Harumi Hiroyama, denied a berth on Japan's highly touted Olympic marathon team, snared a ticket to the Sydney Games on Sunday with a victory in the women's 10,000 meters at the Mito International track and field meet.
Hiroyama broke away from the pack with 4,000 meters remaining in the race at Mito Municipal Stadium and ran alone over the final 2,000 to win with a time of 31 minutes, 59.60 seconds. Silvia Sommagio of Italy was second in 32:15.95 and Kenya's Catherine Ndereba came in third at 32:17.58. Japanese Olympic marathon team member Ari Ichihashi was seventh in 33:05.60.
Hiroyama was fourth at this distance at last year's World Championships in Spain.
Nihon University student Takahiko Yamamura won the men's 400 meters in 45.81, defeating Ken Harden of Zimbabwe and Japanese Olympic team candidate Jun Osakada, while the women's event went to Lee Naylor of Australia in 52.75 seconds. Obadele Thompson of Barbados, a fourth-place finisher in last year's World Championships, won the men's 100 meters in 10.58 seconds and Melinda Gainsford won the women's race in 11.57.