Australia’s Rose Davies made a significant mark at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event, held in Tokyo on Sunday, May 19, by breaking the 5000m meeting record.
The 24-year-old athlete, who had never run a sub-15-minute 5000m before this year, clocked her third personal best of 2023, winning in 14:41.65. This time was less than two seconds shy of the Oceanian record, securing her victory by more than three seconds.
The race began with a steady pace, with the runners reaching 1000m in 3:00.19 and 2000m in 5:59.01. Davies, along with Kenya’s Margaret Akidor, then picked up the pace, hitting the 3000m mark in 8:55.41. The duo continued to accelerate, covering the next kilometre in 2:56 and pulling away from fellow Australian Isobel Batt-Doyle.
Davies completed the final kilometre in 2:50, distancing herself from Akidor to finish first. Akidor took second place, while Batt-Doyle came in third with a time of 15:08.67.
Earlier this year, Davies first broke the 15-minute barrier in Melbourne, recording 14:57.54, and then improved her time to 14:47.86 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Suzhou last month.
Haruka Kitaguchi Thrills Home Crowd with Javelin Victory
Japanese javelin thrower Haruka Kitaguchi delighted the home audience by clinching a last-round victory, reminiscent of her triumph at the World Championships in Budapest last year. New Zealand’s Tori Peeters initially led with a throw of 61.16m, while Kitaguchi started with 60.20m. Colombian world silver medallist Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado moved into the lead in the fifth round with 62.06m, prompting Peeters to improve to 61.26m and Kitaguchi to 62.02m. However, Kitaguchi’s final throw of 63.45m secured her the win.
Japanese athletes also excelled in the hurdles events. National record-holder Rachid Muratake set a season’s best of 13.22 (-0.6m/s) to win the 110m hurdles, comfortably beating Senegal’s Louis Francois Mendy (13.50). In the 400m hurdles, Ken Toyoda dominated, setting a personal best of 48.36 to finish ahead of compatriot Haruto Deguchi (48.91).
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Other Notable Performances
China’s Wu Yanii won the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.80, edging out Japan’s Yumi Tanaka by 0.10 seconds. Australian high jumper Yual Reath matched his personal best of 2.30m to win, defeating 2022 world indoor champion Woo Sanghyeok. Reath, who has won nine out of 11 competitions this year, cleared 2.30m on his second attempt and then made three solid but unsuccessful attempts at 2.33m.
In the men’s long jump, China’s Zhang Mingkun achieved a lifetime best of 8.13m in the final round, overtaking 2016 world indoor champion Marquis Dendy, who finished with 8.07m.
New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs comfortably won the women’s 100m in 11.17 (-0.3m/s), while Hiroki Yanagita won the men’s final in 10.21 (-0.1m/s). Despite this, Hakim Sani Brown recorded the fastest time of the day with a 10.07 in the heats.
