■Athletics Diamond League Final Brussels Tournament, Day 2 (15th Japan time, Belgium)

The finals are open to only the top performers in the Diamond League (DL), where the world’s best athletes gather. Nozomi Tanaka (25, New Balance) participated in the women’s 5000m and placed 6th with a season-best time of 14 minutes 31.88 seconds.

This was Tanaka’s second consecutive final appearance. He took on the challenge of the race in a memorable place where he came third in the 5,000m at the DL Brussels competition last September, setting a new Japanese record of 14 minutes 29.18 seconds.

Tanaka was in around 8th place in the early stages of the race, but dropped to the back of the pack at the 2600m mark. The African runners from Kenya and Ethiopia were leading the race, and by the 3400m mark, the gap between them and Tanaka had widened considerably. Nevertheless, Tanaka managed to move up in the second half of the race and finish in 6th place.

Looking back on this season, Tanaka said with regret, “I was able to finish with season bests in both the 1500m and 5000m, but I wasn’t able to beat the Japanese record in either event.” He showed his enthusiasm for breaking the Japanese record, saying, “I want to aim for my personal best next year, and I think that if I aim for my personal best, I’ll be able to see the finals, so I want to bring that feeling to the World Championships.”

On the 6th, Tanaka competed in the women’s 5000m at the DL Zurich competition, finishing in 7th place with a time of 14 minutes 49.95 seconds, breaking the participation standard (14 minutes 50.00 seconds) for the Tokyo 2025 IAAF World Championships in Athletics next September. This is Tanaka’s second time breaking the participation standard after the 1500m.

At this summer’s Paris Olympics™, he competed in the 1500m and 5000m. Although he failed to advance to the finals in either event, he recorded a time of 3 minutes 59.70 seconds in the 1500m semi-finals. This was his first time in three years to run under four minutes, and he had broken the qualifying standard for the Tokyo 2025 IAAF World Championships.