Shingo Suetsugu raced to victory in the men's 100 meters at the Nambu Memorial track and field meet Sunday to all but claim a berth at next month's world athletics championships.
Suetsugu, who skipped the national championships in June with an injury to his left knee, crossed the finish line in a wind-assisted unofficial time of 10.15 seconds at Maruyama track and field stadium.
The result is convincing enough for him to be added to the selections for the Aug. 6-14 meet in Helsinki. The head wind was 3.4 meters, over the legal limit. Tatsuro Yoshino finished second in 10.25 while Nobuharu Asahara was third in 10.28.
"I'm just happy that I was able to make it here. While I was in Okinawa, I was training with the hope of making it in time for this meet," said Suetsugu, who after hurting his knee trained from June 19 until July 2 on the island of Okinawa.