Mbaire and Kiplangat Drop World-Leading Times, Endo Just Off

Mbaire and Kiplangat Drop World-Leading Times, Endo Just Off - Weekend Track Review

As the numbers in Tokyo's second wave go up and up the likelihood that we're going to get many more weekends like this one goes down, but for this little window of opportunity, at least, there was action on the track at at least five elite-level meets across the country.

At the 75th Kagoshima Prefecture Championships, 17-year-old Cynthia Mbaire (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) ran U20 world-leading times in both the women's 1500 m and 5000 m, running 4:10.67 to win the 1500 m Saturday and then 15:14.30 Sunday to win the 5000 m. Both times were also meet records. On Friday 36-year-old amateur Takahiro Nakamura, who ran a 1:00:57 half marathon in February, won the men's 10000 m for the fifth year in a row, running a meet record 29:23.09. Sunday he was back to try to score the 5000 m title too but was outrun by Kanta Tokumaru (Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) 14:18.21 to 14:28.36. Tokumaru was doubling off a win in the 1500 m Saturday in 3:57.17.

Across Kyushu at the Saga Prefecture Championships, Sei Sonoda (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) also pulled off the 1500/5000 m double, winning Saturday's 1500 m in 3:49.11 and coming back Sunday with a meet record 14:07.64 to win the 5000 m, where the top four all broke the old meet record. The men's 3000 m meet record also fell, going to Sonoda's teammate Daisuke Kasahara (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) in 8:36.67.

Far to the north at the Iwate Prefecture Championships, Ruon Oikawa (Toyo Univ.) just bettered Sonoda's 5000 m time, running 14:07.43 to win Sunday's 5000 m title. Amateur Yuya Iwai was the only other runner under 14:30, 2nd in 14:25.22.

Nearby at Saturday's Aomori Spring Distance Time Trials, Nanaka Yonezawa (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) won 9:19.94 to win the women's 3000 m, Elizabeth Njeri (Josai Kokusai Univ.) 2nd in 9:21.64 and Haruka Kokai (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) 3rd in 9:25.51. Shingo Moriyama (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) led a decent men's 5000 m with a 13:46.76 for the win by two and a half seconds over Kenta Usui (Koku Gakuin Univ.).

Even further to the north, the Hokuren Distance Challenge Shibetsu Meet men's 3000 m saw Dan Kiplangat (JFE Steel) and Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) race each other to the two fastest outdoor marks in the world this year, Kiplangat getting the win in a world-leading 7:49.03 and Endo next in 7:49.90. Ronald Kwemoi (Komori Corp.) won the men's 1500 m in a quality 3:38.33, with newcomer Justus Soget (Honda) also getting under 3:40 with a 3:39.23 for 2nd. Titus Wanbua (SMU Group) made it a Kenyan sweep of the fast heats in the men's races with a 13:25.74 to take the 5000 m A-heat. B and C heat winning times were decent, Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) taking the B-heat in 13:43.92 and his teammate Tomoya Nakamura (Osaka Gas) the C-heat in 13:45.76.

In the women's races, Hellen Ekarare Lobun led the 1500 m almost the entire way before getting outkicked, Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) taking 1st in 4:08.68 to Lobun's 4:10.00. Back from her 2:23:27 marathon debut in Nagoya in March, Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) took the 3000 m in a PB 9:05.75. Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) and Hikari Onishi (Japan Post) were also under the 9:10 mark, Kawaguchi 2nd in 9:07.77 and Onishi 3rd in 9:09.30. Rina Miyata (Kyudenko) won the 5000 m A-heat in 15:34.22, just holding off 30 km national record holder and 2020 Olympic marathon trials winner Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) who scored a PB 15:35.21 for 2nd.

If the Hokuren Distance Challenge series continues as scheduled, the next meet will be this Wednesday, July 8 in Fukagawa. Check back closer to race day for updates and live streaming details.

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

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

Ichiyama 8th at Copenhagen Marathon

Currently the #10-ranked Japanese man in the marathon with the fastest-ever domestic time at the elite Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) made his international debut at Sunday's Copenhagen Marathon , literally an international debut as it was his first time outside the country. Ichiyama hoped to be in contention to break the 2:08:23 CR and go for the win, and with cool and breezy conditions ran easy in the lead group through 30 km. But something ate away at almost everyone as time went by, several people in the lead men's and women's groups saying humidity, and past 30 km Ichiyama fell off. Falling as low as 9th, he rallied after 40 km to finish 8th in 2:13:07. "It was different than in Japanese races," he said. "I'm used to bigger packs and more even pacing, but this was a kind of racing I hadn't done before. There's a lot to think about. I didn't feel like I was sweating a lot, but I got really thirsty and started sk

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