japan running news

Ekiden season saw two of its first important races happen this weekend. Modeled after January's Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden, Sunday's Okukuma Ekiden in Kumamoto put corporate, collegiate and high school teams together on a marathon-length course with teams of 4 all running double-digit distances and high schoolers with teams of 7 and all but the 10.0 km First Stage split into two parts. Tosu Kogyo H.S. starting runner Taiyo Iwasa led corporate leaguer Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) by 2 seconds on the First Stage, with Omuta H.S. third runner Yuma Matsuda passing both teams to take the lead. It took until the anchor stage for Hiramatsu Byoin's Yeneblo Biyazen to catch Omuta, crossing the line in 2:06:39 with Omuta anchor Nobuyuki Anai 7 seconds back for 1st in the high school division. Soka University was the only other team to go under 2:07, 3rd overall and 2nd in the college/corporate division in 2:06:57. Rakunan H.S. was next in 2:07:07, with e

With the calendar ticking over into October, companies across the country are holding employment offer ceremonies for college students who will join their ranks after graduating next March. 4th-year runners from top universities are also deciding their roads ahead. Having run the fastest-ever time on the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage and playing a key role in Aoyama Gakuin University 's overall win at the 100th Hakone this past January, Aoi Ota , 22, is set to join the GMO corporate team. His teammates Akimu Nomura , 21, and Kosei Shiraishi , 22, plan to join Sumitomo Denko . Former 5000 m high school record holder Kosuke Ishida , 22, who missed all three big college ekidens last year but has made a stellar recovery this season, will join Subaru after graduating from Toyo University . With the fates of their teams in their hands, they and other 4th-years will give it all in their final seasons before moving on to the next stage of their lives. At the 100th Hakone Ekiden Ota del

After running the 2nd-fastest time ever by a Japanese man, 2:05:12, to finish 6th at the Sept. 29 Berlin Marathon, Yohei Ikeda (26, Kao) made an appearance at city hall in his hometown of Shimada, Shizuoka on Oct. 3. Ikeda told Mayor Kinuyo Someya , 70, "I'm disappointed that I missed my goal of breaking the Japanese national record by 16 seconds. But the work I put in paid off. This was a race that's going to lead to something more." Ikeda was a member of the baseball team when he was a student at Shimada Ichi J.H.S. before switching full-time to the track team at Shimada H.S. Starting his second year at Nittai University he was a regular on Nittai's Hakone Ekiden team. After graduating he joined the Kao corporate team, running 2:06:53 in his marathon debut at the 2023 Osaka Marathon. Berlin was his third shot at the marathon distance, and he succeeded in improving his PB by 1:41. Local residents flocked to join city officials in greeting the new local hero

  On Oct. 2 the organizers of the 2024 National Sports Festival set to take place Oct. 11-15 in Saga announced that single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras are banned at the stadium where track and field competition will take place to prevent people from secretly shooting pictures and video of athletes. "These are likely the strictest restrictions on photography put in place at any national-level competition," commented a spokesperson. Track and field at the National Sports Festival will take place at Saga Stadium in Saga. Only media organizations, the families, coaches and other related people will be allowed to bring SLR cameras into the stadium if they have applied in advance. Smartphones and video cameras will also not be allowed in the no-photography areas near the start and finish lines. In recent years "athlete voyeurism," in which people take close-up photos and video of female athletes' breasts and lower bodies, has become a national problem. Venues are incre

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Results at this year's Berlin Marathon were big overall, with 6 women under 2:21 and 14 men under 2:07, and in both the women's and men's races multiple Japanese athletes had great days. In the women's race Paris Olympics marathon alternate Ai Hosoda (Edion) and Tokyo Olympics marathon alternate Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) ran the entire way together, 1:10:13 through halfway and 2:13:09 at 40 km. Hosoda had the better closing speed, finishing in an all-time Japanese #7 2:20:31 for 5th. Matsuda, who had previously broken 2:21 in her win at the 2022 Osaka International Women's Marathon, took 10 seconds off her time in that race for an all-time Japanese #8 2:20:42 for 6th. Having floated retirement after missing the Paris team, it was a great payoff for Matsuda's decision to give it one more go. Hosoda's 2:20 was a major breakthrough, but as her 5th time going under 2:22 Matsuda's performance solidified her position as one of Japan's best ever. After a

Coming up through the ranks as Japan's next top-level steeper, Yutaro Niinae broke through with a 5-second PB of 8:20.36 to win at the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup Sunday in Niigata and bump himself up to all-time Japanese #6. With pacing early on from Aisan Kogyo teammate Philemon Kiplagat , Niinae had the confidence to break away from the field of 6 just after halfway, opening over 10 seconds on Kiplagat by the end of the race. Hibiki Obara was 3rd in 8:36.68. Teenaged national record holders Ko Ochiai , 17, and Rin Kubo , 16, went for aggressive times in the 800 m finals, Ochiai going through 400 m in 51 but fading to 1:46.88. "I wanted to go for the Tokyo World Championships qualifying standard," he said, "but that first lap felt really fast. I learned a lot at the World U20 Championships and that even though I'm at the top Japan I still have a long way to go internationally." Kubo almost perfectly matched the 200 m splits from her sub-2 NR this sum