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Yamauchi Wins IAU 100 km World Championships

by Brett Larner


Hideaki Yamauchi become the fourth Japanese man in the last ten years to win the IAU 100 km World Championships, coming from three minutes behind to outrun South Africa's Bongmusa Mthembu, Italian three-time world champion Giorgio Calcaterra and others to win Sunday's race in Los Alcazares, Spain by nearly six minutes.  Yamauchi's winning time of 6:18:22 was the fifth-fastest ever for the 100 km distance, making him the all-time #4 man worldwide just behind world record holder Takahiro Sunada.  Yamauchi's teammates Kaitaro Toike and Yoshiki Takada took 8th and 23rd, giving Japan the team silver medal by a slim margin behind South Africa.  The U.S.A. team took bronze on the strength of two top five finishes.

No Japanese women scored individual medals, but with a 5-6-7 finish separated by only 17 seconds the trio of Mikiko Ota, Aiko Kanematsu and Chiyuki Mochizuki scored the team gold medal by more than 25 minutes over silver medalist Croatia.  Teammate Mai Fujisawa was close behind in 8th in 7:48:27.  Despite no finishers in the top ten, the U.S.A. women went home with team bronze to match their men's team's.  Kirstin Bull of Australia won the individual gold medal by almost 12 minutes, leading Australia to a 5th-place team finish overall.

IAU 100 km World Championships
Los Alcazares, Spain, 11/27/16
click here for complete results

Men's 100 km
1. Hideaki Yamauchi (Japan) - 6:18:22
2. Bongmusa Mthembu (South Africa) - 6:24:05
3. Patrick Reagan (U.S.A.) - 6:35:42
4. Tomasz Walerowicz (Poland) - 6:37:23
5. Geoff Burns (U.S.A.) - 6:38:33
6. Jose Antonio Requejo (Spain) - 6:41:08
7. Giorgio Calcaterra (Italy) - 6:41:16
8. Kaitaro Toike (Japan) - 6:42:30
9. Gift Kelehe (South Africa) - 6:43:00
10. Brendan Davies (Australia) - 6:44:20
-----
23. Yoshiki Takada (Japan) - 6:54:54
56. Tatsuya Itagaki (Japan) - 7:37:41

Men's Team Results
1. South Africa - 19:51:40
2. Japan - 19:55:46
3. U.S.A. - 20:03:04
4. Norway - 20:39:06
5. Australia - 20:55:44

Women's 100 km Individual Results
1. Kirstin Bull (Australia) - 7:24:25
2. Nikolina Sustic (Croatia) - 7:36:10
3. Joasia Zakrzewski (Great Britain) - 7:41:38
4. Karin Freitag (Austria) - 7:45:58
5. Mikiko Ota (Japan) - 7:47:38
6. Aiko Kanematsu (Japan) - 7:47:41
7. Chiyuki Mochizuki (Japan) - 7:47:55
8. Mai Fujisawa (Japan) - 7:48:27
9. Veronika Jurisic (Croatia) - 7:51:19
10. Frida Sodermark (Sweden) - 7:51:22

Women's Team Results
1. Japan - 23:23:14
2. Croatia - 23:48:19
3. U.S.A. - 24:05:33
4. France - 24:46:58
5. Australia - 25:14:02

© 2016 Brett Larner
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TokyoRacer said…
I make that 3:48 per km for 100 kilometers. Wow.
November 28, 2016 at 10:09 PM
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