Koike Runs Japan's Third Sub-10, Niiya Clears Doha 5000 m Standard

Koike Runs Japan's Third Sub-10, Niiya Clears Doha 5000 m Standard - Weekend Track Highlights

Japanese athletes were busy on the track overseas this weekend. At Friday's Stumptown Twilight meet in Portland, indoor mile Asian record holder Nanami Arai (Honda) took 2nd in the men's 1500 m in 3:39.58, his second time this season breaking 3:40. It used to be a rarity to see a Japanese man clear 3:40, something that happened once every couple of years, but so far this season four Japanese men have done it a total of six times. If the distance had even a fraction of the prestige of the Hakone Ekiden, or of that it has in the U.S., there's no doubt there'd be more.

Speaking of distances with prestige, on the first day of London's Muller Anniversary Games Diamond League spectacular Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) became the third Japanese man to join the sub-10 club, running 9.98 (+0.5 m/s) for 4th in the men's 100 m final. Koike also ran 2nd on the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay team, which clocked a season best 37.78 for 2nd despite featuring only two regulars, Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) and Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei). Making his debut on anchor as a late sub for 100 m national record holder Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Univ. of Florida), Kirara Shiraishi (Cerespo) brought the team home safely to join the growing ranks of potential members of the squad's roster for next year's Tokyo Olympics. Koike also returned on Day 2 of London to 20.24 (+0.9 m/s) for 4th in the 200 m, the 2nd-fastest by a Japanese man so far this year and just off his PB.

Having skipped June's National Championships 5000 m to focus on the London Diamond League, Hitomi Niiya (Nike Tokyo TC) switched to Saturday's KBC Nacht van de Atletiek meet in Belgium at the last minute after feeling that she wouldn't be able to reach her goal in London. In Belgium she ran 15:20.03 for 6th, becoming the fourth Japanese woman to clear the Doha World Championships standard and just missing the 15:19.99 year-leading Japanese time held by Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido). Nanaka Kuraoka (Denso) and Mai Shoji (Denso) took 9th and 11th in 15:33.45 and 15:35.54, with 3000 mSC U20 national record holder Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) handling pacing duties in the early going.

One of the four men to have broken 3:40 for 1500 m so far this year, Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) came up agonizingly short of joining Niiya under the Doha 5000 m standard in Belgium, running an all-time Japanese #11 13:22.72 but missing the Doha standard by 0.22. Hazuma Hattori (Toenec) finished last in 13:58.49. Tanaka has shown tremendous range this year, running 3:39.98 for 1500 m, this 13:22.72 for 5000 m, and a 1:01:33 half marathon. All that's left is a solid 10000 m for him to seal up the title of Japan's best non-marathon man.

800 m and 1500 m national champion Ran Urabe (Nike Tokyo TC) followed up a 3rd-place finish a few days ago in the 1500 m at the Meeting to Liege with another 1500 m at KBC Nacht. Unable to regain her form after having caught a cold post-Nationals, Urabe was only 4th in 4:21.01. Runner-up at Nationals, men's 800 m national record holder Sho Kawamoto (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) won the 800 m B-Heat in 1:46.93 after having gone 0.60 faster a few days ago in Barcelona.

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a

10000 m National Championships Preview

Less than five months since the 2023 10000 m National Championships went down at the 2021 Olympic stadium in Tokyo, the 2024 edition happens Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium, with NHK broadcasting it live starting at 19:25 local time. Doubling up on Nationals like this lets Japanese athletes double dip on placing points to try to get into the Paris Olympics on rankings. But between the number of people who've hit the 30:40.00 women's standard and 27:00.00 men's standard and the lopsided eight spots given away to top placers at World XC, there are only four women's spots and three men's available via rankings. Of those, three of the four women's spots and two of the three men's spots are currently occupied by top placers at December's 2023 Nationals, Ririka Hironaka , Haruka Kokai and Rino Goshima for women and Ren Tazawa and Tomoki Ota for men. The 2023 Nationals did get close to the standards, with Hironaka leading the top four women under

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading

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