Hitomi Niiya, who broke the Japanese record at 10,000 meters for women and was appointed as the representative of the Tokyo Olympics, was selected as the "Athlete of the Year" given to the most active athletes on land last year.
The Japan Association of Athletics Federations holds an annual ceremony to commend the athletes who played an active part in that year, but this time the ceremony was not held due to the influence of the new coronavirus, and the athletes who played an active part last year were announced on the website.
Of these, Shintani, a 10,000-meter female player, was selected as the "Athlete of the Year", the player of the year.
The 32-year-old Shintani won the women's 10,000 meters in the Japan Championships last month with a time of 30 minutes 20 seconds 44, which set a Japanese record of 28 seconds or more for the first time in 18 years, and was appointed as the representative of the Tokyo Olympics.
In addition, for the Outstanding Player Award,
21-year-old Nozomi Tanaka
, who broke the
Japanese record at 1500 meters and 3000 meters for women and was appointed as the representative of the Tokyo Olympics at 5000 meters,
▽ for the first time in 2 years at the 110-meter hurdle for men in the Japan Championship 25-year-old Taio Kanai, who won the championship in Japan and marked 13 seconds 27, which is the second place in Japan's history,
▽ Japan championship men's 10,000 meters marked a new record of 27 minutes
18.75
in Japan and won the Tokyo Olympics Akira Aizawa, 23, was selected as the representative.
In addition
,
▽ Men's
3000m steeplechase
Miura Ryuji,
▽ Men's pole
vaulter
Kazuo Furusawa,
▽ Women's 100m Kodama
Mei
, and
▽ Women's long-distance Ririka Hironaka were selected for the rookie award.