Shingo Suetsugu, the bronze medal winner in the men's 200 meters at the just-ended World Championships and the first Japanese sprinter ever to win a medal in either the Olympics or the worlds, said Monday he will next aim at doing the 100 meters in under 10 seconds.
Speaking at a press conference in Paris, Suetsugu, who clocked 20.38 seconds to earn the bronze, said, "Until now, I was aiming at winning a race.
But from now on I want to set a record," adding he will seriously take up the 100 meters from this fall.
The 23-year-old Kumamoto Prefecture native, who ran 10.13 seconds in Yokohama last June, only 0.13 off Koji Ito's Japanese record set in 1998, did not take part in Sunday's 4x100-meter relay due to left thigh pain he felt in Friday's medal-winning race.