Japanese record holder Koji Murofushi won the men's hammer throw event for his sixth straight national championship crown Sunday as the all-Japan athletics meet at Miyagi Stadium came to a close.
Murofushi, who set the national record of 81.01 meters in Yokohama early last month, easily won with an effort of 76.39 meters this time. In Sydney, Murofushi became the first Japanese to reach the Olympic men's hammer throw final since the 1976 Montreal Games.
Nobuharu Asahara, who was a member of Japan's 4x100-meter relay team that finished sixth at the final in Sydney, crossed the line in 10.35 seconds to win the men's 100 meters, while teammate and national record holder Koji Ito sat out the competition with fatigue.
"After all the hard training I've been doing in Germany, it's nice to finish the season with a win," Asahara said after the race.
Maho Hanaoka, who soared to victory in the women's triple jump on Friday, won the women's long jump with a wind-assisted leap of 6.46 meters.
In the women's 200 meters, Motoka Arai, who won the 100 on Saturday, came home in first place with a time of 24.01 seconds.
In other events in the championship, which also serves as a qualifier for next year's East Asia Games in Osaka, Ikuko Tamura clinched the women's 1,500 meters in 4 minutes, 19.49 seconds ahead of first-year high school student Yukari So who clocked 4:21.64.