The Japan men's 4x100-meter relay team stunned the world by capturing the silver medal at last summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics. And that feat made its compatriots think the future is bright for the nation's sprinters for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and beyond.

Stunning was indeed the right description because no Japanese sprinter has ever run under 10 seconds, including the relay members.

But Koji Ito, chairman of the High Performance Committee for the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, is confident that 2017 is going to be a breakout year for elite Japanese sprinters and that someone will finally accomplish the feat.