Kenya Karasawa, 27, won the silver medal, and Shinya Wada, 44, grabbed the bronze medal in the men's 5,000 meters T11, a class for those with visual impairments, when track and field events kicked off on Friday, the fourth day of the Tokyo Paralympics.
Karasawa finished with a time of 15 minutes 18.12 seconds, while Wada clocked in at 15:21.03.
Karasawa could not reach his goal of winning a gold medal, but he was satisfied with the medal that he bagged in his Paralympic debut.
"I could run as aggressively as I planned," he said, looking content. "It means a lot to me that I was able to race in a way that will leave the possibility that I can also compete in the [2024] Paris Paralympics and beyond."
He initially remained in the pack with the other runners to carefully save his energy for the latter stage of the race and then gradually increased his speed in the last 1,000 meters. This was the race plan that has brought him good results on numerous occasions this season.
In the Paralympics, two guide runners are allowed to take turns in 5,000-meter or longer races. Karasawa took advantage of this rule and made the most of the abilities of two different types of guide runners.
In the first half of the race, Koji Kobayashi, who is good at pace-setting, served as his guide runner. For the last 1,000 meters or so, the role was taken over by the younger and faster Hiroaki Mogi. The switch to Mogi served as a sign for Karasawa to increase the pace, and he took the lead with one more lap to go.
"With Mogi cheering me, saying, 'Come on, go, go!' I was able to remain tough and proceed with the race aggressively," said Karasawa.
In the end, Yeltsin Jacques of Brazil took the lead -- and the gold medal -- but the Japanese runner managed to keep his concentration and finished the race. The first thing he did was to thank his guide runners.
"This is the silver medal that I grabbed with my mates. I'm so happy," said Karasawa.
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