japan running news

  The National Corporate Track and Field Championships happen in Gifu over the next three days, a late-season meetup for non-distance runners in Japan’s corporate leagues and a chance for distance runners to see where they’re at after summer base training just before ekiden season kicks off. The entry lists always promise a lot that the start lists can’t deliver, and especially with the Asian Games starting next week it’s inevitable that a lot of the big names won’t really be there. Streaming of Saturday starts at 10:00 local time, with Sunday on the same channel. Complete meet schedule here . As of this writing only the distance event start lists have been released. The junior women’s 3000 m at 17:00 Friday is pretty much a head-to-head between Janet Nyiva (Panasonic), 8:49.32, and Esther Wangui (Starts), 8:53.21, the main question being whether they can hit Tokyo Marathon winner Rosemary Wanjiru ’s 8:48.44 meet record from 2014. The women’s 10000 m starts at 18:45 Friday and feat

The Tango University Ekiden , the major ekiden for schools in the Kansai Region, will hold its 85th edition on Nov. 18. In 2013 the race returned to the Tango area of northern Kyoto after 9 years being held on the shores of Lake Biwa. To commemorate the event's landmark anniversary, 6-time Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University will make a special appearance in the Tango University Ekiden this year without counting in its results. AGU head coach Susumu Hara had approached the organizers in the Kansai collegiate athletics federation some time ago about his team running, and with the 85th anniversary on the horizon plans were finalized. In order to cover AGU's travel from Tokyo and other costs for its athletes and staff, local government officials conducted a "government crowdfunding" scheme in which locals could donate a portion of their taxes. The scheme has been used in the last three years to fund a TV broadcast of the race, and this time the target of ¥1

On Sept. 20 the JAAF announced that three members of Japan's team for the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 Hangzhou Asian Games have withdrawn due to injury. According to the announcement, Arisa Kimishima , the only Japanese woman scheduled to run the 100 m and 200 m, is out with plantar fasciitis. Haruka Kokai , one of two women in the 10000 m, has sustained a stress fracture in one of her feet. Kazuto Iizawa , one of two entrants in the men's 1500 m, is suffering from lower back pain. source article: https://www.rikujyokyogi.co.jp/archives/114700 translated and edited by Brett Larner

Men's 90+ 100 m world record holder  Hiroo Tanaka  has become a household name in Aomori. On the Sept. 18 Respect for the Aged Day national holiday Tanaka, 92, planned to go for his own world record at a masters track and field meet held in Hirosaki, Aomori. 140 people took part in the Aomori Masters Track and Field Championships, but there was no question who drew the most attention.  Tanaka competed in the 400 m, and 2 hours later lined up again in the 100 m. He started well, but after losing momentum in the middle part of the race he finished in 18.17. Having been suffering from lower back problems recently, that time was almost a second off his best, but Tanaka still had enough in him to come back and run the 200 m afterward.  "My typical training isn't that hard, and I'm able to work out 5 days a week," he said. "Once I turn 95 I don't know if there'll be any other competitors or not. The number will be close to zero, so my chances will be very g

The 2023 National University Track and Field Championships wrapped with two meet records, one as old as one of the women who broke it, in its final two events. Ai Watanabe of Sonoda Gakuen Joshi University started her afternoon with a win in the 800 m final at 12:30 in 2:07.89, over half a second up on 2nd-placer Mahiro Hasegawa (Kyoto Kyoiku Univ.). Two hours later she was back to run 2nd for Sonoda in the 4x400 m. Yuzuki Nakao put them into the lead, and Watanabe, Hinata Tochio and anchor Marin Adachi carried the momentum all the way to a 3:36.71 MR, breaking Fukushima University 's 2004-era 3:37.30 record. 2nd-placer Fukuoka University just missed joining them under the record too at 3:37.41, with Waseda University close behind in 3:37.65 for 3rd. Immediately following that, after its first three runners built a solid lead the Waseda men looked to be in range of not just the meet record but the collegiate 4x400 m record of 3:03.71 from 2000. Just behind them, Budapest Wo

Early season injuries might have kept him home from Budapest, but Rachid Muratake (Juntendo University) showed he's more than just back with the performance of the meet on day 3 of the National University Track and Field Championships in Kumagaya, Saitama. After leading the men's 110 mH heats with a conservative 13.52 (+1.5) and the semifinals with an even more conservative 13.71 (-1.0), Muratake blazed a 13.04 (-0.9) to win the final. That took 0.25 off former Juntendo teammate Shunsuke Izumiya 's meet record, 0.02 off Izumiya's collegiate record, and tied the national record Izumiya set earlier this year as a pro. It also put Muratake alongside Izumiya in the top 10 worldwide this year, no small feat while still in college. 2nd-placer Ryota Machi (Kokusai Budo Univ.) was a distant afterthought at 13.72. In the men's hammer throw Shota Fukuda (Nihon Univ.) did the nearly impossible, breaking the great Koji Murofushi 's 1996 meet record 71.84 m with a 5th-ro

  Afternoon thunderstorms interrupted some of the later events on the second day of the National University Track and Field Championships in Kumagaya, Saitama, but Jason Atuobeng (Fukuoka Univ.) got in before that with a meet record 18.18 m to win the men's shot put title. Atuobeng's opening 17.67 m would have been enough for the win, but on his 2nd attempt he went 12 cm over the year-old meet record with the 18.18 m throw that proved to be his best of the day. His 3rd attempt was over the old record too at 18.17 m, but Atuobeng couldn't get any closer to his pre-meet goal of Japan's first-ever throw over 19 m. In other field event results: Koki Fujihara (Toyo Univ.) led the men's long jump with a 2nd attempt of 8.05 (+1.2), but on his final attempt Yuto Toriumi (Nihon Univ.) dropped a 8.07 m (+0.8) jump to steal the win. Megumi Dainobu (Nittai Univ.) and Akari Osakaya (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) both cleared 4.00 m in the women's pole vault, but with Dain