Skip to main content

Long Weekend Track Roundup - Olympic B-Standards Abound

by Brett Larner

Fall track season continued over the National Sports Day long weekend with three large meets.  The National Sports Festival in Yamaguchi produced a women's 5000 m Olympic B-standard PB from this year's national corporate 10000 m champion Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki), who ran 15:23.80 to win by six seconds.  The junior women's 3000 m saw the top four high schoolers break 9:10, with Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) winning in 9:05.81 over rival Miki Sakakibara (Hamakita Nishi H.S.) after losing to Sakakibara in the heats.

The Niigata Time Trials meet also produced two Olympic B-standard performances.  2010 national 5000 m champion Yuki Matsuoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) ran a PB 28:03.46 to win the 10000 m and clear the London B-standard.  Five-time national 1500 m champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) continued her successful transition to longer distances this year by breaking 32 in a virtually solo 10000 m, qualifying for the Olympics with a time of 31:55.06.  The men's and women's 5000 m were literally solo runs, with 2009 double 1500 m and 5000 m champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) running 14:05.07 alone in the men's 5000 m and 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) a DNF with no other athletes in the race.

The Chubu Jitsugyodan Fall T&F Championships did not produce any Olympic-qualifying runs from Japanese athletes, but Kenyan Edward Waweru (Team NTN) just cleared the men's 5000 m B-standard with a 13:24.99 meet record.  John Thuo (Team Toyota) likewise set a meet record in the men's 3000 m, running 7:46.01.

National Sports Festival
Yamaguchi, 10/7-11/11
click here for complete results

Junior Women's 3000 m
1. Tomoka Kimura (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 9:05.81
2. Miki Sakakibara (Hamakita Nishi H.S.) - 9:07.31
3. Miyuki Gokan (Tokiwa H.S.) - 9:08.46
4. Fuyuki Kimura (Yamagata Johoku H.S.) - 9:09.18
5. Eri Makikawa (Seiryo H.S.) - 9:11.30

Women's 5000 m
1. Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) - 15:23.80 - PB
2. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 15:29.69 - PB
3. Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.) - 15:30.94
4. Hitomi Niiya (Sakura AC) - 15:32.92
5. Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:33.54

Junior Men's 5000 m
1. Ken Yokote (Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) - 14:04.49
2. Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 14:05.56
3. Yuta Katsumata (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 14:06.43
4. Shun Morozumi (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 14:07.62
5. Kaoru Hirosue (Kobayashi H.S.) - 14:17.13


Niigata Time Trials
Niigata, 10/10/11
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m
1. Yuki Matsuoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 28:03.46 - PB
2. Yusuke Hasegawa (Team S&B) - 28:21.86
3. Shota Yamaguchi (Team Fujitsu) - 28:54.97
4. Kazuharu Takai (Team Kyudenko) - 29:02.59
5. Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) - 29:04.32

Women's 10000 m
1. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 31:55.06
2. Yoshie Kurisu (Team Tenmaya) - 33:05.43
DNF - Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshokki)


Chubu Jitsugyodan Fall Track & Field Championships
Gifu, 10/10/11
click here for complete results

Men's 5000 m Heat 4
1. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:24.99 - CR
2. Samuel Ngungu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 13:38.14
3. Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 13:44.23
4. James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:45.05
5. Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) - 13:49.73

Men's 3000 m Heat 2
1. John Thuo (Team Toyota) - 7:46.01 - CR
2. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 8:15.10
3. Kensuke Takahashi (Team Toyota) - 8:16.96

Women's 3000 m Heat 2
1. Mao Kuroda (Team Yutaka Giken) - 9:32.51
2. Anri Shibahara (Team Yutaka Giken) - 9:38.38
3. Akiko Matsunaga (Team Yutaka Giken) - 9:39.98

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Asian Games Preview - Entries, Timetable and Live Results

Back in Japan for the first time in 32 years and representing 60% of the world's population, with more athletes competing across all sports than at the Olympics, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games are already underway. Athletics competition starts tomorrow and runs through Tuesday the 29th. Some of the biggest names on the entry list include: Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (SRI) - men's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships gold and 2026 Diamond League champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN) - women's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships and 2024 Paris Olympics gold Birhanu Balew (BRN) - men's 5000 m/10000 m - 2026 Diamond League 5000 m champion Sanghyeok Woo (KOR) - men's high jump - 2025 Tokyo World Championships silver Hayato Katsuki (JPN) - men's marathon race walk - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Abderrahman Samba (QAT) - men's 400 mH - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Jiale Zhang (CHN) - women's hammer throw - 2025 Tokyo W...

Asian Games Competition Schedule

The daily athletics event schedule for September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . Wednesday, Sept. 23 7:30 - Women's / Men's Half Marathon Race Walk Final Thursday, Sept. 24 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon 100 mH 10:20 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats 10:30 - Men's Triple Jump Heats 10:40 - Women's Heptathlon High Jump 19:05 - Men's High Jump Heats 19:13 - Women's Heptathlon Shot Put 19:33 - Women's 100 m Heats 19:44 - Women's Triple Jump Final 20:08 - Men's 100 m Heats 20:55 - Men's Discus Throw Final 21:00 - Women's Heptathlon 200 m 21:25 - Women's 10000 m Final 22:15 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final Friday, Sept. 25 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon Long Jump 10:30 - Men's 400 m Heats 11:25 - Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw 19:05 - Women's Shot Put Final 19:13 - Women's 100 m Semifinal 19:33 - Men's 100 m Semifinal 20:03 - Women's Pole Vault Final 20:11 - Women's Heptathlon 800 m 20:32 - Men's 10000 m Final 20:40 - M...

Updates to Japan's Home Team at Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games

This week the JAAF announced changes to the lineup for its home team at next week's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . The main change announced was the withdrawal of Ririka Hironaka from the women's 10000 m, leaving only Nozomi Tanaka to do it as part of a 1500-5000-10000 triple. In theory it seems like it would be pretty easy and swap in an alternate, but apparently not. No announcement of withdrawals for Tomonori Yamaguchi , who missed June's National Championships 5000 m with injury, or high jumper Ryoichi Akamatsu , who hasn't competed since early last October and made the Asian Games team based his 8th-place finish over a year ago at the Tokyo World Championships. Complete entry lists, schedule and results are available here . The latest Japanese team lineup, with current Asian ranking limited to 2 athletes per country, and best performance in 2025-26: Men 100 m 6 - Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.10 (+1.4) 9 - Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.06 (+1.4) 200 m 1 - Tow...