Kusu Breaks 2000 mSC NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Spring Nobeoka Time Trials meet was a tuneup for Kyushu-area men's teams for next month's Golden Games in Nobeoka, notable mostly for 2:06~2:08 marathoners Toshiki Sadakata (Mitsubishi Juko), Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei), Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) returning to action after marathons in February and March. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) took the top spot in the men's 5000 m in 13:30.54, with Daiki Ando (Asahi Kasei) the fastest Japanese man at 6th in 13:41.76.

At the Nittai University Time Trials meet, Saturday's main action was the women's 3000 m, where Esther Muthoni (Nitori) beat Cynthia Mbaire (Hitachi) 8:59.74 to 9:01.66. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) ran a PB 9:14.99 for 3rd, heading straight from there to Gifu for a sub-70 half marathon PB the next morning. 24 men ran sub-29 for 10000 m, led by Ayumu Kobayashi in 28:18.87. On Sunday, 22 heats of men's 5000 m, a total of 44 men went sub-14 across the 4 fastest heats. Antipas Kibet (SG Holdings) was the fastest at 13:25.80 to win the A-heat, Yushin Nakajima (Hitachi Butsuryu) the fastest Japanese man at 13:37.63.

Only 2 men went sub-14 at the Hyogo Relay Carnival, but both were local high schoolers, Sonota Nagashima (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) winning in 13:55.00 over Kazuma Maeda (Hotoku H.S.), 13:56.65. In 3rd was Reo Niizuma (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) in 14:11.98, whose twin brothers Koki and Haruki Niizuma (Hiraoka J.H.S.) both broke the J.H.S. meet record, Koki winning in 8:34.42 and Haruki 2nd in 8:36.84. Across 3 heats of men's 10000 m 26 went sub-29, Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu) leading four Kenyans under 28 in 27:39.79 and sub-61 half marathoner Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) dropping the fastest Japanese time of the weekend, 28:17.25. Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) broke the men's 2000 mSC NR in 5:29.11, with Nanami Arai (Honda) taking the men's 1500 m in 3:41.08.

Helen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 10000 m in 31:22.89 in her first serious race at the distance. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) was 2nd in 32:39.29, just holding off amateur club runner Shiho Kaneshige (GRLab) by 2 seconds after doubling in the 1500 m. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) took over 33 seconds off the women's 5000 m meet record, winning in 15:06.00 by almost 44 seconds over Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo). Tokyo Olympian Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko) missed her own 2000 mSC NR by less than a second, winning in 6:20.21 in a sprint finish against Yukari Ishizawa (Hitachi) and Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu). Fuka Otagaki (Yoka H.S.) was only slightly faster in the high school girls' 2000 m, winning in 6:18.38.

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...

JAAF Announces Marathon Teams for Nagoya Asian Games

On Mar. 25 the JAAF announced Japan's marathon team lineups for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) make up the men's team, with Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) and Mikuni Yada (Edion) representing Japan in the women's marathon. Each country can field up to 2 men and 2 women per marathon team at the Asian Games. The top-ranked male and female athletes in the 2025-26 MGC Series rankings were given first priority, with the second slots going to people with high-level performances in the 2025-26 MGC Series. Yoshida ran 2:05:16 to win the 2024 Fukuoka International Marathon, and at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon ran an excellent 2:06:59 to take the top Japanese spot in the race and in the MGC rankings. After having run the Tokyo World Championships marathon last fall this will be his second-straight marathon national team in a major international championships. Yamashita ran 2:06:18 at February's Osak...

japan running news

Search This Blog