Yamanouchi Leads Six Under Doha Standard in Deepest Women's 10000 m in World This Year

With the 31:50.00 standard for the 2019 Doha World Championships 10000 m announced earlier this week following the IAAF's about-face on its new world rankings system, Japan wasted no time in getting its people under the mark.

In cold conditions for the mid-afternoon Corporate Women's Time Trials meet at Yamaguchi's Ishin Me-Life Stadium the women's 10000 m A-heat went out strong and steady, 15:45 through halfway before the lead group began to splinter. Just two weeks after a season-worst performance at the National Corporate Women's Ekiden the Atsushi Sato-coached Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) roared back into form with a 31:16.48 meet record for the win, outkicking Kenyan Grace Kimanzi (Starts) to land at #2 in the world so far this year and #8 on the all-time Japanese list. Yamanouchi and Kimanzi were the only two to clear 31:20, but all told six women made it under the 31:50 Doha standard, making the race the year's deepest worldwide.

Having fully recovered from her blackout at the National Corporate Women's Ekiden qualifying race in October, Harumi Okamoto (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) just beat out Rina Nabeshima (Japan Post) 31:28.20 to 31:28.81, both making the all-time Japanese top 25 and coming in at #4 and #5 worldwide this year. Shiori Yano (Canon AC Kyushu) and Yuka Hori (Panasonic) rounded out the Doha qualifiers, with 7th-placer Natsuka Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) missing out by an agonizing 0.17.

Half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) was 14th in 32:26.32, just lapped by Yamanouchi in the home straight, while Nabeshima's marathoner teammate Hanami Sekine (Japan Post) was off her game at 21st in 33:18.37. Rio Olympian Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei), one of only two Japanese women to make an OLympic 5000 m final, dropped out mid-race. Two more chances remain this year for Japanese women to record qualifying marks for Doha, next week's Zatopek:10 featuring the resurgent Hitomi Niiya (Nike Tokyo TC) and the final Nittai University Time Trials meet later in the month.

Corporate Women's Time Trials

Ishin Me-Life Stadium, Yamaguchi, 12/8/18
complete results

Women's 10000 m Heat 2
1. Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) - 31:16.48 - MR
2. Grace Kimanzi (Starts) - 31:17.28
3. Harumi Okamoto (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 31:28.20
4. Rina Nabeshima (Japan Post) - 31:28.81
5. Shiori Yano (Canon AC Kyushu) - 31:44.13
6. Yuka Hori (Panasonic) - 31:48.93
7. Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 31:50.17
8. Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 31:57.95
9. Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) - 32:14.86
10. Ai Hosoda (Daihatsu) - 32:21.11
11. Mai Shoji (Denso) - 32:22.82
12. Ayumi Hagiwara (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 32:25.90
13. Misaki Hayashida (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 32:26.65
14. Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) - 32:36.32
15. Ayano Ikenuchi (Denso) - 32:50.25
-----
DNF - Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei)

photo © 2018 M.Kawaguchi, all rights reserved
text © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

japan running news

Search This Blog