A rising star in men’s 100m sprinting, Soratobu Shimizu (third-year student at Ishikawa’s Seiryo High School) is set to challenge Noah Lyles (28, USA), who won two titles at the World Championships in Tokyo last September. The Seiko Golden Grand Prix, co-hosted by Nikkan Sports Holdings and others, brings together domestic and international athletes and will be held on the 17th at the MUFG Stadium in Tokyo. The prodigy, who set the U18 world record of 10.00 seconds last July, will line up aiming to become the fifth Japanese sprinter to break the 9-second barrier.
At the event, among the seven participants in the men’s 100m, four have already recorded sub-10 times: Lyles, a bronze medalist at the Tokyo World Championships; Blake (Canada), a silver medalist in the 4x100m relay; Moore (USA); and Kiryu. Lyles stands out with a personal best of 9.79 seconds. Kiryu, who holds Japan’s third-fastest time at 9.98 seconds, won the national championship last July and aims to replicate his 9.99-second performance from August of the same year. Also drawing attention are three young athletes who share a personal best of 10.00 seconds, ranking fifth all-time in Japan. The youngest competitor at this meet, 17-year-old Shimizu, is targeting a sub-10 time, which would make him the youngest Japanese ever to achieve the feat. Meanwhile, Mamoru and Yanagida, both entering their first year as professionals and recently named to the World Relay team this month, are also strong contenders.
