Japan swept the half-marathon and 4x100-meter relay finals en route to winning 10 gold medals in athletics at the East Asian Games on Thursday. Japan started the gold medal rush when Toshinari Fujimoto emerged victorious in the men's half-marathon in 1 hour, 8 minutes, 14 seconds, edging South Korea's Huh Jang Kyu by three seconds.
Yoshiko Ichikawa matched Fujimoto's feat in the women's half-marathon shortly afterward with a time of 1:16:31, while Yoshitaka Iwamizu led a Japanese 1-2 finish with Yasunori Uchitomi in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8:40.16.
The Japanese men's 4x100-meter relay team of Shingo Kawabata, Shinji Takahira, Yusuke Omae and Shinya Saburi clocked 39.61 to edge Taiwan by 0.28. Earlier, Saori Kitakaze, Kayoko Kurimoto, Rina Fujimaki and Ayumi Suzuki teamed up to strike gold in the women's 4x100-meter relay in 44.88.
In other action at Macau Stadium, Asami Tanno won the women's 400 meters in 52.69 and Yoshihiro Horigome prevailed in the men's 400 in 46.44. Hiroyuki Morikawa set a meet record 3:48.27 in the men's 1,500 and Hiroaki Doi took the men's hammer throw title with 70.35 meters.