Fukuda and Yamaura Break Meet Records on Kanto Regionals Day Three

The 101st Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships rolled on Saturday at Tokyo's National Stadium. Shota Fukuda (Nihon Univ.) turned in the performance of the day, breaking his own D1 men's hammer throw MR on his 3rd attempt with a throw of 69.49 m. After fouling his 4th attempt, Fukuda came back in the 5th round to do it again with a 69.88 m throw for the win.

Along with the new meet records in the women's 1500 m and D1 men's shot put yesterday, another MR from the mid-90s fell in the D2 men's long jump. Keito Yamaura (Kokusai Budo Univ.) tied the old record of 7.66 m from 1995 on his first attempt, then broke it on his final attempt with a new record of 7.71 m (+0.4). Koki Matsuoka (Daito Bunka Univ.) came close to the old mark too, closing with a PB 7.62 m (+0.0) on his last jump for 2nd.

The only man in the D1 men's 10000 mRW field to have broken 40 minutes, Ryo Hamanishi (Meiji Univ.) soloed the win in 40:05.25. The next three athletes behind him all turned in PBs, Rihito Ishida (Toyo Univ.) came through with a 40:39.21 PB for 2nd, beating #2-ranked Kento Yoshikawa (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.) by 10 seconds. Hamanishi's teammate Kaichi Shimizu also had a PB at 41:06.06 to beat one of the other pre-race favorites, Mitsuki Murate (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.) for 4th. Tomoki Kondo (Jobu Univ.) took the D2 men's title in a PB 42:44.63.

In other finals:

Ryoma Fujii (Tsukuba Univ.) won the D1 men's high jump, clearing 2.11 m.
Tomoya Karasawa (Nittai Univ.) won the D1 men's pole vault at 5.40 m, clearing 5.10 m, 5.30 m and 5.40 m on his first attempt each and then skipping straight to 5.62 m to try for a new collegiate NR.
Ayaka Kora (Tsukuba Univ.) won the women's triple jump, clearing 12.93 m (+0.5) on her last jump. The 2nd through 4th-placers all produced PBs on their last jumps as well.
The top 3 all threw PBs in the D2 men's shot put, with Ryo Takano (Meikai Univ.) getting the win at 14.63 m on his last throw.
1st-year Aoi Murakami (Nittai Univ.) won the women's javelin throw with a PB 56.30 m on her last throw, with the 2nd and 3rd-placers also turning in PBs to make the podium. Yusaku Seki (Kokusai Budo Univ.) won the D2 men's javelin throw with a 64.18 m on his fifth throw.
Nanaka Kajiki (Chuo Univ.) led Rara Mizuochi (Kokushikan Univ.) 3072 to 3071 at the end of the first day in the women's heptathlon, with Miku Hamaguchi (Kokushikan Univ.) the only other woman over 3000 points at 3009.

#1-ranked Hibiki Obara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was a DNS in the D2 men's 3000 mSC heats, leaving Yuki Satake (Daito Bunka Univ.) to take the top spot in the lineup for Sunday's final in 8:47.90. Shota Sugimoto (Tokai Univ.) was fastest in the D1 men's heats in 8:52.98, with favorite Atsushi Shobu (Waseda Univ.) winning the other heat in 8:59.30. Expected to contend for the win in the final, Soma Hattori (Juntendo Univ.) was only 7th in the heat won by Sugimoto and failed to move on. Taiga Kushima (Nittai Univ.) advanced on time after losing his balance going over a barrier mid-race while leading and landing face-down. 0.30 seconds separated him from Shobu, with 2nd through 6th all within 0.05.

Complete results are available here. Kanto Regionals wrap up Sunday.

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon , the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7˚ at the start and rising to 12˚ with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming . One option for a leaderboard is here , and another here . We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive . Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui , winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga , winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba . But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a c...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...

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