Nozomi Tanaka at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 (© Getty Images)
Asian champion Nozomi Tanaka leads Japan’s team named for the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 on 1 October.
The multiple national record-holder has been named for both the mile and the 5km, despite there being just 70 minutes between the two disciplines on the competition programme.
Tanaka smashed the Japanese 5000m record to qualify for the World Championships final in Budapest, where she eventually finished eighth. She took another big chunk off that national record in Brussels earlier this month, clocking 14:29.18.
The 24-year-old, who also holds the Japanese records for 1500m (3:59.19) and 3000m (8:40.84), recently tested her form on the roads with a 4:32.0 mile clocking in Dusseldorf.
Asian 1500m silver medallist Yusuke Takahashi and Japanese indoor mile record-holder Ryoji Tatezawa will contest the men’s road mile.
Japan’s hopes in the half marathon, meanwhile, rest with Tomoki Ota, the third-fastest Japanese man in history with a PB of 1:00:08.
Japanese team for Riga
WOMEN
Mile: Nozomi Tanaka
5km: Nozomi Tanaka, Nanami Watanabe
MEN
Mile: Yusuke Takahashi, Ryoji Tatezawa
5km: Kanta Shimizu, Yamato Yoshii
Half marathon: Ryota Kondo, Tomoki Ota
