Yuko Kawakami wins the Olympic qualifying 10,000m
at the Hyogo Relays
K. Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
The Japanese spring track season started with the Gunma relays on April 22. The highlight of the two-day season opener in Maebashi, the city that hosted the 1999 World Indoor Championships, was a new Japanese national record of 16.43m in the women's shot put by Chinatsu Mori. She improved the seven-year-old record held by Aya Suzuki (16.22m). The rapidly improving nineteen year old Mori, who improved her personal best by over a metre said, "My next goal is to throw 17m."
The second meet of the season, the Hyogo relays were held on Sunday April 23 in Kobe, host to the 1985 World University Games. The Japanese AAF designated the 10,000m in the meet as the most important race for selecting the Olympic representatives at that distance.
The situation for selecting the women's Olympic 10,000m team was as follows: Chiemi Takahashi was pre-selected due to the strength of her fifth place finish at the World Championships 10,000m in Sevilla. Harumi Hiroyama, could have accepted pre-selection for the team, but she declined in order to concentrate on the marathon. After her failure to make the Olympic team despite running 2:22:56 at the Osaka Ladies marathon, she has turned her attention back to the track. It was felt that since her fourth place in the World Championships 10,000m, she has a good chance of still making the team. Hiroyama is planning to run the 10,000m at the Mito meet on May 7. Thus it was generally thought that one must win the Hyogo relays 10,000m to make the team.
Two days before the race, Yuko Kawakami, one of the main contenders for the Olympic 10,000m team said, "I have done best possible preparation for the race. I realise that there are only few opportunities to make the team, and I am happy to start the Olympic-qualifying race without any injury problems. I will try to run my best."
The meet was held under sunny sky but the breeze may have been a problem, reported Mitsuyo Wada (formerly Mitsuyo Yoshida), one time world class marathon runner who’s personal best was 2:26.26.
The race started relatively slowly with Miyuki Nishimura in the lead. After passing 5000m in 16:02, Yoko Shibui took over from Nishimura and picked up the pace. Five runners - Yoko Shibui, Yuko Kawakami, Yoshiko Fujinaga, Noriko Matsuoka and Kumiko Takemoto - were left in the lead pack at 7600m. At 8500m, Shibui surged to further break up the lead pack and by 9600m three runners - Shibui, Kawakami and Matsuoka - were still in contention.
Before the race, Kawakami and her coach Hidekuni Hiroshima discussed the race tactics. Considering that her primary aim was to win, their conclusion was, "Don't attack too early, wait until the last 100m." In the past, Kawakami used to attack early in the last lap, but remembering the tactics, Kawakami stayed behind Shibui at 9600m. Finally with 200m to go, Kawakami drew even with Shibui, and coming into the home straight Kawakami started her kick and sprinted away from Yoko Shibui, to win in 31:47.28. Seeing Kawakami's run Mitsuyo Wada said "Her form has improved. Compared to last year, her strides are smoother now."
After the race Kawakami said, "Although the announcement of the team is still a few months away, I have done everything I need do in the race. I am very happy with the result."
A debutante at the distance, Yoshiko Fujinaga, who was third in the junior race of the 1999 World Cross Country Championships, came fifth in 31:58.93.
The men's 10,000m was also an Olympic qualifying race, but the competition for participation in the men’s team is less fierce than for the women, with Toshinari Takaoka already pre-selected for the team.
The main contenders at the Hyogo relays were Katsuhiko Hanada, Yasuyuki Watanabe, and Ken-ichi Takahashi. Hanada was a 1996 Olympian at the 10,000m. His team mate Watanabe was 10,000m bronze medallist at the 1992 World Junior championships. Takahashi was a king of road earlier in the year, having set a national record at the 2000 Tokyo half marathon in January.
Unlike the women's race, foreign runners living in Japan dominated the men’s race, reports Tetsuya Kurihara. As the Kenyans and Jeff Schiebler of Canada took off at the start of the race, only two Japanese went with them.
While most of the Japanese contenders were content to stay behind, Ken-ichi Takahashi and Toshiaki Tezuka were aggressive and stayed with the leaders. Although they fell behind by 3000m, they stayed ahead of the chasing pack for a while. While Tezuka was the caught by the chase pack at 5600m, Takahashi stayed ahead until 9200m.
Kenyan Simon Maina won the race with a season leading time of 27:18.95, while the Japanese fought it out for the coveted top Japanese spot. With two laps to go, four runners - Ken-ichi Takahashi, Katsuhiko Hanada, Koichiro Nagata, and Yoji Yamaguchi - were still in contention. Sadly by this point, Yasuyuki Watanabe and Naoki Mishiro, the World University Games medallist, were out of contention.
At 9700m, Katsuhiko Hanada forged ahead to become the first Japanese home. Afterwards he commented, "It was a hard race, but I was persistent and was able to finish as the top Japanese. I missed the Olympic "A" standard (28:10) in this race, but since I cleared the "A" standard last year (27:54.77, 27:57.32), I think I will be selected for the team."
Koichi Nagata who was fifth (the second Japanese) is a rapidly improving young star. He improved his 5000m best five times during last year from 14:08.09 to 13:32.03. In this race, he improved his 10,000m best by more than a minute. He is very close to the "A" standard in both the 5000m and 10,000m.
M10000m: 1) Simon Maina (KEN) 27:18.95, 2) Jeff Schiebler (CAN) 27:53.85, 3) Laban Kagika (KEN) 28:07.94, 4) Katsuhiko Hanada 28:10.11,5) Koichiro Nagata 28:11.08, 6) Ken-ichi Takahashi 28:13.22, 7) Yoji Yamaguchi 28:14.61, 8) Satoshi Irifune 28:19.10, 9) Nobuyuki Sato 28:24.38
W10000m: 1) Yuko Kawakami 31:47.28, 2) Yoko Shibui 31:48.89, 3) Noriko Matsuoka 31:50.53, 4) Kumiko Takemoto 31:54.46, 5) Yoshiko Fujinaga 31:58.93 (debut), 6) Mari Ozaki 32:07.16, 7) Hiromi Ominami 32:11.64, 8) Yasuko Hashimoto 32:12.56, 9) Reiko Tosa 32:15.63, 10) Mizuki Noguchi 32:21.99, ... 18) Eri Yamaguchi 32:55.36
