Despite coming up short in the national championships, Olympic-bound sprinter Ryota Yamagata has high expectations for himself at the upcoming Rio de Janeiro Games.
The 24-year-old, who finished runner-up to Aska Cambridge by 0.01 seconds for a 10.17 mark in the men's 100-meter final at nationals last Saturday in Nagoya, said on Thursday that he was confident he can accomplish great things in Brazil if he can tweak his performance.
"At nationals, I didn't do well on my starts in the preliminary and semifinal rounds, so I tried to fix it for the final," Yamagata said in Tokyo. "In the final, I had a good start and I could say I had the best race (in the tournament), but I got a little stiff later in it and it cost (the first place)."