Skip to main content

Olympic Marathoner Atsushi Sato Training in Hometown Fukushima

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/news/2008/05/20080522t64013.htm

translated by Brett Larner

Beijing Olympics men`s marathon team member Atsushi Sato (30, Team Chugoku Denryoku) of Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, has returned home to prepare for Beijing. On May 19th Sato arrived at Bandaihibara Kohan in Kita Shiobaramura, Fukushima, for an intensive training camp. "It`s time to get ready for this marathon. I thought that looking at Bandaihibara Kohan`s beauty would help inspire me to make a clean start," Sato smiled.

Sato`s training camp runs from the 19th through the end of the month. He previously trained in Bandaihibara Kohan while preparing for last December`s Fukuoka International Marathon, where he qualified for the Olympics. "I have a good feeling about this place," Sato said of the area as a marathon training ground.

Bandaihibara Kohan is situated at 850 m elevation. "I saw the Beijing course last month. It`s not as easy as I expected and has a fair amount of up and down, so it`s going to be important to have built up a lot of strength for this one," Sato commented. Besides training, Sato will be enjoying horseback riding and eating many of his favorite local delicacies.

Following Fukushima, he will be doing further altitude training in Niigata before running the Sapporo International Half Marathon on June 15.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Keita Satoh Running New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile

1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh (Nike Swoosh TC) is running this weekend's New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile , the first time that a Japanese man has been invited in the race's 45-year history. In university Sato had to change focus away from middle distance to the half marathon-scale lengths of the Hakone Ekiden stages, but since graduating in March and relocating to Flagstaff he has refocused on the 1500 m, going from 3:43.19 in April in his first 1500 m in almost 4 years to 3:38.30 over the course of 5 races. Fifth Avenue will be his last race before heading back to Japan for one more track 1500 m and some down time. Men's entries with best 1500 m times in last 3 years: Stefan Nillessen (NED) - 3:29.23 (2025) Flavien Szot (FRA) - 3:30.74 (2025) Oliver Hoare (AUS) - 3:31.07 (2024) Jake Heyward (GBR) - 3:31.18 (2026) Titouan Le Grix (FRA) - 3:31.46 (2026) Romain Mornet (FRA) - 3:31.62 (2025) Adam Spencer (AUS) - 3:31.83 (2026) Pieter Sisk (BEL) - 3:31.85 (2025) Gary Martin (...

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...