanno) 54.64
800m
1) Akari Kishikawa 2:05.22
2) Ruriko Kubo 2:06.47
3) Ayako Jinnnouchi 2:07.60
1500m
1) Mika Yoshikawa 4:18.68
2) Saori Yamashita 4:19.91
3) Yukari Nomura 4:20.98
5000m
1) Kayoko Fukushi 15:29.80
2) Ryoko Kizaki 15:41.40
3) Yukiko Akaba 15:41.96
4) Yurika Nakamura 15:46.19
5) Mari Ozaki 15:49.97
Guest Ann Karindi (KEN) 15:15.46
10000m
1) Kayoko Fukushi 31:47.56
2) Ryoko Kizaki 32:31.64
3) Yukiko Akaba 32:36.32
100mH -2.0
1) Asuka Terada 13.32
2) Rena Jyoshita 13.57
3) Mami Ishino 13.58
400mH
1) Satomi Kubokura 55.83
2) Miyabi Tago 56.31
3) Sayaka Aoki 56.90
3000mSC
1) Minori Hayakari 9:56.25
2) Yoshika Arai 10:04.37
3) Mai Hashimoto 10:13.37
HJ
1) Kiyoka Fujisawa 1.77m
2) Ayumi Mori 1.77m
3) Yuki Mimura 1.74m
PV
1) Tomomi Abiko 4.25m
2) Takayo Kondo 4.20m
3) Mami Nakano 4.10m
4) Ikuko Nishikori 4.00m
LJ
1) Kumiko Imura 6.31m -1.4m/s
2) Sachiko Masumi 6.23m -0.8m/s
3) Hanako Kotake 5.99m 0.4m/s
TJ
1) Fumiyo Yoshida 13.24m 2.2m/s
2) Waka Maeda 13.05m 1.1m/s
3) Aya Honda 12.88m 0.5m/s
SP
1) Yoko Toyonaga 15.79m
2) Reina Hiruta 14.95m
3) Yukiko Shirai 14.92m
DT
1) Yuka Murofushi 53.64m
2) Ai Shikimoto 51.51m
3) Ayaka Honda 49.19m
HT
1) Yuka Murofushi 63.50m
2) Masumi Aya 62.96m
3) Mika Takekawa 59.27m
JT
1) Yuki Ebihara 59.01m
2) Emika Yoshida 56.46m
3) Risa Miyashita 53.76m