Athletics: Sani Brown calls running at packed National Stadium dream
Japanese sprinter Abdul Hakim Sani Brown said Friday he looks forward to competing at the world athletics championships in Tokyo this September.
"Running at a packed National Stadium is my dream," Sani Brown said of the Sept. 13-21 championships, during his visit to a Tokyo elementary school, where he held an athletics clinic.
The stadium was the main venue of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but was off-limits to general spectators amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Sani Brown, a two-time finalist in the 100 meters at the worlds, visited the school with Canadian Andre De Grasse, who won 200-meter Olympic gold in Tokyo.
"This kind of activity is very important. I hope I can promote athletics and sports even just a little," Sani Brown said.
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Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
Five different countries take gold medals on a wide-open day at the swim world championships
Kate Douglass of the United States competes in the women's 200-meter breaststroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Friday, Aug.1, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) swimming By STEPHEN WADE The gold medals were spread around on Friday at the swimming world championships, thanks to the absence of stars Léon Marchand of France and Canadian Summer McIntosh from any finals on Day 6 in Singapore. Marchand, who has already broken the world record in the 200-meter individual medley, will try to break his own 400 IM record on Sunday, the final day. McIntosh has won three individual gold medals already and will chase two more on Saturday and Sunday as she tries for five individual golds. Only Michael Phelps has managed that at the worlds. The biggest race of the championships might be Saturday's 800-meter freestyle with McIntosh and American Katie Ledecky – the world-record holder – the favorites. The Netherlands, China, Hungary and the United States picked up individual golds Friday as the meet continues to spread them around. Britain also won its first gold and first medal in Singapore, taking the men's 4x200 relay. Through six days the United States and Australia top the gold-medal table with five each. The Americans have won 20 overall to 13 for Australia. Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands powered through the last 50 meters to win the women's 100-meter freestyle. Steenbergen won in 52.55 seconds, with silver for Mollie O'Callaghan (52.67) of Australia and bronze to Torri Huske (52.89) of the United States. Steenbergen won this event at the 2024 worlds in Doha, but those championships were lightly attended. This race had a tough field. Both O'Callaghan and Huske are Olympic individual champions, but not in this event. 'It feels so crazy,' Steenbergen said. 'In Doha, it was like, 'OK, this is crazy to win.' But in this field, I don't know what to feel. I'm just so happy.' It was the first gold medal for the Netherlands in Singapore. China's Qin Haiyang, who holds the world record, won the men's 200 breaststroke in 2:07.41 with second for Ippei Watanabe (2:07.70) of Japan and bronze to Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands (2:07.73). Haiyang also won the 100 breaststroke in Singapore. Haiyang swam from Lane 8 and called winning from that far outside position 'a miracle.' He set the world record two years ago in the worlds in Fukuoka, Japan (2:05.48). Hubert Kós of Hungary repeated his gold medal from a year ago at the Paris Olympics, winning the men's 200 backstroke in 1:53.19. Pieter Coetze of South Africa, who won the 100 back, took silver (1:53.36) with bronze for Yohann Ndoye-Brouard of France (1:54.62). American Kate Douglass got the U.S. its fifth individual gold in these championships, taking the 200 breaststroke in 2:18.50, the second fastest in history. Evgeniia Chikunova of the Neutral Athletes was second (2:19.96). Kaylene Corbett of South Africa and Alina Zmushka of the Neutral Athletes tied for bronze (2:23.52). The Americans have been slowed through the championships with dozens of members of the team having picked up 'acute gastroenteritis' at a training camp in Thailand before arriving in Singapore. Head Coach Greg Meehan said the 'overall majority' of the team had been affected. In the men's 4x200 freestyle relay, Britain won its first gold and first medal with a time of 6:59.84. China took silver (7:00.91) with bronze for Australia (7:00.98). The United States was fourth in 7:01.24. In Friday's semifinals, Cameron McEvoy of Australia was fastest in the men's 50 free (21.30) and Noè Ponti of Switzerland led qualifying in the men's 100-meter butterfly in 50.18. Gretchen Walsh of the United States was quickest in the women's 50 fly (25.09) and Peng Xuwei of China was quickest in the 200 backstroke (2:07.76). 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'Is this really the right way to go forward and do we need to do other things? Put other guardrails up? Do we allow it under certain conditions? I don't know the answer.' He called Yu 'great.' He also said officials had to be 'careful' about the age issue. __ AP sports: © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
16 hours ago
- Japan Today
McIntosh, Ledecky set up 800m world title showdown
Katie Ledecky was fastest in qualifying for the women's 800m freestyle final in Friday's heats at the world championships in Singapore swimming By Andrew MCKIRDY Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky set up a showdown for the ages at swimming's world championships in Singapore when both stars cruised into the 800m freestyle final on Friday. American great Ledecky, 28, is the undisputed master in the event, having won the title at the last four Olympics and updating her own world record in May this year. But McIntosh, 10 years Ledecky's junior, is in the mood to snatch her crown as she looks to join Michael Phelps as the only swimmer to win five individual titles at a single world championships. The 18-year-old Canadian has already bagged three golds from three events in Singapore and she clocked the third-fastest 800m freestyle time ever in June. The other nine times on the top 10 all belong to Ledecky but McIntosh's form suggests a changing of the guard could be on the cards. Ledecky fired the first shots in Friday morning's heats, qualifying for Saturday's final fastest in a time of 8min 14.62sec, with McIntosh third in 8:19.88. McIntosh said she felt in good shape after winning 200m butterfly gold the previous night, and she had the rest of the day and the following morning to recover before the final. "I felt a lot better than I thought I was going to this morning," McIntosh said after her heat. "I've been recovering really well, probably the best I ever have in a big meet like this. "We're on day six so to feel like this is really promising." Titanic tussle - Ledecky made her international breakthrough in the 800m free, winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics at the age of 15. She went on to dominate the event for more than a decade and showed that she still had plenty to offer in June when she smashed her own world record, which had stood since 2016. McIntosh also headed to Singapore in red-hot form, breaking three world records in a matter of days at the Canadian trials in June. McIntosh and Ledecky have already had their first head-to-head in Singapore, with McIntosh coming out on top to win gold in the 400m free. The Canadian is a relative newcomer to the 800m free but she safely negotiated the heats with the minimum of fuss. "My goal was just to win my heat to pretty much secure that I'll get a lane for tomorrow night's final and do that with the least amount of energy possible," she said. "I'm just trying to get through it because I've never really done 800 heats before so I don't know what to expect. "I'm just glad it's over and done with now." Australia's Lani Pallister and Italy's Simona Quadarella will also hope to stand on the podium after Saturday's race but all eyes will be on Ledecky and McIntosh in the battle for gold. "Having all those girls around me will definitely push me to a really good time and I'm really excited to race Katie tomorrow night," said McIntosh. © 2025 AFP
The Mainichi
a day ago
- The Mainichi
Volleyball: Japan falls 3-0 to Poland in Nations League quarterfinals
NINGBO, China (Kyodo) -- Japan's bid for Volleyball Nations League glory came to a crashing halt Thursday with a 3-0 quarterfinal loss to Paris Olympic men's silver medalist Poland. Led by opposite spiker Kewin Sasak's 15 points, Poland prevailed 25-23, 26-24, 25-12 at the Ningbo Beilun Sports and Art Centre to book a semifinal showdown against Brazil. Opposite spiker Kento Miyaura scored a match-high 17 for Japan, which led for stretches of the opening set and went neck-and-neck with Poland in the second before the Europeans ran away with the third. Star outside hitter Ran Takahashi said Japan paid the price after it "wasted" opportunities to clinch the first two sets. "We need to address the weakness and complacency that prevented us winning the first and second sets," Takahashi said. "There were a lot of situations where we failed to complete our attacks." Slovenia defeated defending VNL and Olympic champion France 3-1 in Thursday's other quarterfinal.
