Yuki Ebihara booked her spot in this summer's IAAF World Athletics Championships by winning her fourth straight women's javelin title on the first day of the national championships on Friday.
Ebihara, who won with a throw of 59.11 meters at Niigata's Big Swan Stadium, is the only athlete this season to have surpassed the 63.34-meter standard set by the Japan Association of Athletics Federations for a spot at the world championships, to be held in Beijing in August. It was Ebihara's eighth national title.
Kasumi Nishihara, who had already met the JAAF's qualifying standard for the women's 10,000 meters, won the event in a time of 32 minutes, 6.48 seconds.
