Moscow World Championships – Day Two Japanese Results – by Brett Larner – Japan Running News

National champion Hitomi Niiya (Team Universal Entertainment) ran exactly the race prefigured by her win at June's National Championships and in last year's London Olympics, going out right behind early rabbit Shalane Flanagan (U.S.A.) in the Moscow World Championships 10000 m, taking the lead after 3000 m and setting the pace all the way to the last lap before finishing 5th in a PB 30:56.70.

 In a tearful post-race interview she said, "There's no reason to be at Worlds if you can't medal," but her fearlessness in setting her own pace and her improvement of her standing as all-time third-fastest Japanese for the second time at a major international championships did credit to both her and her coach Yoshio Koide.  Kyushu-based Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) also turned in a PB performance, taking 7th in 31:22.11.

In other events, 400 m national champion Yuzo Kanemaru (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) finished last in his qualifying heat but still slipped through to the semi-finals on time in 46.18.  Race walker Takumi Saito  (Toyo University) took 6th in the men's 20 km in 1:22:09, with his teammate Yusuke Suzuki (Team Fujitsu) not far back in 12th in 1:23:20.

Decathlon national champion Keisuke Ushiro (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) improved on his standing from the first day of competition, ending up in 22nd overall.

Moscow World Championships – Day Two
Moscow, 8/11/13
click here for complete results

Women's 10000 m
1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) – 30:43.35
2. Gladys Cherono (Kenya) – 30:45.17
3. Belaynesh Oljira (Ethiopia) – 30:46.98
4. Emily Chebet (Kenya) – 30:47.02 – PB
5. Hitomi Niiya (Japan) – 30:56.70 – PB
6. Shitaye Eshete (Bahrain) – 31:13.79
7. Sally Chepyego (Kenya) – 31:22.11 – PB
8. Shalane Flanagan (U.S.A.) – 31:34.83
9. Ababel Yeshaneh (Ethiopia) – 32:02.09
10. Christele Daunay (France) – 32:04.44

Men's 20 km Race Walk
1. Aleksandr Ivanov (Russia) – 1:20:58 – PB
2. Ding Chen (China) – 1:21:09
3. Miguel Angel Lopez (Spain) – 1:21:21
4. Joao Vieira (Portugal) – 1:22:05
5. Denis Strelkov (Russia) – 1:22:06
6. Takumi Saito (Japan) – 1:22:09
7. Ruslan Dmytrenko (Ukraine) – 1:22:14
8. Inaki Gomez (Canada) – 1:22:21
9. Christopher Linke (Germany) – 1:22:36
10. Hyunsub Kim (South Korea) – 1:22:50
—–
12. Yusuke Suzuki (Japan) – 1:23:20

Men's Decathlon
1. Ashton Eaton (U.S.A.) – 8809
2. Michael Schrader (Germany) – 8670 – PB
3. Damian Warner (Canada) – 8512 – PB
4. Kevin Mayer (France) – 8446 – PB
5. Eelco Sintnicolaas (Netherlands) – 8391
6. Carlos Chinin (Brazil) – 8388
7. Rico Freimuth (Germany) – 8382 – PB
8. Ilya Shkurenev (Russia) – 8370 – PB
9. Willem Coertzen (South Africa) – 8343 – AR
10. Leonel Suarez (Cuba) – 8317
—–
22. Keisuke Ushiro (Japan) – 7751

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

by Brett Larner – Japan Running News