Japanese athletes return to defend titles at Asian Championships

by Erin Greene on 25 Apr, 2013 10:21 • Español

This weekend, Subic Bay will welcome the Asian Championships for the first time since 2004. The coastal Philippine city is no stranger to race action, as it has often hosted Asian multisport events. The championships will be headlined by reigning champions Mariko Adachi and Yuichi Hosoda. In addition to the elite races, the Asian Championships will feature Under23, Junior and Mixed Relay races, as well as age-group and paratriathlon events from 27-29 April.

Women’s Preview
Japanese Olympian Mariko Adachi, will again wear No. 1 in the women’s race. After capping her 2012 season with a 14th-place finish at the London Olympics, Adachi recently returned to the ITU circuit this year with a seventh-place performance at the Ishigaki World Cup.

Adachi is solid on the swim and bike, but will need to look out for teammate Yuka Sato on the run if she wants a shot at repeating as the Asian Champion. Sato appears to be in strong form with a world ranking of 15th after finishing sixth in the World Triathlon Auckland and second in Ishigaki.

But Adachi and Sato will have to work together to hold off a large Chinese team made up primarily by Mengying Zhong, Yi Zhang and Lingxi Xin. Zhong is a steady force on the Asian Cup circuit, consistently finishing in the top 10. Zhang, who represented China in the Olympics, has the most experience on the Subic Bay course, having scored a top 5 finish at the Asian Cup held there last year.

Men’s Preview
Similar to the women’s race, the Japanese men present the biggest podium chances, with Olympians Yuichi Hosoda and Hirokatsu Tayama topping the start list followed by Ryosuke Yamamoto. The three men swept the podium last year in the exact order they’ll start in Subic Bay.

Hosoda is riding a hot streak heading into the championships, coming off an eighth-place finish in Auckland. Tayama has just one race under his belt this season, where a slippery course led to ninth place in Ishigaki.

London Olympian Faquan Bai (CHN) will post the biggest threat to the deep Japanese team. Bai recently collected bronze at the Chengdu ITU Triathlon Asian Cup. He will no doubt draw on his experience winning on the Subic Bay course last year to chase down the Japanese.

The elite women will take on Saturday 27 April at 8:00am local time, while the men will start at 9:30am. The paratriathlon races will be held on Monday 29 April at 6:00am.

Related Event: 2013 Subic Bay ASTC Triathlon Asian Championships
27 - 29 Apr, 2013 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
1. Yuichi Hosoda JPN 02:01:32
2. Zhihang Jiang CHN 02:01:38
3. Ryosuke Yamamoto JPN 02:01:52
4. Faquan Bai CHN 02:03:00
5. Yiming Zhang CHN 02:03:01
Results: Elite Women
1. Mariko Adachi JPN 02:14:17
2. Yuka Sato JPN 02:16:38
3. Dan Fan CHN 02:17:42
4. Mengying Zhong CHN 02:18:01
5. Yi Zhang CHN 02:18:59
Results: Junior Men
1. Zhengyu Duan CHN 00:53:04
2. Perry Wong HKG 00:53:47
3. Zheng Xu CHN 00:54:15
4. Shiruba Taniguchi JPN 00:54:21
5. Takanori Sugihara JPN 00:55:01
Results: Junior Women
1. Fumika Matsumoto JPN 01:01:15
2. Yuting Huang CHN 01:01:23
3. Lianyuan Wang CHN 01:01:31
4. Sumire Ohara JPN 01:02:06
5. Yan Yin Hilda Choi HKG 01:02:19
Results: Para Triathlon Male TRI-2
1. Andy Avellana PHI 01:40:43
2. Arnel Aba PHI 01:41:01
Results: Para Triathlon Male TRI-4
1. Mohd Sabki Bin Arifin MAS 01:13:25
2. Sixto Ducay PHI 01:13:45
Results: Para Triathlon Male TRI-5
1. Jun Ha Lee KOR 01:21:34
Results: U23 Men
1. Kohei Tsubaki JPN 02:00:39
2. Maxim Leshina KAZ 02:02:55
3. Chon Yen Lee TPE 02:04:16
4. Leong Tim Law HKG 02:05:18
5. Tatsuki Endo JPN 02:05:27
Results: U23 Women
1. Karin Chibana JPN 02:24:26
2. Karolina Solovyova KAZ 02:24:40
3. Kei Fukuda JPN 02:25:29
4. Nao Yamamoto JPN 02:31:51
5. Marion Kim Mangrobang PHI 02:33:27
Results: Mixed Relay
1. Team II China CHN 01:31:23
2. Team I Japan JPN 01:32:41
3. Team I Hong Kong, China HKG 01:33:42
4. Team I Kazakhstan KAZ 01:36:35
5. Team I South Korea KOR 01:41:43
Tracker Pixel for Entry