Miyazato Wins 100 km World Cup

by Brett Larner

Click here for photos from the 100 km World Cup.

Japan's Yasukazu Miyazato upset defending world champion Giorgio Calcaterra of Italy to take the men's 100 km title at the 2009 IAU 100 km World Cup in Belgium on June 19. The Japanese men likewise took the team title thanks to Masakazu Takahashi's 5th place and Mitsuru Shinohara's 11th place finishes. All three Japanese men broke the 7 hour mark, and the team's 4th and 5th men Toru Sakuta and Shinji Nakadai were both in the top 25.

The course consisted of five loops of approximately 20 km each. Brazil's Marcio De Oliveira took the early lead, covering the first loop in 1:28:17. A chase pack including Miyazato, Takahashi, Calcaterra, Daniel Oralek of the Czech Republic and Italian Antonio Armuzzi sat nearly a minute back. On the second loop De Oliveira accelerated while Oralek and the two Japanese runners held a steady pace. The two Italians lost contact with the chase pack.

By the end of the third loop De Oliveira was beginning to slow, but he held a lead of nearly five minutes over Miyazato. Although Miyazato's pace had also dropped moderately he had opened an eight second gap on Takahashi, who had been joined by Sweden's Jonas Buud. Oralek and the two Italians were nowhere to be seen.

The fourth lap saw the biggest shakeup in the running order. De Oliveira paid the price for his fast early pace as his speed dropped 8 seconds per km and he was overtaken by Miyazato, Buud and Takahashi and was nearly caught by Italian runner Marco Boffo. Miyazato held a narrow 23 second lead over Buud, but it was enough. On the final lap he extended his lead to 1 minute 6 seconds as he took the world title in 6:40:44 with Buud second in 6:41:50. Defending champion Calcaterra finished strongly to take 3rd in 6:42:05, almost catching Buud from far back in the field. Boffo passed Takahashi with easy to take 4th in 6:45:39, the Japanese runner rounding out the top 5 in 6:51:18. Early leader De Oliveira faded to 15th in 7:08:31.

The Japanese women took 3rd in the team competition behind the U.S.A. and Russia. Little changed at the front, with last year's 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers Kami Semick (U.S.A.), Monica Carlin (Italy) and Irina Vishnevskaya (Russia) taking 1st, 3rd and 2nd respectively. In the absence of last year's top Japanese woman, Hiroko Sho, who was a surprise DNS, Mai Fujisawa stepped up to the top domestic position, finishing 9th overall. Right behind Fujisawa in 10th was Yoko Yamazawa, while Naoko Ota rounded out the team scoring positions in 14th. The team's 4th member, Kazuho Izutsu, finished 23rd.

Click here for complete results including splits from the 2009 IAU 100 km World Cup. Click here for final results.

2009 IAU 100 km World Cup - Top Finishers
Men
1. Yasukazu Miyazato (Japan) - 6:40:44
2. Jonas Buud (Sweden) - 6:41:50
3. Giorgio Calcaterra (Italy) - 6:42:05
4. Marco Boffo (Italy) - 6:45:39
5. Masakazu Takahashi (Japan) - 6:51:18
6. Michael Wardian (U.S.A.) - 6:53:17
7. Christophe Buquet (France) - 6:55:46
8. Angel Jiminez (Spain) - 6:55:59
9. Eric Legat (France) - 6:57:07
10. Alexey Izamaylov (Russia) - 6:58:46
11. Mitsuru Shinohara (Japan) - 6:59:01
-----
14. Bernard Bretaud (France) - 7:07:56
18. Toru Sakuta (Japan) - 7:14:58
20. Andrea Bernabei (Italy) - 7:15:31
23. Shinji Nakadai (Japan) - 7:18:43

Men's Teams
1. Japan - 20:31:04
2. Italy - 20:43:15
3. France - 21:00:49

Women
1. Kami Semick (U.S.A.) - 7:37:21
2. Irina Vishnevskaya (Russia) - 7:46:24
3. Monica Carlin (Italy) - 7:53:58
4. Devon Crosby-Helms (U.S.A.) - 7:59:17
5. Meghan Arbogast (U.S.A.) - 8:04:29
6. Helena Crossan (Ireland) - 8:04:40
7. Carolyn Smith (U.S.A.) - 8:06:59
8. Branka Hajek (Germany) - 8:07:49
9. Mai Fujisawa (Japan) - 8:08:48
10. Yoko Yamazawa (Japan) - 8:10:05
-----
12. Vera Ilyina (Russia) - 8:21:42
14. Naoko Ota (Japan) - 8:22:31
15. Larisa Kleymenova (Russia) - 8:24:01
23. Kazuho Izutsu (Japan) - 8:54:44

Women's Teams
1. U.S.A. - 23:41:07
2. Russia - 24:32:09
3. Japan - 24:41:24

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

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