Nobuharu Asahara (JPN) in the opening round of the 100m (© Getty Images)
The sprints and distances provided the key highlights at the 42nd annual Mikio Oda Memorial International Meeting 29 April, in Hiroshima.
The meet was held in Hiroshima on a national holiday, is the hometown of the 1928 Olympic Triple Jump champion for whom it’s named. The venue of the meet is the Big Arch, the site of 1994 Asian Games.
The men’s 100m was won by Australian Patrick Johnson of Australia with a wind assisted time of 10.18. The best Japanese in the field, with the personal best of 10.02, was Nobuharu Asahara. He ran 10.17 in heat one, thus clearing the Olympic “A” standard. However, he decided not to run the final because of a slight fever from cold. Thus the first Japanese in the final was Shinji Takahira, who finished second with 10.20.
Chisato Fukushima ran 11.36 in the women’s 100m, thus tying the national record (held by Hideko Nihei from 2001) and clearing the Olympic “B” standard. It was second personal best of the day for Fukushima, having recorded a personal best of 11.53 in her heat. Finishing second in the final with a personal best of 11.42, also clearing the “B” standard was Saori Kitakaze, the 2000 national junior high school, 2003 national high school and 2006 national collegiate champion.
Disaster hit Kumiko Ikeda in the women’s 100m Hurdles. While in commanding lead, she fell at the eighth hurdle and failed to finish. However, because the seventh hurdle was misplaced by 48cm, after the protest from Ikeda, the race was re-run a few hours later. She won the rerun race in 13.36.
The men’s 110m Hurdles were won by Ji Wei of China in 13.49. The best Japanese hurdler, Masato Naito hit the tenth hurdle and finished disappointing sixth with 13.78. In his website Naito analyzed the race: “I hit the hurdle in both the heat and the final. It was a terrible race. The reason was because I am short on hurdle training. I could not train due to injury after Valencia.”
The men’s 5000m, as expected, was dominated by Africans. Kenyan Nikolas Makau, who won the Asics Challenge 10,000m race in Kobe three days ago, won the 5000m in 13:32.21, while Kenyan Bedan Karoki of Sera high school, who led most of the race, was second with 13:33.24. They were followed by Hailu Mekonen of Honda and Ethiopia with 13:37.06. The first Japanese in the race was Kazuyoshi Tokumoto in seventh.
The women’s 5000m was also won by a Kenyan, but the Japanese women fared better than the men. Pauline Wanguru of Kyudenko and Kenya won in 15:23.51, while another Kenyan, Felista Wanjuku of Aomori Yamada high school, was second with 15:23.69. The first Japanese in the race was Yukiko Akaba, who finished fourth at 10,000m in Hyogo Relays. She was third in the Oda 5000m with 15:24.45.
Five national record holders won their specialty. On the men’s side, Fumikazu Kobayashi won the men’s 1500m with 3:46.31, while Satoshi Hatase won the Shot Put with 18.11m. On the women’s side Miho Sato (formerly Sugimori, who changed her name after marrying Atsushi Sato, the Olympic marathon runner, last year) won the 800m in 2:06.76, while Takayo Kondo won the Pole Vault with a 4.20m leap.
It was a mixed fortune day for Yuka Murofushi, the national record holder at both the women’s Discus and Hammer throws. After winning the hammer with a 64.39m effort, she finished third in the Discus Throw four hours later with a 54.21m throw. Li Yanfeng of China won the women’s diuscus with 63.67m, while her teammate Ma Xuejun finished second with 58.19m.
It was not a good day for Minori Hayakari, the national record holder in the 3000m Steeplechase. She led the race in its early stage, but at the end she was passed by Chisa Nishio (10:05.43) and Miho Nasukawa, who finished first and second, respectively.
Ken Nakamura assisted by Tatsuya Yamada in Hiroshima for the IAAF
Selected Results:
MEN -
100m
race A 2.7m/s
1) Patrick Johnson (AUS) 10.18
2) Shinji Takahira 10.20
3) Liu Yuan-Kai (TPE) 10.32
Heat 1 0.6m/s
1) Nobuharu Asahara 10.17
2) Tomoyuki Arai 10.48
Heat 2 2.0m/s
1) Patrick Johnson 10.29
2) Kazuyoshi Hidaka 10.38
Heat 3 0.8m/s
1) Shinji Takahira 10.29
2) Shigeyuki Kojima 10.36
race B 2.4m/s
1) Shintaro Kimura 10.36
1500m
1) Fumikazu Kobayashi 3:46.31
2) Yasunori Murakami 3:46:57
5000m
race A
1) Nicholas Makau (KEN) 13:32.21
2) Bedan Karoki (KEN) 13:33.24
3) Hailu Mekonen (ETH) 13:37.06
4) Hilary Chenonge (KEN) 13:49.55
5) Davis Kabiru (KEN) 13:50.52
6) Kazuyoshi Tokumoto 13:52.30
1000m 2:42.7 Bedan Karoki
2000m 5:26.3 Karoki
3000m 8:11.6 Karoki
4000m 10:54.3 Karoki
race B
1) Hironori Arai 14:06.63
2) Takeshi Arisumi 14:08.57
110mH 1.6m/s
1) Ji Wei (CHN) 13.49
2) Tasuku Tanonaka 13.62
3) Justin Merlinno (AUS) 13.64
TJ
1) Li Yanxi (CHN) 16.96m (0.3 m/s)
2) Nobuaki Fujibayashi 16.30m (-0.4m/s)
SP
1) Satoshi Hatase 18.11m
2) Yohei Murakawa 17.79m
HT
1) Hiroaki Doi 71.51m
WOMEN -
100m
race A 1.7m/s
1) Chisato Fukushima 11.36 = NR
2) Saori Kitakaze 11.42
3) Tomoko Ishida 11.48
Heat 1 1.3m/s
1) Saori Kitakaze 11.51
Heat 2 0.2m/s
1) Momoko Takahashi 11.84
Heat 3 0.7m/s
1) Chisato Fukushima 11.53
race B 1.5m/s
1) Megumi Shimizu 11.74
800m
1) Miho Sato 2:06.76
2) Miki Nishimura 2:07.11
Splits: 400m 62.5 Sato
5000m
1) Pauline Kiragu Wanguru (KEN) 15:23.51
2) Felista Wanjuku (KEN) 15:23.69
3) Yukiko Akaba 15.24.45
4) Aya Manome 15:28.76
5) Winfrieda Kebaso (KEN) 15:36.23
6) Hitomi Niiya 15:36.50
7) Kazue Kojima 15:36.93
8) Mari Ozaki 15:38.97
Splits:
1000m 3:05.8 Akaba
2000m 6:14.3 Winfrieda Kebaso
3000m 9:18.5 Felista Wanjuku
4000m 12:27.1 Wanjuku
100mH
1) Kumiko Ikeda 13.36
2) Asuka Terada 13.46
3000mSC
1) Chisa Nishio 10:05.43
2) Mizuho Nasukawa 10:06.07
3) Minori Hayakari 10:11.47
1000m 3:13.4 Hayakari
2000m 6:40.5 Hayakari
PV
1) Takayo Kondo 4.20m
2) Ikuko Nishikori 4.10m
TJ
1) Fumiyo Yoshida 13.30m (4.1m/s)
2) Ryoko Misawa 12.77m (1.1m/s)
DT
1) Li Yanfeng (CHN) 63.67m
2) Ma Xuejun (CHN) 58.19m
3) Yuka Murofushi 54.21m
HT
1) Yuka Murofushi 64.39m
2) Masumi Aya 63.64m
