17 year old Japanese phenom, Keita Sato runs 3:40.28/1500, equivalent to 3:58 mile. Stunning depth in this meet!

Among the races, six finals of the 5000 m, (!), loaded with very good runners and a very loaded 10,000 m race with sub 28 minutes for two runners.

Aside from Kenya and Ethiopia, and that is debatable, there are absolutely no other countries that could provide this kind of insane depth of performance on a one day schedule. Mind blowing. So much talent. So deep.

I think the USA and Canada would be far behind this type of depth even if they were combined as one country. And even if you combined all the European countries into one country they would not be able to provide this type of depth. If I am mistaken please show the evidence.

Distance running is an important sport in Japan and attracts interests and participants. Many, maybe most of those athletes would be doing a different sport in other countries and not running distances. It's a pretty cool thing to see.

It helps that most of these guys are really built for running distances as most of them around 165 to 1 m 70 cm and around 50 kg in weight. Compared to most Westerners these Japanese are really built and almost pre-formatted for running fast in distance running. The rest is down to training and mental toughness.

Ghost1 wrote:

Among the races, six finals of the 5000 m, (!), loaded with very good runners and a very loaded 10,000 m race with sub 28 minutes for two runners.

Aside from Kenya and Ethiopia, and that is debatable, there are absolutely no other countries that could provide this kind of insane depth of performance on a one day schedule. Mind blowing. So much talent. So deep.

I think the USA and Canada would be far behind this type of depth even if they were combined as one country. And even if you combined all the European countries into one country they would not be able to provide this type of depth. If I am mistaken please show the evidence.

The USA could EASILY have more depth than the times from this meet.

USA already has 3 men under 13:10 for 5000 and 3 under 27:20 for 10000, and arre usually much better and deeper at 1500.

58 of the Japanese spread over the different 5000 m races from 1 to 6 ran under 14 minutes on one day.

Over 100 US men have run sub 14 this year.

Impressive but not outstanding.

I think Steve Cram ran 3.40 at 17 and 3:57 in the mile!

Near 3:39 as the top guy? Oh man, that's pretty bad. Biggest takeaways from these results is justus soget way back...this was the guy elkenyano was claiming was supposed to crush Jakob.

OriginalLurker wrote:

Over 100 US men have run sub 14 this year.

Japan’s population between 18-34 years old is 21M vs 76M for the U.S. Therefore 58 Japanese going sub-14 in one day would be proportionally equivalent to 210 Americans breaking the 14 minute barrier in one day.

RunningOtaku wrote:

OriginalLurker wrote:

Over 100 US men have run sub 14 this year.

Japan’s population between 18-34 years old is 21M vs 76M for the U.S. Therefore 58 Japanese going sub-14 in one day would be proportionally equivalent to 210 Americans breaking the 14 minute barrier in one day.

+1 yes everything should be looked at in context and they were probably at least 100 Japanese who are not present in that race if not more. Taking this into account, the depth in Japan per capita is much deeper compared to the US in distance running 5000 m to the marathon.

It would be great to see Japan produce some world class middle-distance runners. For some reason they can make elite sprinters and elite marathoners but nothing in between. Yet it appears they do have some depth at a b-level.

objectiveobserver wrote:

Impressive but not outstanding.

I think Steve Cram ran 3.40 at 17 and 3:57 in the mile!

So taking this logic further if this Japanese phenom continues to improve he should end up at around 330 for 1500 m if not faster.

However, one should look at the overall picture with regard to how much training he has done up till now and whether he has a lot more left in the tank.

To be honest, Japan should have a lot of 330 to 332 1500 m runners (potentially ) but the attraction of moving up distance to the road means a lot of potential is not confined to middle-distance running.

A lot of those middle distance runners have already been enticed to run for their high schools in Ekidens over long distances on the road which may blunt their speed. So many of them a training more like marathon runners than middle distance runners. That is where the fame and fortune lies.

Near 3:39 as the top guy? Oh man, that's pretty bad. Biggest takeaways from these results is justus soget way back...this was the guy elkenyano was claiming was supposed to crush Jakob.

-----------------

+1

And the late El Keniano´s other prodigy, George Manangoi, ran 3:53.7h some months ´ ago!

Bushido 2 wrote:

It would be great to see Japan produce some world class middle-distance runners. For some reason they can make elite sprinters and elite marathoners but nothing in between. Yet it appears they do have some depth at a b-level.

Because no-one cares about those distances in Japan. The big event for university students is the Hakone Ekiden (10 leg of ~20.8-23km).

objectiveobserver wrote:

Near 3:39 as the top guy? Oh man, that's pretty bad. Biggest takeaways from these results is justus soget way back...this was the guy elkenyano was claiming was supposed to crush Jakob.

-----------------

+1

And the late El Keniano´s other prodigy, George Manangoi, ran 3:53.7h some months ´ ago!

You are an insufferable moron, did you know that?

Keita SATO

Japan

DATE OF BIRTH

22 JAN 2004

Outdoor

800 Metres

Performance Place Date

2020 1:54.56 Yamashiro Park Stadium, Uji (JPN) 20 AUG 2020

Outdoor

1500 Metres

Performance Place Date

2021 3:40.36 Egao Kenko Stadium, Kumamoto (JPN) 10 APR 2021

2020 3:49.11 Yashima Rexxam Field, Takamatsu (JPN) 11 OCT 2020

2019 3:55.44 Kimiidera Park Athletic Field, Wakayama (JPN) 14 SEP 2019

Outdoor

3000 Metres

Performance Place Date

2021 8:00.09 Municipal Nishikyogoku Stadium, Kyoto (JPN) 16 JAN 2021

2020 8:05.34 Yamashiro Park Stadium, Uji (JPN) 27 SEP 2020

Keita Sato, Who shares the same first and last name as a famous Japanese para Olympian has shown tremendous progress year-by-year. As a 15 year old 3:55.44, and as a 16-year-old a big jump down to 3:49.11 and then this year at the age of 17 an even bigger jump right down to 3:40.36.

At this rate he will be down to the low 330s (3:31-3:34) within the next two or three years and become a contender in championship races. This kid has a great future.

RunningOtaku wrote:

OriginalLurker wrote:

Over 100 US men have run sub 14 this year.

Japan’s population between 18-34 years old is 21M vs 76M for the U.S. Therefore 58 Japanese going sub-14 in one day would be proportionally equivalent to 210 Americans breaking the 14 minute barrier in one day.

The amount of population going for serious track & field distance running in the US is 28,000 vs 159,000 in Japan. Therefore, 58 Japanese going sub 14 wold be equivalent to 10 Americans going sub 14.

therefore wrote:

RunningOtaku wrote:

Japan’s population between 18-34 years old is 21M vs 76M for the U.S. Therefore 58 Japanese going sub-14 in one day would be proportionally equivalent to 210 Americans breaking the 14 minute barrier in one day.

The amount of population going for serious track & field distance running in the US is 28,000 vs 159,000 in Japan. Therefore, 58 Japanese going sub 14 wold be equivalent to 10 Americans going sub 14.

Japanese kids also participate massively in other sports like baseball, and to a lesser extent soccer, volleyball, basketball and swimming. From elementary school there are sports clubs attached to all the schools and they progress and intensity right through the University. That is why Japanese students often peak in their early 20s at university for long distance running unlike in the west where they tend to peak later.