Yamanaka Leads Greatest Women's Steeple in Japanese History - National Track and Field Championships Day Three Highlights

Both 3000 mSC were great, but the women's race was the unexpected highlight of day 3 of the National Track and Field Championships Saturday in Osaka. Tokyo Olympian Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko) took it out on NR and World Championships qualifying standard pace with a 3:10 first 1000 m despite steady rain, and while it wasn't a surprise to see collegiate record holder Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) go with her, relative unknowns Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu) and Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo). The next 1000 m was only 3:18, but none of the three could stay with Yamanaka. But even though she closed in 3:10 to win in a meet record 9:38.19, all three closed back on over the last lap. Nishide overcame at least two flubbed jumps to take 2nd in 9:38.95, Nishiyama 3rd in 9:39.28, and Yoshimura 4th in 9:39.86.

The entire group moved up to all-time Japanese 2nd-5th with the NR just 5 seconds away, and even though they were short of the standard at least Yamanaka and possibly Yoshimura look to be in position to make the Oregon team in the quota. But whatever ends up happening to them, all four made it the greatest women's 3000 mSC race in Japanese history.

NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) took the men's race out fast, initially tailed by Taisei Ogino (Asahi Kasei) but mostly soloing his way to an 8:14.47 MR and a place on the Oregon team. There was constant turnover in the group behind him, but in the end it was his fellow Tokyo Olympians Ryoma Aoki (Honda) and Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) who took 2nd and 3rd, Aoki getting under the standard in a PB 8:20.09 and Yamaguchi just missing in 8:23.29. 5 others in the top 10 ran PBs, showing that the golden age of Japanese steepling is just getting going. Aoki joins Miura on the Worlds team under the JAAF's selection policy, and with this performance Yamaguchi should move up to the top position in the quota. He'll have 2 more weeks to chase the standard or wait it out.

In the men's 400 mH final, favorite Kazuki Kurokawa (Hosei Univ.) dipped under the Worlds standard with a 48.89 for the win despite the rainy conditions, securing his place in Oregon. Darkhorse Hiroya Kawagoe (Jaws) ran a PB 49.72 for 2nd, knocking Worlds team contenders Masaki Toyoda (Fujitsu) and Takayuki Kishimoto (Fujitsu) back to 3rd and 4th in 49.85 and 49.99. Toyoda will likely still make the quota, but not making top 3 may be enough to keep Kishimoto home.

In the women's 100 mH final, NR holder Masumi Aoki's bizarre decision to double in the 100 m final less than an hour after 100 mH semifinals last night might have cost her a place on the Worlds team. Aoki was ranked 36th out of 40 in the quota pre-race and needed every point she could get in her main event at Nationals, but in the final she was beaten by 48th-ranked Mako Fukube (NKK) 13.10 (+0.8) to 13.28. Either of them could still squeeze into the quota, but it's hard to see what Aoki stood to gain by risking what was an almost certain win in the 100 mH final by tiring herself out with the double a day earlier.

The favorite in the men's pole vault, Seito Yamamoto (Toyota) failed to clear any height and finished with a NM, likely enough for him to lose his 30th-ranked position in the 32-deep Worlds quota. 33-ranked Masaki Ejima (Fujitsu) stepped up to clear 5.60 m for the win, putting himself into the quota and knocking Yamamoto one step further down. Top-ranked women's triple jumper Mariko Morimoto (Uchida Kensetsu AC) jumped a PB 13.58 m (+0.0) for the win, with Akari Funada (Mukogawa Joshi Univ.) also turning a PB of 13.46 m for 2nd.

The rain prevented any really big throws in the women's javelin, but for the first time ever 3 women threw over 60 m at Nationals. NR holder Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) took the top spot at 61.25 m, Momone Ueda (Zenrin) next at 61.20 m and Sae Takemoto (Saga Sports Assoc.) 3rd at 60.84 m. All 3 were already in the Worlds quota at 19th, 27th and 31st of 32, and these performances were exactly what they needed to stay in contention.

Complete results available here.

Murayama and Sasaki Making U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10 km

Every year since 2012 that there's been a United Airlines NYC Half , JRN has partnered with the NYRR and November's Ageo City Half Marathon to bring two top-tier collegiate Japanese men to the NYC Half for what's usually been their international debuts. For years we've wanted to extend that program to include top collegiate women, but that has always faced 2 problems. For one, while the half marathon distance is the main focus for Japanese collegiate men due to the stage lengths at the Hakone Ekiden, few collegiate women run it. Those that do run the National University Women's Half Marathon in Matsue, held the same day as the NYC Half. This year, though, we're finally making it happen in a slightly different way. Amisa Murayama and Nazuki Sasaki of 2025 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national collegiate championship runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University are joining the field for the NYRR's Mastercard New York Mini 10 km on June 6. After running an 18:14 CR ...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Some Reflections on the Ekiden

by Brett Larner This ekiden season I've had a few thoughts kicking around, and watching this week's Hakone Ekiden a few of them became clearer. These are still in progress, but at the moment this is what I'm thinking in terms of running as a spectator sport and about the quality of Japanese men's distance running right now. Quality: Japanese men's running is coming up very, very quickly. I was in the lead car at November's Ageo City Half Marathon , where 18 men, 17 of them university runners, broke 63 minutes. As it was going on we all thought it was a slow race because there were so many people running that pace all the way, no separation at all in the mass of the pack. See the JRN header photo above, taken just past halfway. That's pretty unusual in Japan, especially at the university level; generally you'll get a handful of guys who run an aggressive pace and a mass running dead on a safe pace, 3:00/km in a half marathon, for example. Th...

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