Japanese sprinter Shingo Suetsugu will not run the men's 200 meters at the Athens Olympics, Japan athletics team coach Keisuke Sawaki said Monday.
Suetsugu, the 200-meter bronze medalist at last year's worlds, was eliminated from the 100 after finishing fifth in his second-round heat in 10.19 seconds Saturday.
He will run in the men's 4x100-meter relay as scheduled as a key member of the Japanese team, according to Sawaki.
"It's very hard for him to run in all three events schedule-wise. He will stick with his initial plan to do his best in the 100 and then run the relay," Sawaki said.
Suetsugu earlier said he would focus on the 100 in Athens and decide whether to enter the 200 after the 100.
Record for Tanigawa
ATHENS (Kyodo) Japan's Satoru Tanigawa set a national record in the men's 110-meter hurdles Tuesday to advance to the second round of heats along with countryman Masato Naito at the Athens Olympics.
Tanigawa clocked 13.39 seconds at Olympic Stadium to break the previous mark held by Naito by 0.08 as he finished third in Heat 1 behind Ladji Doucoure of France and Latvian Stanislavs Olijars.
Tamesue starts well
ATHENS (Kyodo) Japan's Dai Tamesue got off to a good start in his bid to become the first Japanese Olympic medalist in the men's 400-meter hurdles as he advanced into the semifinals of the Athens Games with the third-best time in his heat Monday.
Tamesue was distracted by the crowd noise at the near-sellout Olympic Stadium at the start, but the 26-year-old national record holder recovered to take the lead at the 200-meter mark and come home in 48.80 seconds.