Skip to main content

Record Attempts on Deck at Birell Prague Grand Prix 10 km

Saturday night's Birell Prague Grand Prix 10 km looks set to be the biggest race of the weekend.

Returning to Prague after both going under Paula Radcliffe's 10 km world record of 30:21 en route to more world records at April's Prague Half Marathon, Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) and Violah Jepchumba (Bahrain) will face off again in a race that organizers hope will produce the first-ever women's sub-30 clocking on the roads. In April Jepkosgei clocked 30:04 and Jepchumba 30:05 at the Prague Half, and with decent temperatures around 20˚C and moderate winds forecast for the evening race the chances look good.

Fancy Chemutai (Kenya), Netsanet Gudeta (Ethiopia) and Kayoko Fukushi (Japan/Wacoal) have all cleared 31 minutes on the track or roads and could factor into the second pack with solid performances, but whether any is up for being paced by three men to go under 30 minutes is a question mark. Fukushi in particular has taken it relatively easy since the Rio Olympic marathon and has not cleared 33 minutes on the road or track this year. Pre-race in Prague she looked tanned and relaxed, laughing readily and noncommittal about her goals. Fukushi already holds the Asian road 10 km record of 30:52, but it would be a big jump up in her post-Rio fitness to give that kind of time a serious go come Saturday.

There will be no world record attempt in the men's race, but organizers do hope to see the 27:28 course record taken further. The pair of pacers are set to go out under 27:20 pace, a time that only Benard Kimeli (Kenya) has cleared on the roads but one that should be in range of sub-27 track 10000 m man Jemal Yimer Mekonnen (Ethiopia) and Mathew Kimeli (Kenya), 27:14.44 on the track earlier this year. Defending champion Abraham Kapsis Kipytaich (Kenya/Asahi Kasei) is also back, saying pre-race that he thinks that kind of pace might be a bit too hot for him but having a change of heart at the press conference and indicating he was ready to roll with the leaders as fast as needed.

Among the six other sub-28 men in the field, the three members of Japan's 2015 Beijing World Championships 10000 m team have come back together in a chance reunion. After a memorable debut at February's Tokyo Marathon, Yuta Shitara (Honda) will run Prague as a last tuneup before the Berlin Marathon later this month where he hopes to run 2:07. Shitara told JRN he will try to run with the other Japanese men in Prague and see where it gets him.

All-time Japanese #2 on the track at 27:29.74, Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) is in Prague at the tail end of a trip on the late-summer European track circuit. Yoroizaka told JRN that he is in decent shape but has been suffering some stomach discomfort after eating something dodgy while training in Italy over the last week.

U18 national record holder Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) is the only one of the three in Europe specifically for the Birell Prague Grand Prix 10 km, running with support from JRN and trying again for the Japanese road 10 km national record after a failed attempt at May's Ottawa 10 km. At Friday's pre-race press conference Murayama was unambiguous about his goals if a little less brash than in Ottawa, saying in English, "My goal is to run under 28:05, because that is the Japanese national record." The 27:35 Asian record may be a stretch at this stage, but with good weather, a solid group around them and a smart and controlled race Murayama and/or the others should be able to take the national record into more respectable sub-28 territory.

© 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan Dominates Half Marathon - World University Games Day 6 Japanese Results

Japan didn't quite pull off a sweep of the men's and women's half marathon at the 2025 FISU World University Games , but it was pretty close. In the men's race Waseda University 's Shinsaku Kudo , the fastest man in the race with a best of 1:00:06 from Marugame this past February, led start to finish, keeping it around 62-flat pace before finishing in a WUG record 1:02:29. Turkey's Ramazan Bastug spent most of the race in a small chase pack with Ryuto Uehara (Koku Gakuin Univ.) and Kento Baba (Rikkyo Univ.) before dropping them both for silver in 1:02:35. Uehara was just behind in 1:02:39 for bronze, with Baba missing out on the medals in 1:02:44 for 4th. In the women's race China's Xiuzhen Ma had to deal with the Japanese trio of Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.), Mariya Noda (Daito Bunka Univ.) and Ayaka Maeda (Kansai Univ.). And she did, running a PB 1:12:48 for gold over Tsuchiya by 10 seconds. Noda scored the bronze medal in 1:13:16, with M...

Hokkaido Marathon Elite Field

The Aug. 31 Hokkaido Marathon elite fields are out. On the women's side, Japan-based Selly Chepyego Kaptich has a big advantage over the rest of the field in terms of PB, 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023 vs. nearest competitor Yuri Mitsune , 5th in Hokkaido last year and 2:29:04 in Nagoya this past spring. Last year's 3rd-placer Ayano Ikeuchi is back too, and with Kaena Takeyama and Yukari Nagatomo both right around 2:30-flat it should be a pretty good race for 2nd. On the men's side the top 2 by time, Yugo Kashiwa and Simon Kariuki , are only a second apart with Kashiwa 2:06:28 in Osaka this year and Kariuki 2:06:29 in Tokyo last year. 6 other men on the list have recent times between 2:07 and 2:09, with 2021 Tokyo Olympian Yuma Hattori a notable name among them. Hokkaido doesn't release its complete entry list in advance, so expect to see a lot more people in the lead packs in both races. And if there is the usual hot weather, expect both races to be about more than j...

Identical Triplets Run Final Prefectural High School Champs 5000 m Together

A set of identical triplets made the final in the Niigata Prefecture High School Championships 5000 m, their last big showdown with each other. All three talked about the way they were looking at the big race at Niigata's Denka Big Swan Stadium. The Sato triplets all ran track and field in elementary school in Nagaoka, but when they went to junior high school they all opted to play basketball instead. Their sister, also a twin, was the manager of the track and field team at Chuetsu H.S. and gave them tips on training like hill repeats and running on undulating roads in their neighborhood, and while focusing on basketball they coached themselves to become better runners. Five years later they are now in their final year of high school. Yuto Sato runs for Chuetsu H.S., while Hiroto Sato and Oto Sato opted for Nippon Bunri H.S. . It was the first, and last, time for them to all face each other in the same race at the prefectural level. All three live in school dorms, their family...