Skip to main content

London Olympics Athletics Day Five - Japanese Results

by Brett Larner

As in the 10000 m, Japanese women did the lion's share of the work in ensuring fast times in both heats of the women's 5000 m.  Ranked well outside the top five of her heat, 5000 m national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) needed a fast race to have a chance at making the final.  She took Heat One out at a solid 3:01 and led the next three km at a steady 3:03/km, but despite going under 3 minutes for the final km she was outkicked over the final lap by the pursuing pack, falling to 8th in a season-best 15:09.31 behind winner Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) who led three under 15 minutes in 14:58.48.

It looked as though Fukushi might have a shot at making the final on time after 5000 m national champion Hitomi Niiya (Team Univ. Ent.) took Heat Two out slightly slower, but despite winner Gelete Burka (Ethiopia) running only 15:01.44 a denser pack meant Fukushi was shut out.  Niiya almost tied Fukushi on time, improving from #10 to #7 on the all-time Japanese list with a 15:10.20 for 10th, but likewise did not advance.  Three spots behind Niiya, 10000 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) ran a PB of 15:16.77.

In the men's 200 m, 2012 national champion Kei Takase (Team Fujitsu) and Beijing Olympics 4x100 m relay bronze medalist Shinji Takahira (Team Fujitsu) finished 2nd and 3rd in their heats to advance to the semi-finals.  2010 World Junior Championships 200 m gold medalist Shota Iizuka (Chuo Univ.) finished only 5th in his heat and did not advance.  Women's javelin national record holder Yuki Ebihara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) also failed to advance out of the qualification round.  In the men's triathlon, despite briefly leading on the bike stage Hirokatsu Tayama could do no better than 20th by the end of the run stage.  His teammate Yuichi Hosoda was only 43rd.

2012 London Olympics Athletics Day Five
London, England, 8/7/12
click here for complete results
click here for triathlon results

Women's 5000 m Heat One
1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 14:58.48 - Q
2. Meseret Defar (Ethiopia) - 14:58.70 - Q
3. Viola Jelagat Kibiwot (Kenya) - 14:59.31 - Q
4. Olga Golovkina (Russia) - 15:05.26 - Q, PB
5. Julie Culley (U.S.A.) - 15:05.38 - Q, PB
6. Tejitu Daba (Bahrain) - 15:05.59 - q, PB
7. Silvia Weissteiner (Italy) - 15:06.81
8. Kayoko Fukushi (Japan) - 15:09.31
9. Barbara Parker (U.K.) - 15:12.81 - PB
10. Fionnuala Britton (Ireland) - 15:12.97 - PB

Women's 5000 m Heat Two
1. Gelete Burka (Ethiopia) - 15:01.44 - Q
2. Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (Kenya) - 15:01.54 - Q
3. Saly Jepkosgei Kipyego (Kenya) - 15:01.87 - Q
4. Julia Bleasdale (U.K.) - 15:02.00 - Q, PB
5. Molly Huddle (U.S.A.) - 15:02.26 - Q
6. Yelena Nagovitsyna (Russia) - 15:02.80 - q, PB
7. Joanne Pavey (U.K.) - 15:02.84 - q
8. Shitaye Eshete (Bahrain) - 15:05.48 - q, PB
9. Elena Romagnolo (Italy) - 15:06.38 - q, PB
10. Hitomi Niiya (Japan) - 15:10.20 - PB
-----
13. Mika Yoshikawa (Japan) - 15:16.77 - PB

Men's 200 m Heat Three
1. Maurice Mitchell (U.S.A.) - 20.54 - Q
2. Christian Malcom (U.K.) - 20.59 - Q
3. Michael Mathieu (Bahamas) - 20.62 - Q
-----
5. Shota Iizuka (Japan) - 20.81

Men's 200 m Heat Six
1. Alex Quinonez (Ecuador) - 20.28 - Q, NR
2. Wallace Spearmon (U.S.A.) - 20.47 - Q
3. Shinji Takahira (Japan) - 20.57 - Q
4. Brendan Christian (Antigua) - 20.63 - q

Men's 200 m Heat Seven
1. Churandy Martina (Netherlands) - 20.58 - Q
2. Kei Takase (Japan) - 20.72 - Q
3. Jared Connaughton (Canada) - 20.72 - Q

Women's Javelin Qualification Round Group B
1. Sunette Viljoen (South Africa) - 65.92 m - Q
2. Huihui Lu (China) - 64.45 m - Q
3. Maria Abakumova (Russia) - 63.25 - Q
-----
8. Yuki Ebihara (Japan) - 59.25 m

Men's Triathlon
1. Alistair Brownlee (U.K.) - 1:46:25
2. Javier Gomez (Spain) - 1:46:36
3. Jonathan Brownlee (U.K.) - 1:46:56
-----
20. Hirokatsu Tayama (Japan) - 1:49:24
43. Yuichi Hosoda (Japan) - 1:51:40
DNF - Simon Whitfield (Canada)

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reseved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr