Masatora Kawano won silver in the men's 35-kilometer race walk at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday, helping Japan equal its record tally of four medals set at the 2003 edition in Paris.
Italy's Massimo Stano held off Kawano by just one second to win the first-ever men's 35 km race at a world championships in a time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, 14 seconds, with Sweden's Perseus Karlstrom taking bronze in 2:23:44.
"I'm disappointed I couldn't win gold, but I'm really happy I won a medal," said the 23-year-old Kawano, who is competing at his first worlds in Oregon.
"I walked at a comfortably fast pace mid-race and prepared myself for the final push. I want to work hard again for better results and not lose my focus."
The newly-introduced 35 km event replaced the 50 km race at the world championships. Kawano holds the Japan national record over the longer distance.
Kawano, who battled a bout of vomiting and the sweltering heat to finish sixth in the 50 km event at last summer's Tokyo Games, went toe-to-toe with Tokyo Olympic 20 km champion Stano over the final two kilometers.
Later in the day, the Japanese men's 4x400-meter relay team of Fuga Sato, Kaito Kawabata, Julian Walsh and Yuki Nakajima finished fourth in the final in a national record time of 2:59.51. Japan's previous best finish at worlds was seventh, in 2003.
"Our generation is going to take the level up a notch so watch us," said Walsh, who received the baton from second leg runner Kawabata and pulled the team from sixth to fourth.
Japan won gold and silver in the men's 20 km race walk and bronze in the women's javelin earlier in the 10-day championships, which wrapped up Sunday.
