Despite the intense heat, Japanese runners thrived under the conditions with Kei Katanishi leading the way by earning gold in 1 hour, 6min and 9sec.

He ended the race with a 14 second margin of victory over his team-mate Naoki Kudo, while Kengo Suzuki ensured the first clean sweep of a podium at the Universiade by ending third in 1:06:52.

Japan's success was reflected in the team standings as they took gold in a combined time of 3:19:28.

They finished with a clear margin of victory over South Africa and Turkey, who ended in 3:31:38 and 3:34:42 respectively.

Japan's Yuki Munehisa had earlier triumphed in the women's half marathon in a time of 1:13.48, finishing 40 seconds clear of Turkey's Esma Aydemir.

The podium was rounded off by Sak Fukui, with the Japanese runner ending a further nine seconds back.

A combined time of 3:43:35 was enough for Japan to easily take the team crown.

Turkey managed 3:55:13 for the silver medal, with Chinese Taipei adding to their collection with bronze in 4:05:52.

Distance races continued on the track with an extremely impressive finish from Germany's Hanna Klein seeing her take women's 5,000m gold on a cool evening.

Klein powered past Britain's Jess Judd in the final 250 metres, pulling clear to win the event in 15:45.28.

Canada's Jessica O'Connell and Judd battled for the silver, with the former ending one second clear of her rival at the finish in 15:50.96, leaving the Briton to settle for bronze.

The men's 3,000m steeplechase final saw Poland's Krystian Zalewski dramatically steal victory from under the nose of South Africa's Rantso Alfred Mokopane.

Mokopane had looked set to claim the gold, but Zalewski stormed through in the final metres to clinch victory in 8:35.88.

Having been pipped to gold, Mokopane had to settle for the silver medal in 8:36.25, with Algeria's Ali Messaoudi taking bronze in 8:37.14.

A dominant performance Balazs Baji saw the Hungarian clinch victory in the men's 110m hurdles final in a time of 13.35.

The home crowd had cause for celebration when Chen Kuei-Ru won the silver medal in a personal best 13.55.

The podium was rounded off by Poland's Damian Czykier, who clocked 13.56.

The final medal event on today's track programme saw Austria's Verena Preiner seal the women's heptathlon crown, as the 800m discipline brought the seven event competition to a close.

Preiner claimed Austria's first medal of the Universiade with a total score of 6,224 points, having won the 100m hurdles, the 200m and javelin throw disciplines.

Alysha Jane Burnett of Australia finished second on 5,835, while Belgian Noor Vidts rounded out the podium after amassing 5,728.

Canada's Brittany Crew was the only athlete to throw over 18m in the women's shot put, winning gold with a distance of 18.34m.

The Polish pairing of Klaudia Kardasz and Paulina Guba achieved distances of 17.90m and 17.76m to claim silver and bronze respectively.

Germany's Kristin Pudenz triumphed in the women's discus throw competition as her effort of 59.09m was enough to take the title.

The United States' Valarie Allman was second after throwing 58.36m, with Australia's Taryn Gollshewsky third by throwing 58.11m.

The final gold medal of the night was earned by Portugal's Diogo Ferreira in the men's pole vault, as he topped the standings following a best attempt of 5.55m.

Kazakhstan's Sergey Grigoryev cleared 5.50m for silver, while Italy's Claudio Stecchi completed the medal positions by taking bronze on 5.40m.

Chinese Taipei won four of today's six billiards medals but, because it is an invitational sport, they will not be included on the medals table.

Hsu Jui-An won the all-Chinese Taipei men's nine-ball singles final.

He comfortably defeated compatriot Liu Cheng-Chieh 11-3.

Bronze was won by Norway's Eirik Riisnaes after he outclassed Japan's Kengo Suzuki to win 11-2.

Ku Cheng-Chin then won the hosts' second gold medal of the night in the women's equivalent.

Ku proved too strong for N. Bayarsaikhan of Mongolia, winning 9-6.

Chinese Taipei's Wu Zhi-Ting completed the podium as she brushed aside Mongolia's Uyanga Battulga 9-1.