extravagant; absurd; unbelievable; enormous; tremendous; extraordinary
useless; no future in it; doesn't make sense; having no point
chance to win; opportunity to win; chance of victory
to end in vain; to be wasted effort
athletic meet (esp. at school); sports day
descent (to earth, esp. of a god); advent; epiphany; arrival (of an important person); appearance
ball game (e.g. baseball, tennis, soccer)
unskilled; clumsy; lousy; poor; awkward; shitty
opposition; rivalry; competition; antagonism
anchor (of a ship); last runner or swimmer in a relay team; news anchor; news presenter; anchor (clock component); pallet fork; anchor (HTML)
day in question; appointed day; that very day; the day (of issue, publication, etc.)
last; final; closing; last train (bus, flight, etc.; of the day)
cord used to tuck up the sleeves of a kimono; sash (worn across chest, e.g. by election candidate or relay runners); wrapper band on books, CDs, etc.
to pull apart; to separate; to have a lead over; to pull ahead of; to outdistance
baton (relay, orchestral conducting, etc.)
second; number two; runner-up
in; on; at (place); as for; regarding
to build; to construct; to erect; to amass (e.g. fortune); to pile up
lead; leading; lead (of a newspaper, etc.); lede; lead (wire); lead (e.g. dog); leash
end (e.g. of a line); tail end; rear; backmost part
frantic dash; rushing at full speed
gradually; steadily; slowly; little by little; step by step; by degrees
to stuff into; to jam; to shorten; to move closer together; to reduce (spending); to conserve; to focus intently on
first place; first rank; unit's position; Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata)
third rank (in the Japanese court system); Trinity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
look (esp. an angry or upset look); expression
above anything else; above all; more than anything; best; greatest; excellent
very hard; with utmost effort; as hard as one can; with all one's might; for dear life; eagerly
acceleration; speeding up
to change way one holds something; to transfer something from one hand to the other
set of three; three sets; three classes
two classes; double; two sets
running parallel (to); running side-by-side; keeping pace (with)
to compete; to contend; to vie; to contest
to beat by a wide margin (in a race); to tear (off) roughly
just one person; only one
class (of students); group (of people); party; lot; bunch; crime family; organized-crime syndicate