japan running news

  With three days of athletics competition left at the 2024 Paris Paralympics Japan is well onto the medal table with four silvers and two bronze medals, but it has yet to score gold. Kenya Karasawa took silver in the T11 men's 5000 m on the first day of competition, running an Asian record 14:51.48 to finish between Brazilians Julio Cesar Agripino dos Santos , whose 14:48.85 world record earned him gold, and Yeltsin Jacques , bronze in 14:52.61. Japan's Shinya Wada was 4thin 15:16.41. Tomoki Sato and Tomoya Ito followed Karasawa in the evening session with silver and bronze in the T52 men's 400 m. Belgian Maxime Carabin won gold in 55.10, Sato close behind in 56.26 for silver and Ito an easy bronze in 1:01.08. It took another two days for Japan's next medal to come, this one from Shuta Kawakami in the T13 men's 100 m. Gold and silver medalists Skander Djamal Athmani of Algeria and Salum Ageze Kashafali of Norway were far ahead in 10.42 (-0.1) and 10.47, b

On Sept. 6 Yamada Holdings announced that its women's ekiden team has scratched from the Oct. 20 Princess Ekiden, the qualifying race for the Nov. 24 Queens Ekiden national corporate women's championships in Sendai. Yamada Holdings had been targeting a podium finish at the Queens Ekiden this year. The announcement stated, "A restructured development system was put in place this year to develop a stronger team, but with multiple athletes injured we have made the decision to withdraw from running the Princess Ekiden." Other races on the schedule this season remain a question mark and will depend on athletes' conditions. The Yamada Holdings team was 22nd at the Queens Ekiden last year, well off the podium and earning the guaranteed place at the following year's race that comes with it. Longtime coaching staff member Kei Yokoyama , 49, was appointed head coach this year after 10 years as assistant coach, and hopes were high that the team would return to previous

The Lima World U20 Championships wrapped with 5th-place finishes by Japanese athletes in both finals that had them. In the men's 3000 mSC final, Soma Nagahara started conservatively, sitting 11th at 1000 m in 2:49.36 with leader Edmund Serem of Kenya almost 2 second ahead. Over the next 1000 m Nagahara moved up into 5th, and that's where he stayed. Serem took gold in an U20 world-leading 8:15.28, and with 8 of the next 9 finishers running PBs to get there Nagahara hung on for 5th in a PB 8:30.37 just over 6 seconds outside the medals. Nagahara's former Saku Chosei H.S. teammate Tetsu Sasaki , who had scratched from the 3000 m earlier in the championships, was in 15th at 1000 m but dropped to last, 16th of 16 in 9:16.20 and the only athlete not to break 9 minutes. The men's 4x400 m relay got off to a slow start, opening runner Ryota Oishi 7th of 9 in 47.66. Japan's next two runners Kentaro Shirahata and Kairi Gonda moved up to 6th and then 5th, and with a stro

Japan finally got on the medal board with a silver medal from Rikuya Yoshida and a pair of bronzes from Ko Ochiai and Kaisei Nakatani on the fourth day of the Lima World U20 Championships. Yoshida was up first in the men's pole vault, where he cleared a PB 5.40 m on his first attempt, good for silver behind German Hendrik Muller who made 5.45 m. Czech Jan Krcek also PBd at 5.30 m for bronze, with Ryota Murakoso 4th at 5.20 m. After squeezing through the men's 800 m semifinals by 0.02, NR holder Ochiai started strong in the final, 2nd through 200 m in 25.13 and 4th at 400 m in 52.19, almost dead even with his NR last month. By 600 m he dropped to 6th, but over the final 200 m he ran down Kenyans Kelvin Kimutai Koech and Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech and Qatari Hatim Ait Oulghazi to take bronze in 1:47.03 behind Ethiopian General Berhanu Ayansa and Australian Peyton Craig . Ochiai's closing split of 27.33 was actually faster than Ayana's 27.53 and Craig's 27.46, b

Like at the Paris Olympics, there's no shortage of top 8 placings by Japanese athletes so far at the Lima World U20 Championships , but no medals yet. One of 4 Japanese athletes in action in finals on the third day of the championships, Koki Kanai was 70 cm out of the medals in the men's triple jump, going 15.60 m (+1.8) for 7th in the final. Gold medalist Ethan Olivier of New Zealand set a new Oceania U20 record of 17.01 m (+1.4) for the win. Kentaro Shirahata better Kanai's placing in the men's 400 m final, running 46.83 for 5th after having run PBs in both the heats and semifinals. Gold medalist Udeme Okon was the only athlete to break 46 seconds, running 45.69. Despite high expectations, Yamato Hamaguchi couldn't quite crack top 8 in the men's 3000 m final, running 8:24.60 for 9th. Teammate Tetsu Sasaki was a DNS. Gold medalist Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen of Norway and silver medalist Denis Kipkoech of Kenya raced each other to sub-8:21 times, Halvorsen

Only one Japanese athlete was in action in finals on the second day of the Lima World U20 Championships . After making it through the heats and semifinals in the men's 100 m, Naoki Nishioka turned in the highest placing by a Japanese athlete so far in Lima, taking 5th in the final in 10.43 (-0.9). South Africans Bayanda Walaza and Bradley Nkoana took gold and bronze in 10.19 and 10.26, with Thailand's Puripol Boonson splitting it down the middle with a 10.22 for silver. In qualifying rounds: Kentaro Shirahata and Ryota Oishi both moved on to the men's 400 m semifinals, Shirahata winning Heat 5 in a 46.45 PB and Oishi only 4th in Heat 3 but picking up a time qualifying spot in 47.46. Shirahata was back in the semifinals with another PB to win SF2 in 46.30, 2nd among the qualifiers for the final behind American Jayden Davis . Oishi was 5th in SF3 in 48.09 and will not join Shirahata in the final. Koki Terada failed to make it out of the men's 1500 m heats, finishin

  The 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships kicked off Aug. 27 in Lima, Peru. Top-ranked Japanese woman Kana Mizumoto  was a DNS in the Championships' first final, the women's 5000 m, but teammate Yumi Yamamoto  was the top non-African finisher at 6th, running 16:01.54. But with gold medalist Medina Eisa  of Ethiopia running a 14:39.71 championships record Yamamoto was over 36 seconds outside the medals. All three men's 5000 m medalists ran 13:41 with Kenyan Andrew Kiptoo Alamisi  taking gold in 13:41.14. That was slightly faster than the PBs of Yamato Hamaguchi  and Kaito Matsui , but both were far below potential with Hamaguchi 13th in 14:16.29 and Matsui last in 15:31.85. In qualifying rounds, both 800 m national record holders Rin Kubo  and Ko Ochiai  easily made the semifinals, Kubo the fastest overall in the women's heats with a 2:04.53 and Ochiai 2nd in his heat in 1:50.67. Togo Yoshizawa  also advanced, 3rd in Heat 3 in 1:51.49 behind Ochiai's biggest riva