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.

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

Chesang and Kipkoech Win Hot Gifu Half

Hot conditions held back fast times at the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Sunday, where Ugandan Stella Chesang and Kenya Hillary Kipkoech took the top spots over last year's winners Dolphine Nyaboke Omare and Amos Kurgat . In the women's race Chesang, Omare and Kenyan-born Bahraini Eunice Chebichii Chumba went out as a trio, Japan-based Hellen Ekarare with them initially but eventually dropping out. After a 15:39 opening 5 km Chumba started to slip off, and by 15 km Chesang was on her own. Chesang won in 1:07:59, solid given the conditions, with Omare 2nd in 1:08:31 and Chumba 3rd in 1:09:10. Rinka Hida was the first Japanese woman, 5th overall in 1:12:06 behind Australian Genevieve Gregson . A lead men's pack of 11 went through 5 km in 14:31, but by 10 km it was down to Kipkoech, Kurgat, , Timothy Kiplagat , Ugandan Stephen Kissa and Japan-based Kenyans Patrick Mathenge Wambui and Anthony Maina . At 15 km in 43:40 only Kurgat and Kipkoech were left, and over the last 5

Drury and Mashiko Lead Four Japanese Golds - U20 Asian Championships Day 4

The closing day of the Dubai U20 Asian Athletics Championships saw Japan go out big, with four gold medals led by dominant runs by Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) and Yota Mashiko (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.). Making her international debut, the 16-year-old Drury led start to finish in the women's 1500 m final, grinding down the rest of the field and putting over 4 seconds on runner-up Sandilea Vinod of India over the last 300 m to win in 4:21.41. Drury's splits: 1:11-2:24-(3:19)-3:35-4:21. There's still a long way for Drury to go, but in terms of form and confidence this was the best she has looked since her legendary breakthrough CR at last year's National Women's Ekiden, and you could see more than a glimmer of what everyone is hoping is really there. Mashiko was even more dominant in the men's 3000 m. Coming out on the front end of some pushing and shoving in the first 50 m, Mashiko led the entire way. By 300 m he had a measurable gap that never got smaller, and af

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