The boy born in 2009 Sorato Shimizu reminiscent of the “lightning” Usain Bolt, causing the world to run the world to run 100m in just 10 seconds, thereby breaking the U18 age record at the Championship of Japanese high schools.
Japan has long been known as the speed of the male relay content, with the Olympic Medal collection and the impressive world – especially the historic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. However, Japanese athletes often stand out in team content rather than individuals.
Having had much expectation on Abdul Hakim Sani Brown – athletes carrying two Japanese – Ghana bloodlines, when he won a double gold brace in the content of 100m and 200m at the U18 World California 2015. In the Eugene 2022 Land Magistrate, Brown was the first Japanese to reach the final of 100m, ranked 7th. However, at the age of 26, his development was not expected. Brown's best achievement is 9.96 seconds in the Paris Olympic semi -finals – but not enough to reach the final.
Therefore, the explosive debut of Sorato Shimizu became the focus of attention of Japanese sports. The boy born on February 8, 2009 had previously impressed in the Japanese league when running 10.19 seconds in the qualifying round (July 4), and only 0.01 second less to the final (10.25).
At the championship of high schools – a smaller playground – Shimizu was really “shocking” with a record of 10.00 seconds (wind +1.7), breaking the U18 record 10.06 seconds earlier, by Christian Miller (USA) and Puripol Boonson (Thailand) held since 2023.
Will Shimizu participate in the WDU in Tokyo in September?
The level of 10.00 seconds is also the standard for the World Athletics. The tournament that Shimizu participated was in the global schedule, so the results were recognized to consider the prize.
However, it is still waiting for a decision from the Japan Athletics Federation, because Shimizu did not achieve the official capacity from the league. Currently, Japan has only two athletes who are eligible for 100m – one is Sani Brown (although the form of this season is very bad, not running below 10.31), the other is a point calculation system, so there is still an empty capacity.
The possibility of Shimizu chosen to the relay team is very low, even though it is the fastest Japanese running this year, because the Japanese 4×100 squad is extremely stable and requires careful coordination practice.
Even so, fans are still expecting to see this 16 -year -old “prodigy” striding at Tokyo National Stadium in September – a promising performance!