Today the good day, but above all the Happy New Year 2021, reaches our readers from the distant Tokyo where the 69th edition of the New Year Race Walk is ending.
The scheduled races were a men's 20km with over 60 athletes at the start and a 10km women with 30 athletes at the start, but among them all the best hopes of Japan.
But that's not enough. The Federation of Japan succeeds in what we believe not many are able to achieve, in particular on January 1: the involvement of High School athletes (over 90 young U20s between males and females) in what is the 2021 stage of race walk on the planet.
It is not surprising then that in the world lists at the end of the year we always find a greater number of appearances in the top 20 athletes.
This is for us the message that the march leaves us at the beginning of this new year: to compete, to compete to keep our beloved specialty alive. It is a message we strongly believe in.
Competing often and over any distance, this is also the guide-line followed by Fumio Imamura and his collaborators Shigeyuki Shimuzu, Akira Fujisaki and Koji Hoga Miura, and honestly we must say that the facts are proving him right.
20km men
Nice sunny day, but cool temperature.
It was supposed to be a battle between Hirooki Arai and Yusuke Suzuki, but the absence of the latter shook up the odds.
To play it were Hirooki Arai, Subaru Ishida, Daisuke Matsunaga and Hiroto Jusho.
For a good part of the race Hiroto Jusho and Subaru Ishida set their pace at will, looking for a mark not so different from the result that Yusuke Suzuki had set on 1.1.2020 on the same course (1:20:01).
But Subaru Ishida's breakdown in the last 5km allowed Hiroto Jusho to calmly manage his victory in 1:20:46.
His split times every 5km were as follows:
- 5km: 20:19
- 10km: 40:38 (20:19)
- 15km: 1:00:31 (19:53)
- last 5km: 20:15
This performance however represents the new personal best of the athlete (previous of 1:21:55 established in Nomi, JPN on 17.3.2019.
Second place to Subaru Ishida in 1:21:25; also for him this performance represents the new personal best of the athlete (previous of 1:22:34 established in Nomi, JPN on 15.3.2020.
Third place to Daisuke Matsunaga in 1:22:07
Fourth place to Hirooki Arai in 1:22:08
10km women
The clear favorite was Kumiko Okada, and the strong athlete from Japan had no difficulty in winning the race.
In the lead from start to finish she adjusted her pace to her personal best of 43:32 obtained in Kanakawa (JPN) on 19.4.2015.
In the end she stopped the clock in 43.39 (21:57 + 21:42) slightly higher, but in the meantime she consoled herself with the new record of the course which, however, already belonged to her since 1.1.2019 (44:11).
Kumiko Okada is approaching Japan's all-time record in the women's 10km that belongs to Masumi Kawasaki (42:50) and which is now more than 10 years old (17.4.2010)
Second place to Masumi Fuchise in 45:08
Third place in Minori Yabuta in 45:13
Fourth place to Nami Hayashi in 45:28
Fifth place to Liu Nga Ching (HKG) in 45:36