Yuriko Kobayashi (© Rikujyo Kyogi Magazine)
The Japanese team for the 11th IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, China was announced on 31 July.
The team which consists of 24 men and 16 women was selected based on the performances at the national championships, national junior championships, and the Asian junior championships.
Two athletes, Yuriko Kobayashi in the women’s 1500m and Yuzo Kanemaru in the men’s 400m, stand out among the junior athletes in Japan and they are their best medal hopes in Beijing.
Second at the 2005 World Youth Championships and third at the 2005 Asian Championships both at 1500m, the 2005 national champion Yuriko Kobayashi set the national record of 4:07.87 at 1500m at the World Athletics Tour meeting in Osaka in May. She also finished second (same time as the winner) in this year’s national championships, and was 30th, the best Japanese, at the short course in the 2006 World Cross Country Championships.
The 2005 Asian and national champion Yuzo Kanemaru is the best 400m runner in Japan and possibly in Asia. This year, Kanemaru won the national championships for the second straight year and improved his 400m personal best to 45.41 in Osaka. He also won the inter-collegiate championships as a college freshman.
Four Asian junior champions were selected to run in Beijing. They are Masato Yokota, Akane Ohta, Nami Matsuda and Nao Okabe.
Yokota won the 800m in the national inter-collegiate championships, national championships and the Asian junior championships all in the span of five weeks, while Ohta, who won both the 800m and 1500m in the national junior championships, also won the 1500m in the Asian junior championships. Ohta, a daughter of Yukie (Tazawa) a former national high school record holder at 3000m, was also third at the national championships at 1500m.
Another multiple distance champion is Nami Matsuda who won both the national junior and Asian junior championships at 5000m. Matsuda runs for Sysmex track team, where she is a teammate of the Olympic Marathon champion Mizuki Noguchi.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Men
100m
Shogo Arao 10.48
Daiki Goto 10.52 1st at JPN Junior Championships
Takafumi Kumamoto 10.46 3rd at Asian Junior Championships
200m
Yusuke Ishitsuka 20.79 1st at JPN Junior Championships
Yuichi Kobayashi 21.21 7th at Asian Junior Championships
Mitsuhiro Abiko 21.35
400m
Yuzo Kanemaru 45.41 1st at 2005 Asian Championships
1st at 2005 and 2006 JPN National Championships
Tetsuji Yamamoto 47.44 1st at JPN Junior Championships
800m
Masato Yokota 1:48:42 1st at Asian Junior Championships
1st at JPN National Championships
1500m
Daiki Sato 3:42.58 2nd at Asian Junior Championships
5000m
Kodai Matsumoto 13:54.76
Takahiro Mori 13:51.25
10,00m
Tsuyoshi Ugachi 28:48.30
Yuta Takahashi 30:08:19
3000m Steeplechase
Atsuro Kikuchi 8:45:17 4th at Asian Junior Championships
Tsuyoshi Takeda 8:48.79 5th at Asian Junior Championships
Walk
Yusuke Suzuki 42:43.22 1st at JPN Junior Championships
Hiroyuki Hirano 43:08.74
400m Hurdle
Junya Imai 51.15 3rd at Asian Junior Championships
Long Jump
Hideaki Suzuki 7.87m
Noriyuki Sakurai 7.62m 2nd at Asian Junior Championships
Pole Vault
Hiroki Ogita 5.20m
Takafumi Suzuki 5.21m 2nd at Asian Junior Championships
Javelin Throw
Keita Yamada 73.98m
Women
100m
Chisato Fukushima 11.69
Nao Okabe 11.76 1st at Asian Junior Championships
Megumi Shimizu 11.80
200m
Takarako Nakamura 23.91
800m
Ayako Jinnouchi 2:03:99
1500m
Akane Ohta 4:19.45 1st at Asian Junior Championships
Yuriko Kobayashi 4:07.87 2nd at JPN National Championships
3000m
Sayuri Sendo 9:15.76
Rie Takayoshi 9:16.45
5000m
Rina Yamazaki 15:50.42
Nami Matsuda 15:47.49 1st at Asian Championships
Walk
Fumika Kiryu 48:35.57 3rd at Asian Junior Championships
Hurdle
Aya Miyahara 58.08
Pole Vault
Tomomi Abiko 4.01m
Javelin Throw
Momoko Matsumoto 54.53m 3rd at Asian Junior Championships
