Wild would be a fair appraisal of the first day at the Japan Athletics Championships 2025.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown and Yanagita Hiroki, the two Japanese sprinters harbouring the most hope for the World Athletics Championships in September, both spectacularly crashed out in the men’s 100m heats on Friday (4 July) at the National Stadium.
In their absence, Koike Yuki qualified first for Saturday’s final with the top semi-final time of 10.16 seconds in the sweltering Tokyo heat at the competition serving as the Japanese trials for the Tokyo Worlds.
Two-time Olympian Sani Brown, who a day earlier revealed he would compete against doctor’s orders with a right hip bone bruise, finished fourth in his heat with a 10.45 – almost half a second off his personal best of 9.96.
Two-time Asian champion Yanagita came into the meet with the Japanese lead of 10.06 but was disqualified for a false start in his pool. He was bawling afterwards as he met with the press.
Sani Brown put a lot on the line by actually starting on Friday, when he could have aggravated the injury with just two months to go until a home Worlds.
The pain, in the end, was too much to overcome.
“I was on the blocks feeling like I just had to go out and do it – telling myself that I could do it,” Sani Brown said. “But at the end of the day, I just didn’t have it. That’s how I would describe it.”
Yanagita had been in fine form, beating 2019 world champion Christian Coleman at the Golden Grand Prix in May and then defending his Asian title in Gumi, Republic of Korea. Hopes were high for the 21-year-old to win his first national championship.
Yet as things turned out, Yanagita didn’t even get a proper crack to see how fast he could go. He admitted that he may have wanted it too much.
“Nothing. I did nothing. I couldn’t even start,” Yanagita said as tears flowed down his face.
“I worked so hard, to a point where I felt like I should give up on the 100m if I didn’t win here. That’s how good I felt and I was really excited to see how fast I could run. But maybe that backfired.”
Both Yanagita and Sani Brown can still make the World championships team by virtue of their world rankings. A final decision will be made in late August.