Asian Championships, Hyogo Relay Carnival, Nagano Marathon and More

Asian Championships, Hyogo Relay Carnival, Nagano Marathon and More - Weekend Preview

The weekend's main action comes on the track, both at home and abroad. The main action comes at the Doha Asian Athletics Championships, a dry run for this fall's World Championships at the same new Khalifa Stadium where the athletics world will congregate in September. The Japanese national team is solid, with standouts including Jakarta gold medalists Yuki Koike in the men's 200 m, Seito Yamamoto in the men's pole vault and Keisuke Ushiro in the decathlon, men's 3000 m steeplechase bronze medalist Kazuya Shiojiri, 2018 World U20 Championships women's 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka in the 5000 m and the resurgent Hitomi Niiya in the women's 10000 m. JRN will be on-site throughout the Asian Championships to cover the action live and in support of Tanaka and Niiya. Entry lists are available here.

A few members of the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team and the U.S.-based Takeshi Okada (Berkeley) will be at California's Mt. SAC Relays, but most people not on the Doha team have opted for Kobe's Hyogo Relay Carnival. With places on the line for this summer's World University Games national team and the chance to get in decent times ahead of the May/June National Championships the focus is on the 1500 m, 3000 m steeplechase and 10000 m for both men and women, with what may also be a decent women's 5000 m also on the bill. The women's Grand Prix 10000 m includes the three fastest women worldwide last year, Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels), Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) and Grace Kimanzi (Starts), while the men's includes six sub-28 Japan-based Kenyans led by 2018 world-leader Stanley Waithaka Mburu (Yakult).

The qualification window for September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials closes at the end of this month, and at the Nagano Marathon at least two men, Asuka Tanaka (Hiramatsu Byoin) and Shoya Osaki (Chudenko) have a realistic chance of making it, Tanaka needing to run 2:11:47 and Osaki 2:11:12. Their competition includes Kenyan Alfred Kering and Tanzanian Ezekiel Jafary, with Kenyan Valentine Kipketer going head-to-head with high-volume marathoner Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) in the women's race.

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that Sis

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

Three Japanese Men Running 128th Boston Marathon

Back in Japan's golden years Boston was a big draw for its top talent in the marathon, but for a long time it was off the list of first-choice marathons as the preoccupation shifted to times. That started changing again in 2017 when 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako made his debut there with a 2:10:28 for 3rd, following in the footsteps of other Waseda University alum who ran well in Boston including two-time winner Toshihiko Seko and the late Tomoyuki Taniguchi . Osako was 3rd at October's Paris Olympic marathon trials, putting him in position to be on the Paris team unless someone runs 2:05:50 or better at February's Osaka Marathon or March's Tokyo Marathon. Having run 2:06:13 in Tokyo last year but beaten by two Japanese men who both went under 2:06, there wasn't really any upside to Osako doing Tokyo this time. Osaka seemed like the logical choice, but like he has for most of his life Osako is following his own motivations and opting to return to the 128th Boston

japan running news

Search This Blog