The semi-finals of the 110-meter hurdles for men on land at the Tokyo Olympics were held, and neither Shunsuke Izumiya nor Taio Kanai advanced to the finals.
The men's 110-meter hurdles semi-final will be divided into three groups, and up to the second place in each group, a total of eight people with the highest time will advance to the final on the 5th.
It was the first time in 57 years since the Tokyo Games in 1964 that Japanese players advanced to the semi-finals in this event, and Izumitani and Kanai aimed to advance to the finals for the first time as Japanese players.
Kanai, who participated in the 2nd group, got off to a great start and proceeded with the race in a good position in the first half, but when his foot got caught in the 6th hurdle, he fell after crossing the 8th hurdle.
I got up and finished, but I was eliminated in the semi-finals with a time of 26.11 seconds.
Izumitani, who participated in the 3rd group, aggressively advanced the race from the start, caught on the hurdles of the 8th and 9th cars and slowed down a little, but showed tenacity and finished 3rd with a time of 13 seconds 35. have become.
I was expecting to advance to the final in time, but it was only 0.03, and it was not the first Japanese player to advance to the final in this event.
Izumitani "I want to do my best to practice for Paris, which is very disappointing."
Izumitani recalled, "I can't accept the reality. There was a part where I couldn't concentrate firmly. I'm disappointed with this result."
After that, he said, "I ran so as not to give up until the end, but it wasn't enough. I'm very disappointed, but I want to do my best to practice for Paris."
Kanai "The stuffing is sweet or lacking in power"
Kanai said, "In the first half of the race, I corrected yesterday and was conscious of jumping out, but I could not fly well in the second half. I collapsed and fell. It was a race, so I'm disappointed. "
Kanai announced that he would retire only this season in order to become a dentist. When asked to comment on people, he said, "I've had a lot of things, but I want to thank you."
Japanese player's first semi-final in 57 years is also a dream of advancing to the first final
21-year-old college student Shunsuke Izumiya and 25-year-old Taio Kanai challenged the new history of the men's 110-meter hurdles finalist. It wasn't a feat, but the fact that the two of them advanced to the semi-finals at the same time for the first time in 57 years in this event was enough to impress Japan's growth in this event.
Going back to past records, Yoshio Miki of the 1928 Amsterdam Games began the history of Japan in this event at the Olympic Games. Michitaka Kinami, who is the basis of the "Kinami Memorial", one of the domestic Grand Prix series, participated in the 1952 Helsinki Games. Satoru Tanigawa, who has won the Japan Championship five times, participated in the 2000 Sydney Games and the 2004 Athens Games, and Masato Naito, who also built an era in this event, participated in the Athens Games and the 2008 Beijing Games. .. However, no Japanese player stood on the stage of the semi-finals at the end of the 1964 Tokyo Games.
There is a difference in the method between the time when the semi-finals were held after the first and second qualifying rounds and the time when the semi-finals are held after the qualifying round, but so far only four players have stood on the stage of the semi-finals. It has been three years since this event, which had a big difference with the world, has moved significantly.
When Kanai broke the Japanese record for the first time in 14 years in 2018, top players such as Izumitani and Shunya Takayama continued to work hard. This year, Izumitani set a new record of 13 seconds 06 in Japan at the Japan Championships in June, which is 0 seconds 3 faster than three years ago, and the groundwork for competing in the world is ready. And under the pressure of hosting their own country on the big stage of the Olympic Games, Izumitani and Kanai advanced to the semi-finals with plenty of time, and the final was approaching three-hundredths of a second.
The Tokyo 2020 Games are about to reach the stage of the Olympic finals, which were once said to be "dreams." It may be the Paris tournament three years later that the dream will turn into reality.