New Japanese JR record for 100m... 10.01 seconds!

Bob Dobbs wrote:

This high school sports newspaper says only that he was born in Saga Prefecture:

I misread. It says he was born in Shiga Prefecture:

This says he's done hill repeats and track sessions with an older (24 y.o.) sprinter, Masashi Eriguchi, who runs for Osaka Gas.

http://news.infoseek.co.jp/article/sportiva_20130430_201304308

It also says that his HS is known for its hard training.

One last thing, and I'll shut up.

Looks like Kiryu will face Mike Rogers and two other sub-10 guys on May 5 at the Seiko Golden GP meet in Tokyo. So look out. It's the same track where Carl Lewis broke Leroy Burrell's WR (and Mike Powell broke Beamon's record) at the '91 Worlds.

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/p-sp-tp0-20130502-1121291.html

Incidentally, May 5 is Children's Day (formerly Boys' Day) here in Japan.

More good stuff today. 2010 World Jr. 200 m champion Shota Iizuka ran a PB 20.21 (+1.4 m/s) world leader at the Shizuoka International Meet. He's 21 and just starting his senior year at Chuo Univ.

Akiyuki Hashimoto, an 18-year-old first-year at Waseda Univ., ran 20.35 (-0.3 m/s) in a separate heat, also a PB. Another guy to watch out for. There's some good momentum right now.

Bob Dobbs wrote:

By the way, Ryoto Yamagata's Wiki page and the JOC Website both say he's 176 cm/67 kg. If true, Kiryu's probably closer to 5'7''.

Actually, that's not right. Look at the start of the final, when Yamagata and Kiryu are standing next to each other. They appear to be almost the same height.

So I think it's very likely that Kiryu is indeed 175 cm (5'9"), just as every source outside the LR parallel universe says.

Brett in Tokyo wrote:

More good stuff today. 2010 World Jr. 200 m champion Shota Iizuka ran a PB 20.21 (+1.4 m/s) world leader at the Shizuoka International Meet. He's 21 and just starting his senior year at Chuo Univ.

Akiyuki Hashimoto, an 18-year-old first-year at Waseda Univ., ran 20.35 (-0.3 m/s) in a separate heat, also a PB. Another guy to watch out for. There's some good momentum right now.

Thanks for the updates, Brett. Iizuka in particular seems to be on fire now. His third-place 10.28 in Kiryu's 10.01 race was also a PB. Pretty exciting stuff all around.

I saw that comparison with Yamagata, too.

The problem is that lying about height is extremely common.

However, 5'9" is the new 5'6"

I am 176cm, and I used to be the normal height in the sprints. When I line up now, I'm usually among the shorter competitors.

So I have no idea if he is 5'6" or 5'9", but I have no reason to suspect that he is NOT 5'9"

If he IS 5'9" with that kind of turnover, that is spectacular. And regarding training on 50m of dirt, one of the things his race did show was a breakdown late in the race, where he lost coordination because his endurance was failing...maybe due to inadequate facilities.

If that is the case, and if he gets himself to a real facility, there is probably .03 to be gained in the last 20m

Well, that's a point in his favor. Shiga is not in the middle of nowhere. I was thinking that he might have been born on an obscure island into an irregular situation, which could very well have resulted in an incorrect age reported...but since he isn't, I will now have to accept his age, as well as the accuracy of the timing.

That leaves historic greatness, drugs, and the wind as options, IMHO in that order of likelihood.

Bob--

2 things: 1) the Japanese relay does now figure to be in a legitimate battle for the bronze medal position, which would be a significant improvement; and 2) same track, but different surface, right?

Q: Does Japan, as a whole, care about men's sprints? Like they care about women's figure skating? I know more than a few Japanese, and none of them know anything about Kiryu or men's sprinting. I figured they would be up on it since he is so close to the sound-barrier of 10-flat, but they had no idea. Of course, they follow absolutely everything baseball.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

the Japanese relay does now figure to be in a legitimate battle for the bronze medal position, which would be a significant improvement

Over the Olympic bronze they already have?

Yes, over the single bronze they ever won in 2008, and that only because the USA was DQ'd.

Now they will be seriously up for bronze--the difference being that now, on any given day in a clean race, they could get that bronze in front of T&T, Canada, Nigeria, Germany, France, UK, etc.

In fact, if things keep going as they are, I would even say that they might be favored for bronze.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

Yes, over the single bronze they ever won in 2008, and that only because the USA was DQ'd.

Right, DQ'd for not being able to get through the exchanges, a vital part of the relay. The U.S. team may have had faster individual sprinters but the bronze medal Japanese team was a superior relay team and they won the medal over the U.S. for that reason.

Yes, they most certainly did.

But before the race, they were not considered a serious threat for the bronze medal.

Now they are, even if the USA gets the stick around...and more than that, if the USA or Jam botches some exchanges but still manage to finish the race, the Japanese must be considered to have a serious shot at silver, BEFORE the race ever begins, due to their consistency.

Unless proven wrong, he is 5'9", I don't know why you and "Sprintgeezer" are debating about this.

However, I wouldn't take a video perspective from far away as the ultimate proof.

In the longer version of your video here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8stErvnAoU#t=01m40s

from 1:40,when they are congratulating he does appear a bit smaller than Yamagata (white jersey, but not a big difference) and about the same height than Erigushi (purple jersey) who's listed at 5'7".

But then again he seems to be about the same height at the beginning. So until proven wrong he's 5'9".

The time is legit and he's the fastest in the world right now. The only odd thing (for the paranoid sprintgeezer) is that, from kiryu's heat, all but one were faster during the heat than the final despite having a tailwind over the legal limit(+2.7 m/s) compared to their 1st race of day (+0.9m/s).

He'll prove the doubters wrong( particularly geezer) by going faster later this year.

dnf: "The only odd thing (for the paranoid sprintgeezer) is that, from kiryu's heat, all but one were faster during the heat than the final despite having a tailwind over the legal limit(+2.7 m/s) compared to their 1st race of day (+0.9m/s)."

I also noticed that, which was why I suggested that the timing/wind reading could have been wrong.

However, it could just as easily be the case that the wind reading was CORRECT in the heat but INCORRECT in the final.

Or some combination of both.

His 10.01 (+0.9) still must be viewed with skepticism.

We will see how he performs on home turf against Rodgers this weekend. I've got Rodgers FTW, .03-.05 ahead of Kiryu, but it is a tough call.

wr potential wrote:Looking at the 200m times, I come to the conclusion that Carl's 19.75 was the WR (and was considered Low Altitude WR)

he ran good curve ( tight tracks comapred to today ) & eased off last 15m with both arms in air

it was worth ~ 19.65 flat-out & well below 19.6 on a wider modern track ( under 19.5 on a brussels 125/75 )

and that then went to De Loach, same time

he tied carl's 19.75, but from above it was inferior

in addition carl ran 19.79 out in lane 7/8 in a crazy race for him with an uncontrolled bend

he ran something like 1.5 - 2.5m extra distance, meaning he went 201.5 - 202.5m in 19.79 ->19.55 - 19.65

and Marsh, 19.73

hard bend & cruised the sretch & jogged the finish

~ 19.60

if he'd run it hard all the way

before Johnson does 19.66 and 19.32. I have not seen the race but if as insinuated, Carl could have ran say 19.69

i'd give that as more a mid-point 19.60 +/- 0.05

Yamagata is 5'9" I can see that.

Kiryu is 5'7". Thats 170cm big difference.

Still a 10 flat from a 170cm man is very impressive.

no

frankie was never lineal wr holder

carl shouda gone 19.60 - 19.65 in '83 flat-out

he shouda gone 19.55 - 19.65 in seoul with ideal bend

marsh's 19.73 - legendary

impress me

tell me what marsh's 100 split was & also frankie's

anyone with a clue about sprinting knows them

i saw it on tv few days later & brief clip of finish is still available

it was more like 19.60 - 19.65 as he'd won race long way out & celebrated in last 15 - 20m

no

frankie was never in the mix

give carl that wide, illegally hard atlanta track in '83 shape & he wouda gone 19.35 - 19.45

still a 1/2 - 1 tenth behind mj, but it wouda been an epic

no

tyson is a head above even a 19.54-giving-up-dix

brussels track at ~ 125/75 is alleged to offer upto 0.2s for a 200m

tyson runs a dumb 200 with blistering bend & fading excessively

he went an absolutely suicidal 9.9+ in his 19.58

get something into your peabrain

a 9.9+ split -> pace for

18.85+ !!!

if tyson had run a more sensible 10.1 or even 10.2, he wouda faded far less in stretch & clocked

~ 19.2/19.3

err...

stating obvious

he said he was an lj'er who sprinted off it ( but obviously put in lot of 100 training when needed )

he shouda gone 19.60 in '83 on a tight track, 19.55 - 19.65 in '88 off perfect bend & that wouda been worth maybe ~ 19.35 - 19.45 on an atlanta

Iizuka's 20.21

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z3yyT8cayD8

(via Japan Running News)