Yoshihide Kiryu became the first Japanese to break the 10-second barrier in the 100 meters with a time of 9.98 seconds at an intercollegiate meet on Saturday.
Kiryu finally realized a long-held Japanese athletics dream by shaving 0.02 off the national record set by Koji Ito in 1998. The tail wind was 1.8 meters on Saturday.
"I'm thrilled to have done it in my last 100 race of the season," Kiryu said after beating out Shuhei Tada (10.07) in the 100 final, his last meet as a Toyo University student. "I'd been stuck for four years and I managed to rewrite my own record at last."