14/04/2022   Wajima (JPN): Sunday the 106th edition of the National Championships of Japan (50km) for the first time on 35km






 

 

Wajima, an enchanting seaside town in Japan, is a fundamental mark for race walking of the land of the rising sun.
Here, as in Kobe and Takahata, the most beautiful pages in the history of the Japanese race walking have been written for decades.

And also this year Wajima will host the 106th edition of the National Walking Championship of Japan on Sunday 17 April, which this year will take place for the first time on the new 35km distance.

For those, like us, who have been personally in Wajima it will be like having a gasp at heart to see the race end with the victory of one of the contenders, when the final battle in the 50km really began during past years.

 

After Muscat in Oman it will be the turn of the athletes from Japan to tell us if the 35km is more suited to those who previously competed in the 20km (as happened in Muscat) than to those who instead practiced the longer distance of the 50km.

 

 

35km men

 

There will be 26 athletes at the start. Ten of them come from the longest distance, while the other sixteen have always been an expression of the 20km.

 

The most accredited athletes who come from the 50km are:

- Maruo Satoshi with the following personal best: 50km 3:37:39 (Takahata, 27.10.2019) - 20km 1:19:42 (Nomi, 15.3.2015). Last season in Wajima he had finished in the 50km 3:38:42

- Katsuki Hayato with the following personal best: 50km 3:42:34 (Wajima, 11.4.2021) - 35km 3:03:31 (Muscat, 5.3.2022) - 20km 1:22:24 (Kobe, 17.2.2013)

- Takahashi Kazuki with the following personal best: 50km 3:47:48 (Wajima, 11.4.2021) - 35km 2:39:08 (Muscat, 5.3.2022) - 20km 1:22:26 (Nomi, 17.3.2019)

- Arai Hirooki with the following personal best: 50km 3:40:20 (Wajima, 19.4.2015) - 35km 2:38:22 (Daegu, 3.9.2021) - 20km 1:19:00 (Kobe, 17.2.2019) . Last season in Wajima he had finished in the 50km 3:51:56

- Kawano Masatora with the following personal best: 50km 3:36:45 (Takahata, 27.10.2019) - 35km 2:37:36 (Muscat, 5.3.2022) - 20km 1:17:24 (Nomi, 17.3.2019)

- Noda Tomohiro with the following personal best: 50km 3:39:47 (Takahata, 28.10.2018) - 20km 1:19:00 (Kobe, 17.2.2019). This year in Kobe on 20.2.2022 he has already been capable of a good 1:25:24

 

The most accredited athletes who come from the 20km are:

- Yamanishi Toshikazu with the personal best on 20km of 1:17:15 obtained in Nomi on 17.3.2019, but capable of an excellent 1:17:20 last season in Kobe (21.2.2021)

- Matsunaga Daisuke with the personal best on the 20km of 1:17:46 obtained in Kobe on 18.2.2018, but capable in this one in Nomi (20.3.2022) of an excellent 1:19:53.

For the bronze in Sapporo 2021 it will be his first experience on the 35km. His result will certainly be dissected by Massimo Stano and his coach Patrizio Parcesepe who the following week will present themselves to Dudince with the same goal: to get the ticket for the Oregon World Championships on the 35km

However, we must say that for Massimo Stano the 35km is not an unknown distance because he already had a first experience in 2019.

 

For Yamanishi and the other Japanese athletes, as for Stano and the athletes from China who will compete on the Sunday following in Dudince (He Xianghong, Zhaxi Yangben, Wang Kaihua, Cui Lihong, Niu Wenchao and Zhang Jun) the main goal is to do better than 2:27:53 scored by Miguel Angel Lopez in Lepe (ESP) on 30.1.2022.

Should they fail to do so, the lower goal is the 2:29:59 obtained by Alvaro Martin in the same race in Lepe.
These results, if obtained, are certainly of high interest.

 

 

They will not compete in the 35km, but will prefer to finish their race at the intermediate finish of the 20km Ikeda Koki (1:18:22 in 2021), Eiki Takahashi (1:19:04 in 2022) and Suwa Motofumi (1:27:51 in 2022) which, however, boasts a personal best of 1:20:49 obtained with second place in Tokyo on 1.1.2020.

 

 

35km women

 

There will be only nine athletes at the start and all from the 20km distance.

 

The most famous names are those of:

- Sonoda Serena who, however, in 2018 and 2019 had also competed in the 50km (4:29:45 in Takahata on 28.10.2018). The personal best on the 20km is 1:32:12 recently obtained in Nomi on 20.2.2022

- Kumagai Nami also with an experience in the 50km (4:39:01 in Wajima on 15.4.2018). Her personal best on the 20km is 1:35:16 obtained in Wajima on 11.4.2021

-Kawazoe Kaori with the personal best on the 20km of 1:31:10 obtained in Kobe on 19: 2.2019, but this season she only capable of 1:35:38 always obtained in Kobe on 20.2.2022

 

 

They will not compete in the 35km, but will prefer to finish their race at the intermediate finish of the 20km Fujii Nanako (1:18:58 in 2019 in La Coruna), but last season only 1:30:35 and Okada Kumiko (1:33: 28 in 2022) which, however, boasts a personal best of 1:27:41 obtained in La Coruna on 8.6.2019.

 

 

 

 

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