Skip to main content

Yoko Shibui Sets 5000 m and 10000 m Meet Records and Earns 5000 m Olympic B-Standard (updated)

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/top/sp200805/sp2008051808.html
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/olympic/2008/news/track/long/news/20080518-OYT1T00443.htm?from=nwla

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Translator`s note: I had previously posted the article about Shibui`s 10000 m performance but just came across the news of her impressive double in the next day`s 5000 m. Shibui is only the second Japanese woman to qualify for the 5000 m in Beijing, raising the possibility that she will double in the Olympics.

On the first day of the East Japan Jitsugyodan Track and Field Championships, held May 17th and 18th at Kumagaya Sports Park`s Track and Field Grounds, women`s 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui (29, Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) ran a new meet record of 31:21.92 to break the Beijing Olympics A-standard (31:45.00) for the second time.

On the second day of the meet, Shibui ran 15:20.13 to set another meet record in the women`s 5000 m. Her time also met the Olympic B-standard (15:24.00). It was Shibui`s second straight and third-ever victory in the 5000 m at this meet and together with the 10000 m made for a successful double.

19 year old Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) set a meet record in the women`s 200 m with her winning time of 23.60, while Shinji Takahira (Team Fujitsu) also set a men`s 200 m meet record of 20.62. 400 m national record holder Asami Tanno (Team Natureal) won by a margin of only 0.04 seconds. In the men`s 110 m hurdles, Yuji Ohashi (24, Team Mizuno) scored his first-ever victory at the East Japan meet by running 13.44 (adjusted for tailwind). Naoyuki Daigo won the men`s high jump for the fourth year in a row, clearing a height of 2 m 15 cm.

Translator`s note: Shibui is the national record holder in the 10000 m. Her previous 10000 m A-standard performance was three weeks ago at the Hyogo Relay Carnival. Her time in East Japan was 2.19 seconds slower than in Hyogo. In the men`s 10000 m, world-leaders Josephat Ndambiri and Gideon Ngatuny, who finished 1-2 in Hyogo, were again 1-2, this time in 27:38.13 and 27:39.27 respectively.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

  In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el