EN
First Day for Japan - Photo: Brett Larner
Japanese Athletes in Action on Tokyo World Championships Day 1 – Brett Larner – Japan Running News
Saturday is the first day of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships. A quick guide to Japanese athletes in action in the morning and evening sessions:
8:00 – Women’s 35 km Race Walk
Yukiko Umeno (Juntendo Univ.) – 2:46:53 – 1st, Nationals
Masumi Fuchise (Kenso) – 2:52:38 – 3rd, Nationals
Maika Yagi (Chiba Kogyo Ginko) – 2:56:18 – 4th, Nationals
Prognosis: Umeno is 16th in the field on season best and 20th in the Road to Tokyo rankings. Top 8 is a stretch.
8:00 – Men’s 35 km Race Walk
Masatora Kawano (Asahi Kasei) – 2:21:47 – 1st, Nationals 2024
Satoshi Maruo (Aichi Seiko) – 2:24:24 – 2nd, Nationals
Hayato Katsuki (SDF Academy) – 2:24:38 – 1st, Nationals
Prognosis: One of Japan’s best chances to score a medal and rack up top 8 placings at this World Championships. Kawano is ranked #2 behind the legend Evan Dunfee of Canada, Katsuki has the 4th-best SB, and Maruo is ranked #5.
9:00 / 10:55 – Women’s Discus Throw Qualification
Nanaka Kori (Niigata Albirex) – 59.41 m – 1st, Nationals
Prognosis: The NR holder, Kori has been struggling recently and is the bottom-ranked athlete in the field with only a 59.08 SB. Even her 60.72 m NR is the weakest PB in the field. The qualification round is as far as she’ll go.
11:55 – Mixed 4×400 m Relay Heats
Arie Aoki (Nittai Univ.) – 51.71 – 3rd, Nationals
Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) – 52.14 – 4th, Nationals
Abigail Fuuka Ido (Toho Ginko) – 22.79 (+1.0) – 1st, Nationals
Shinya Hayashi (Tsukuba Univ.) – 45.65 – 6th, Nationals
Sorato Shimizu (Seiryo H.S.) – 10.00 (+1.7) – 4th, SF#, Nationals
Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) – 10.00 (+0.3) – DQ, Nationals
Prognosis: Fair enough selection for the women’s half of the team, where Arie Flores is competing under her new last name following her nationality transfer this summer, but the men will feature at least one 100 m specialist who’s run 10.00. Expect that to be high schooler Shimizu, and don’t expect to see them make the final.
18:05 – Men’s 3000 m Steeplechase Heats
Ryuji Miura (Subaru) – 8:03.43 – DNS, Nationals
Prognosis: Medal contender.
18:30 – Women’s Long Jump Qualification
Sumire Hata (Sumitomo Denko) – 6.47 m (-0.7) – 3rd, Nationals
Prognosis: NR holder Hata has seen better days, and this time around she’s in the same boat as Kori in the discus throw, ranked at the bottom of the field on SB. She might make the final is she’s somehow back near her 6.97 m NR, but there’s no real chance that happens.
19:50 – Women’s 1500 m Heats
Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) – 3:59.69 – 1st, Nationals
Tomoka Kimura (Sekisui Kagaku) – 4:09.88 – 2nd, Nationals
Prognosis: Tanaka seems to be focusing more on the 5000 m this season, but she did go under 4 again last summer. Based on this season it doesn’t look likely she’ll make the final, but her chances for the semi-finals at least are decent. Kimura has gotten just under 4:10 and is ranked 6th from last in the field, so this is probably as far as she goes.
20:35 – Men’s 100 m Heats
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Toray) – 9.96 (+0.5) – 4th, Heat 7, Nationals
Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) – 9.99 (+1.5) – 1st, Nationals
Yuhi Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) – 10.00 (+1.3) – 7th, Nationals
Prognosis: Sani Brown hasn’t broken 10.30 this year while a lot of other people have been coming up fast. Kiryu and Mori have decent chances of going on to the semis, but Sani Brown needs to have a big return to form here to justify his selection over people like Yanagita and Shimizu.
21:30 – Women’s 10000 m Final
Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) – 30:56.32 – 1st, Nationals
Mikuni Yada (Edion) – 31:12.21 – 2nd, Nationals
Prognosis: Hironaka is ranked 10th and Yada 14th on SB, but 4 Ethiopians in the field who’ve broken 30 minutes before haven’t run a 10000 m this year. Top 8 would be a great day for either Japanese woman.
(22:20) – Mixed 4×400 m Final
Prognosis: Probably no Japanese team here.
text and photo © 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Brett Larner – Japan Running News
