Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka continued their successful partnership by finishing runner-up in the Olympic sailing's inaugural mixed dinghy competition. It wrapped up with the medal race on Thursday, August 8 in Marseille, France.
The Japanese duo won the event's title at the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, demonstrating their teamwork and skills are a dynamic combination.
Entering the final at Marseille Marina, Okada and Yoshioka were ranked third overall with 35 net points. This included a win and two second-place finishes among the eight races before the final.
Okada and Yoshioka climbed from third to second in the standings with a steady third-place finish out of 10 sailing teams in the medal race.
France helm Camille Lecointre and crew Jeremie Mion won the medal race in 22 minutes, 26 seconds, successfully navigating the two-lap course with a wind speed of 7 knots (3.6 meters per second).
Team Japan completed the race 30 seconds behind the leader, giving it a net 41 points.
Austria's Lara Vadlau and Lukas Maehr won the gold medal with 38 net points. The bronze went to Sweden's Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Karlsson, who had 47 net points.
Accomplishing a Goal at Marseille Marina
Before this week's mixed dinghy competition wrapped up, the last time Japan had won an Olympic sailing medal was at the 2004 Athens Games. Kazuto Seki and Kenjiro Todoroki teamed up for a bronze in the men's 470 class (two-person dinghy).
Speaking after Thursday's race, Okada said he was delighted with the outcome.
"This is the first medal we have won since our coach Kazuto Seki's pair won a bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Games. I think it is a big thing for us," Okada was quoted as saying by NHK.
Reacting to his and Yoshioka's performance in the final race, Okada said, according to Kyodo News, "I'm happy, if a little tired."
He then said, "I wanted to run our own race in the medal race, so we made sure to choose the wind we wanted."
In explaining what makes Okada and Yoshioka a successful dinghy partnership, NHK reported on the duo's complementary skills.
"Okada is a skipper who excels at reading the wind, and Yoshioka is a crew member who uses her physical prowess to maneuver the sails," NHK wrote in its report on the medal race.
Athletics
Japan Men Secure a Spot in 4x100 Relay Final
Japan's men's 4x100-meter track relay team finished fourth on Thursday, August 8 at the Stade de France to qualify for the final. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, Hiroki Yanagita, Yoshihide Kiryu and Koki Ueyama clocked a time of 38.86 seconds to finish just .02 seconds behind Great Britain.
The United States finished first in 37.47, nearly half a second ahead of South Africa.
Jamaica, which won all three Olympic relays when Usain Bolt was competing (2008, 2012 and 2016), suffered from a bad first exchange and failed to qualify for Friday's final (2:47 AM JST on Saturday).
At the Beijing Games in 2008, Japan famously won the silver medal after the first-place Jamaican team forfeited its gold due to a doping violation.
Naoki Tsukahara, Shingo Suetsugu, Shinji Takahira and Nobuharu Asahara originally won the bronze but moved up to silver after the Jamaicans were disqualified.
Muratake Qualifies for 110-Meter Hurdles Final
On Wednesday, Japanese Olympian Rachid Muratake booked a spot in the men's 110-meter hurdles final by placing among the top eight entrants in the three semifinal heats at the Stade de France. He ran his semifinal race in 13.26 seconds.
Ranked 13th in the world, Muratake is the first Japanese to advance to the men's 110 hurdles final at the Olympics.
World No 1 Grant Holloway of the United States and Jamaica's two-time gold medalist Hansle Parchment, the second-ranked 110-meter hurdler in 2024, are the top favorites for the final on Thursday night (4:45 AM JST on Friday).
Holloway had the fastest time (12.98 seconds) in the semifinals.
In other Olympic track and field news, Japan's Ryuji Miura placed eighth in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase final on Wednesday night in 8:11.72.
Morocco's Soufiane El Bakkali won his second straight Olympic gold in the race, clocking a season-best 8:06.05 in the 16-man final.
Sport Climbing
Mori Reaches Women's Boulder and Lead Final
Japan's Ai Mori placed fourth in the semifinal round of the sport climbing women's boulder and lead event on Thursday, August 8 at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Le Bourget, France.
Mori, 20, scored a total of 150.1 points for the boulder and lead rounds. Her score in the lead round (96.1, tops among all entrants) secured the chance for her to compete in the final. She was in 11th place after the boulder round.
"I was definitely nervous before I climbed," Mori said, according to Kyodo News.
She added, "I was disappointed I couldn't get the last hold, but I'm glad I was able to give it my all."
Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Miho Nonaka finished ninth overall, narrowly missing out on a spot in the eight-woman final. Nonaka amassed 115.5 points. She was ninth after the boulder round.
South Korea's Chaehyun Seo placed eighth (116.3).
Slovenia's Janja Garnbret had the top score in the semifinals (195.7).
The final is on Saturday, starting at 5:15 PM JST.
Olympic Medal Table
As of 12 AM JST on Friday, August 9, Japan's athletes and teams had collected a total of 32 medals (12 gold, seven silver, 13 bronze) at the Paris Olympics.
Check out the updated medal table on the official website of the Paris Games.
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Authors: Ed Odeven and Jim Armstrong
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