Streaming of the first day of the 2022 National University Track and Field Championships in Kyoto will be on all day Friday. Distance highlights include the men's 1500 m, 3000 m SC and 10000 m, and the women's 1500 m and 10000 m. The women's 3000 m SC final is scheduled for Saturday, with both 5000 m happening Sunday. Men's 1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) is running, with a great duel with Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.) in the cards. Men's 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) is entered but skipping the meet, having instead run the Diamond League final in Zurich, Switzerland. Women's 10000 m collegiate record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) is entered in both the 5000 m and 10000 m, but after missing almost the entire year after an Achilles tendon injury at January's National Women's Ekiden you have to hope she's not actually going to try to double and that they'll be making a last-minute decision about which race she'll run, if either. Complete meet schedule and entry lists.
There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and
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