Shunsuke Izumiya, a 26-year-old Japanese hurdler specializing in the men’s 110m hurdles and a representative for the Tokyo World Championships last September, updated his Instagram account to explain his withdrawal from the final of the Kinami Memorial on the 10th.
Izumiya, who competes for Sumitomo Electric, advanced from the preliminaries with a time of 13.34 seconds, finishing first in his heat. However, he withdrew from the final. Alongside sharing race footage and commemorative photos with teammates—including men’s 400m hurdler Kazuki Kurokawa and women’s long jumper Misaki Hayashi—he wrote: “I withdrew from the final because I felt discomfort in my leg during warm-up.” He also added, “For next week’s GGP, I’ll adjust my approach so I don’t take as big a stride, haha,” referring to the Seiko Golden Grand Prix 2026 Tokyo event scheduled for the 17th.
Fans and followers responded warmly to the post, leaving comments such as, “I was worried when the announcer said you withdrew from the final,” “I was hoping to see you in the final, but I’m looking forward to next week’s GGP,” “Take a good rest,” and “Looking forward to your next competition.”
