Asami Tanno of Japan (© Rikujyo Kyogi Magazine)
The Japanese Junior Championships were held in the Universiade Stadium in Kobe, the site of 1985 World University Games. The annual championships have special meaning this year as the selection of the Japanese team for the upcoming IAAF World Junior Championships is largely determined from the results of these championships.
Two national junior records were set – in the men’s Hammer Throw and Decathlon. In addition, a national high school record was set in the women’s hammer throw. Akira Endo, who leads the junior performance list this season, won the men’s Hammer. In the process he improved the national junior record (with 6Kg hammer) to 65.36m, improving the previous record, 65.15m, set by Nobuhiko Sugimura in the 2003 national junior championships.
In the Decathlon, Daisuke Ikeda, one of the most promising all-round athletes, set a national junior record of 7145 points, improving the record of 7076, which was set by Akira Kano in the 2002 Asian Junior Championships.
Ikeda, who was 14th in the Octathlon at the 2003 World Youth Championships, made his Decathlon debut in November 2003, scoring 6714 points. He improved his score to 6862 in May, which was second highest score by a high school student. At the time Ikeda said, “My goal was to score 7000 points, which would qualify me for the national senior championship.” It was not to be, but last weekend he has reached his other goal, that of setting the high school decathlon record.
Miki Yamashiro, best high school Hammer and Discus thrower in the nation, won the women’s hammer throw with a national high school record of 52.95m, thus improving her own high school record 52.94m, which was set in April. She thus made an improvement of over two metres on the previous record of 50.78m.
Eight athletes successfully defended the title they won last year. These include Yoshihiro Shimodaira in the 800m, Yuki Imai in the Long Jump, Koki Imoto in the Shot Put, Kazunori Onitsuka in the Javelin Throw, Saori Kitakaze in the women’s 100m, Asami Tanno in the women’s 400m, Yayoi Minamino in the women’s Pole Vault, and Chiharu Yamamoto in the women’s Triple Jump.
Yuki Imai won the Long Jump at the national junior championships for the third year in a row. Imai is also the reigning national inter-high school champion at Long Jump, having defeated the 2003 World Youth Champion Naohiro Shinada in the epic competition (after Shinada took the lead in the fifth round with 7.69m, Imai jumped 7.70m in the sixth round) last August.
The 2000 national junior high school and 2003 national inter-high school champion at 100m, Saori Kitakaze dominated the women’s 100m as expected. She led from wire to wire to win the national junior championships for the second consecutive year. “Her biomechanic made dramatic improvement this year,” says her coach. “Whereas she took 60 steps last year, she can now cover 100m in 57 steps.”
The reigning national champion and national record holder Asami Tanno led from start to finish to win the women’s 400m by 1.88 seconds. Tanno is on a roll since last season. Last summer Tanno, won the national junior championships at 400m and then followed it up with the double victory at both the 200m and 400m in the national inter-high school championships. This year, Tanno started off the indoor season auspiciously by setting a national junior indoor record at 200m. After winning the national championships at 400m, Tanno recorded 52.88 in the Asian Junior Championships in Malaysia. It was not only the national junior record, but also the national 400m record.
Yayoi Minamino won the women’s Pole Vault as expected. However, having missed badly twice at 3.80m, she barely cleared it on her third attempt. For Minamino who has recorded 4.10m this season, 3.80m should have been a routine height. If Minamino wants to do well in the World Junior Championships she needs to recapture the earlier form soon.
In the women’s 5000m, Chiaki Iwamoto who won the national junior title two years ago defeated the defending national junior champion Yuko Nohara. Iwamoto set steady even pace, passing 1000m in 3:09, and 2000m in 6:17. By 2400m she started to breake away from the lead pack. Yuko Nohara, World Youth bronze medallist, started to chase Iwamoto and caught up with her by 3000m (9:26). However, Nohara was left behind again by 3600m. Although Nohara once again starting to close the gap on Iwamoto, at the end Iwamoto won by almost a second in the championships record,15:43.17.
A year after 2003 World Youth Championships, Hikaru Tsuchiya, Go Tanabe and Azusa Ichiki made great stride against the older competitions. Hikaru Tsuchiya, 2003 World Youth bronze medallist in the High Jump, won the national junior championships by 12cm with 2.15m. He drew big applause from the stand. Go Tanabe, who was 4th at 400m Hurdles in the 2003 World Youth Championships won his specialty by taking the lead at the 8th hurdle. Although Teppei Suzuki, double 2003 national inter-high school champion at both 400m and 400m Hurdles, tried to close the gap, he fell short by 0.31 seconds. In the women 100m Hurdles Azusa Ichiki, who failed to make the final in Sherbrooke last year, was in the lead by the 5th hurdle. She continued to increase her lead for the rest of the race and won by 1/4 seconds.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
assisted by Akihiro Onishi
The report is dedicated to the memory of Masahiro Hatta, former editor in chief of Track & Field Magazine of Japan, who was instrumental in promoting junior athletics in Japan.
Highlight of Results:
Men
100m -0.4m/s
1) Shinya Saburi 10.74
2) Naoki Tsukahara 10.75
200m 0.4m/s
1) Yuzo Kanemaru 21.21
2) Hiroyuki Noda 21.26
3) Naoki Tsukahra 21.47
400m
1) Yudai Sasaki 47.17
2) Kazunori Ota 47.25
800m
1) Yoshihiro Shimodaira 1:51.10
2) Takanori Matsumoto 1:51.46
1500m
1) Kazuya Takahashi 3:49.22
2) Hidehito Tanamine 3:51.61
5000m
1) Yuki Sato 14:14.63
2) Hidekazu Sato 14:14.92
3) Satoru Kitamura 14:17.24
110mH -2.0m/s
1) Tomoki Nakamura 14.38
2) Hironori Katayama 14.49
400mH
1) Go Tanabe 51.43
2) Teppei Suzuki 51.74
3000mSC
1) Shinya Morimune 8:56.72
2) Tsukasa Kawarai 8:58.58
10000mW
1) Kazuya Kaitani 45:32.98
2) Shoichi Tanoue 46:55.33
HJ
1) Hikaru Tsuchiya 2.15m
2) Taishi Otani 2.03m
PV
1) Naoya Kawaguchi 5.10m
2) Masato Hodotsuka 5.00m
LJ
1) Yuki Imai 7.58m 0.1m/s
2) Shotaro Nakai 7.41m 2.0m/s
TJ
1) Shinya Sogame 15.28m -0.6m/s
2) Kota Sakuma 15.22m -0.1m/s
SP 6Kg
1) Koki Imoto 17.25m
2) Akira Nakayama 16.24m
DT 1.75Kg
1) Daisuke Ochi 48.55m
2) Kazumasa Yomogida 47.41m
HT 6Kg
1) Akira Endo 65.36m National Jr rec
2) Masatoshi Morimoto 62.14m
JT
1) Kazunori Onitsuka 68.60m
2) Tsubasa Imamiya 66.65m
Decathlon
1) Daisuke Ikeda 7145 National junior rec
2) Tadahiro Hiramatsu 6487
Women
100m 0.3m/s
1) Saori Kitakaze 12.05
2) Momoko Takahashi 12.12
200m -0.4m/s
1) Saori Mabuchi 24.68
2) Azusa Watanabe 24.86
400m
1) Asami Tanno 54.11
2) Mako Suzuki 55.99
800m
1) Ayako Jinnouchi 2:06.21
2) Yuriko Kobayashi 2:08.28
1500m
1) Ayako Uchino 4:18.16
2) Tomomi Yuda 4:19.59
5000m
1) Chiaki Iwamoto 15:43.17
2) Yuko Nohara 15:44.14
3) Kazue Kojima 15:59.49
100mH -0.0m/s
1) Azusa Ichiki 13.87
2) Yuko Banno 14.12
400mH
1) Miki Sawada 59.29
2) Tomomi Yagihara 61.08
10000mW
1) Masumi Fuchise 49.14.01
2) Kumi Otoshi 50.14.03
HJ
1) Misa Yamaguchi 1.76m
2) Maiko Wakasugi 1.73m
PV
1) Yayoi Minamino 3.80m
2) Megumi Nakata 3.70m
LJ
1) Yukari Nakahara 6.02m 0.2m/s
2) Yuko Nakamura 5.90m 0.2m/s
TJ
1) Chiharu Yamamoto 12.33m 0.0m/s
2) Emi Katayama 12.06m 1.9m/s
SP
1) Izumi Yoshida 14.21m
2) Kaoru Yamanobe 13.84m
DT
1) Eriko Ogata 45.40m
2) Manami Hayashida 44.04m
HT
1) Miki Yamashiro 52.95m National High School record
2) Risa Fukushima 43.81m
JT
1) Yuki Ebihara 50.78m
2) Ayako Yamazaki 50.36m
3) Emika Yoshida 49.95m
Heptathlon
1) Chinami Yasuda 5146
2) Asayo Tomiyama 4772
