NEWS

Japan sweep the podium at the 2012 Tateyama ASTC Triathlon Asian Championships

By Merryn Sherwood | 08 Apr, 2012

Japan have claimed two spots on the London Olympic start line after a sweep of both the Elite Men’s and Elite Women’s podiums at the 2012 Tateyama ASTC Triathlon Asian Championships in Japan on Saturday.

In the Elite Women’s race, Mariko Adachi claimed gold with a stellar all round performance. She was part of a three woman group, alongside Korea’s Dan Bi Hong and A Reum Jo, who had a 30 second lead coming out of the swim. She then rode with the leaders on the bike, before posting the second fastest run leg of the day at 35 minutes and 28 seconds to claim the gold.

Youth Olympic Games gold medallist Yuka Sato won her first Asian Championships medal, her hard work on the leading pack in the bike helped her to silver. Ai Ueda ran herself into bronze with the quickest run leg of the day, the only sub-35 minute time of 34 minutes and 7 seconds. Three-time Olympian and 2011 champion Kiyomi Niwata finished in fourth.

In the Elite Men’s race, Yuichi Hosoda defended his 2011 title to claim the men’s London spot for Japan. In a thrilling finish, Hosoda was pushed to the line by Hirokatsu Tayama to only win by one second, while Ryosuke Yamamoto claimed bronze.

The three medallists were close throughout the whole race and it all came down to the run. While Yamamoto dropped off, it came down to Hosoda and Tayama who went toe to toe throughout the 10km run leg. In the final finishing straight, Hosoda just pushed ahead of Tayama to claim his second consecutive title in an electrifying sprint.

In ITU’s two-fold qualification process, where athletes work to secure points for their National Olympic Committee and then meet their National Federations qualification criteria to fill those spots, each of the five Continental Championships has an important role to play. Each of the 10 winners, elite men’s and women’s across the five continents, secure one place for their NOC in London. Therefore Adachi and Hosoda secure two places for Japan, but its now up to the Japanese Triathlon Union to decide how those places are filled.

The final two continental championships London places will be decided over the next two weeks, with the 2012 Eilat Triathlon ETU Championships to take place on April 22.

To see how athletes and countries qualify spots for London, click here for Qualification 101.

Photos: Satoshi Takasaki / ASTC

Related Event: 2012 Tateyama ASTC Triathlon Asian Championships
07 - Apr, 2012 • event pageall results
Results: U23 Women
1. Yuko Takahashi JPN 01:56:20
2. Kishiko Ito JPN 02:01:01
3. Karin Chibana JPN 02:05:35
4. Karolina Solovyova KAZ 02:09:02
5. Onki Chan HKG 02:10:09
6. Zukhra Vakhitova UZB 02:12:01
7. Luo Yi Louis Chang TPE 02:16:30
8. Yi-Hui Liu TPE 02:20:08
Results: U23 Men
1. Shogo Ishitsuka JPN 01:43:16
2. Ivan Lo Ching Hin HKG 01:43:29
3. Jumpei Furuya JPN 01:44:07
4. Akihisa Kobayashi JPN 01:44:19
5. Kohei Tsubaki JPN 01:45:06
6. Maxim Leshina KAZ 01:46:58
7. Nikko Huelgas PHI 01:48:54
8. Ryota Utsunomiya JPN 01:49:18
9. Zhandos Bekenov KAZ 01:50:03
10. Pei Yen Hsu TPE 01:51:31
Results: Elite Women
1. Mariko Adachi JPN 01:48:47
2. Yuka Sato JPN 01:49:06
3. Ai Ueda JPN 01:49:27
4. Kiyomi Niwata JPN 01:49:33
5. Juri Ide JPN 01:49:47
6. Tomoko Sonoda JPN 01:50:23
7. Dan Bi Hong KOR 01:52:50
8. Caiping Jiao CHN 01:53:09
9. Mengying Zhong CHN 01:53:54
10. Yun-Jung Jang KOR 01:54:09
Results: Elite Men
1. Yuichi Hosoda JPN 01:39:31
2. Hirokatsu Tayama JPN 01:39:32
3. Ryosuke Yamamoto JPN 01:39:54
4. Harunobu Sato JPN 01:41:10
5. Min Ho Heo KOR 01:41:32
6. Hiroki Sugimoto JPN 01:41:34
7. Kohei Shimomura JPN 01:41:37
8. Ji Hwan Kim KOR 01:42:24
9. Dmitriy Gaag KAZ 01:42:35
10. Faquan Bai CHN 01:43:05
Results: Junior Women
1. Fumika Matsumoto JPN 01:00:12
2. Lianyuan Wang CHN 01:00:23
3. Oxana Grot KAZ 01:01:42
4. Misaki Kago JPN 01:02:04
5. Sumire Ohara JPN 01:02:12
6. Hitomi Amami JPN 01:02:19
7. Yui Tsunekawa JPN 01:02:40
8. Akane Makita JPN 01:02:45
9. Kristina Nesterenko KAZ 01:02:46
10. Sum Yi Wu HKG 01:05:24
Results: Junior Men
1. Takanori Sugihara JPN 00:53:04
2. Masahide Doi JPN 00:53:05
3. Shiruba Taniguchi JPN 00:53:10
4. Jeffrey Tang Ho Fai HKG 00:53:14
5. Kwok Wing Kan HKG 00:53:27
6. Ren Miyata JPN 00:53:35
7. Hui Wai Wong HKG 00:53:39
8. Dae Yeong Lee KOR 00:53:39
9. Anton Portnyagin KAZ 00:53:41
10. Alexey Korotkov KAZ 00:53:54