Skip to main content

Japanese Olympic Distance Running Preview - Men`s 5000 m

by Brett Larner

Men`s 5000 m

Takayuki Matsumiya
Born: Feb. 21, 1980, Akita Prefecture
Team Affiliation: Konica-Minolta
Olympic Event PBs: 5000m: 13:13.20, 2007 – NR; 10000m: 27:41.75, 5/4/08
Season Highlights:
-National Champion, 5000m: 13:47.81, 6/28/08
-National Champion, 10000m: 27:51.27, 6/26/08
-All-time Japanese 4th best, Cardinal Invitational 10000m: 27:41.75, 5/4/08
Career Highlights:
-WR, 30 km (road): 1:28:00, 2005
-NR, 5000m: 13:13.20, 2007
-National Champion, 5000m and 10000m, 2006-2008
-World T&F Championships 10000m, 2007
-World Half Marathon Championships, 2001, 2005
-2nd place, Rotterdam Marathon, 2007

Still young, Takayuki Matsumiya has the potential to be the successor to Toshinari Takaoka`s domination of Japanese men`s distance running. After setting the current world record for 30 km in 2005, Matsumiya has controlled the 5000m and 10000m in Japan, winning national titles in both distances for the last three years and setting the 5000m national record of 13:13.20 in 2007 and a 10000m PB of 27:41.75 at the 2008 Cardinal Invitational, almost touching the national record at the longer distance. Although Matsumiya is the national record holder in the 5000m, his time is not competitive with those of the top African runners. He will be additionally hampered by having run in the 10000m and will need a good performance to advance beyond the heats.

Kensuke Takezawa
Born:
Oct. 11, 1986, Hyogo Prefecture
Team Affiliation: Waseda University
Olympic Event PB: 5000m: 13:19.00, 2007
Season Highlights:
-2nd place, Nat’l T&F Championships 5000m: 13:49.73, 6/28/08
-Stage Best, Hakone Ekiden 3rd Stage (21.5 km): 1:03:32, 1/2/08
Career Highlights:
-Univ. NR, 5000m: 13:19.00, 2007
-Nat’l Univ. Champion, 5000m, 2007
-World T&F Championships 10000m, 2007
-World XC Championships, 2006
-2nd place, Nat’l T&F Championships 5000m, 2008
-2nd place, Nat’l T&F Championships 10000m, 2007
-All-time Japanese 9th best, Cardinal Invitational 10000m: 27:45.59, 2007

Kensuke Takezawa is, along with Yuki Sato, one of two current university students who show the potential to become great international talents. In 2007 he set the university national record of 13:19.00 in the 5000m and the all-time 2nd best university record of 27:45.59 in the 10000m. He also finished 2nd in the 10000m at the 2007 National Championships, earning him a spot in the Osaka World Championships 10000m. At the World Championships normally stoic Takezawa was visibly nervous starting next to Eritrea`s Zersenay Tadesse, but the experience helped him to gain confidence and he appeared a much tougher runner throughout the fall 2007 ekiden season.

Takezawa was sidelined with a serious combination of injuries in Dec. 2007 which kept him out of all competition after January`s Hakone Ekiden in which he won his stage despite running injured. Entered in both the 10000m and 5000m at the June National Championships, Takezawa failed to show for the 10000m. His appearance in the 5000m took spectators and competitors alike by surprise. Clearly not in anywhere near peak shape, he started slowly, gradually moving up through the pack before dropping a 57-second final lap to take 2nd and earn an Olympic slot. With the 10000m his stronger event and his condition far from certain Takezawa will not be a competitive factor in the Beijing Olympics 5000m, but like last year`s World Championships the experience will do much to help aid him in a future international career should he eventually overcome his current injuries.

© 2008 Brett Larner
a
ll rights reserved
photos from Rikuren archive

Comments

Most-Read This Week

3 Top-Tier Japanese Collegiate Runners in United Airlines NYC Half Elite Field

The NYRR have announced the elite fields for the 2025 United Airlines NYC Half , and 3 top-tier runners from Japanese universities feature prominently in the men's field. Having just lost his 59:32 collegiate record to Komazawa University 's Kotaro Shinohara in Marugame earlier this month , collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m record holder Richard Etir of Tokyo Kokusai University heads to New York fresh off a 1:05:31 CR on the 23.1 km Hakone Ekiden Second Stage , equivalent to a 59:50 half marathon on a rolling net uphill course. That should predict success on the tough NYC course. He'll be the main competition for newly crowned American record holder Connor Mantz , 59:17 in Houston at the end of January, with defending champ and sub-59 man Abel Kipchumba  in contention too after a 59:52 win at last year's Great North Run. Sub-27 10000 m men Mohammed Ahmed and Woody Kincaid are also debuting. Komazawa teammates Yudai Kiyama and Hibiki Murakami earned spots in New York ...

Nishimura Breaks Kumanichi 30 km CR, Tsurukawa Over Yonemitsu in Men's Race

  Maybe the next big thing coming down the Tenmaya corporate pipeline, Mizuki Nishimura made good on her pre-race plan for the Kumanichi 30 km to get as close as she could to her Tenmaya teammate Honami Maeda 's 1:38:35 NR. Out solo almost on track to break 1:40 in excellent conditions, Nishimura started to slow in the middle third of the race but had enough time and energy to work with to still take almost 2 minutes off the old pre-super shoe era CR, winning easily in 1:41:42. 2nd and 3rd-placers Mio Kuroda and Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh were together through 20 km before Galbadrakh faded, Kuroda taking 2nd in 1:44:49 and Galbadrakh 3rd in 1:45:44 in a tuneup for next month's Tokyo Marathon. 天満屋の西村美月選手、熊日30キロで1:41:42大会新記録。 Mizuki Nishimura wins Kumanichi 30k in 1:41:42 CR. pic.twitter.com/rAru1WywEm — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) February 16, 2025 The men's race started conservatively, keeping a large group of 11 together until 20 km. sub-61 half marathoner Dai...

Osako, Kosgei and Others Pull Out of Tokyo Marathon

The  Tokyo Marathon  announced some withdrawals and additions to the field for next week's race today. Names are as below with reasons given on the Tokyo Marathon website : Men's Marathon Withdrawals Suguru Osako (Japan/Nike) - declines to participate Benard Koech (Kenya/Kyudenko) - in poor condition Hidekazu Hijikata (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - injury Tadashi Isshiki (Japan/NTT Nishi Nihon) - injury Takumi Oishi (Japan/Suzuki) - injury Keigo Yano (Japan/Kao) - injury Tatsuro Oyazaki (Japan/Shindengen) - injury Men's Marathon Additions Hiroaki Furukawa (Japan/Tokyo University Grad School) - 2:16:14 (Kumamoto 2024) Women's Marathon Withdrawals Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) - in poor condition Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - in poor condition Men's Wheelchair Withdrawals Jin Hua (China) - injury Women's Wheelchair Withdrawals Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Great Britain) - injury Women's Wheelchair Additions Yen Hoang (U.S.A.) © 2025 Brett Larner , all rights reserved