Japanese record-holders Izumiya, Terada and Aoki to race in Tokyo

Some of Japan’s leading hurdlers will be in action when the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series arrives at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium for the Seiko Golden Grand Prix on 8 May.

Japanese 110m hurdles record-holder Shunsuke Izumiya, joint national 100m hurdles record-holders Asuka Terada and Masumi Aoki, and Olympic 400m hurdles semifinalist Hiromu Yamauchi will take on some of the world’s top athletes as they look to further improve their records in the early part of the outdoor season.

Izumiya clocked 13.06 when winning the national title in Osaka last June – a time that placed him fifth in the world on the season top list ­– and went on to reach the semifinals at the Olympics in Tokyo. He was second in last year’s Ready Steady Tokyo meeting, part of the World Athletics Continental Tour.

Terada and Aoki went head-to-head at the Ready Steady Tokyo meeting, with Terada taking the win in 12.99, and the pair have matching PBs of 12.87.

Joining Yamauchi in the men’s 400m hurdles field will be last year’s Ready Steady Tokyo winner Kazuki Kurokawa and Takatoshi Abe. Along with Izumiya, this year's 110m hurdles line-up includes Shunya Takayama and Rachid Muratake.

Organisers for World Athletics