National Sports Festival, Izumo, Chicago and More

National Sports Festival, Izumo, Chicago and More - Weekend Preview

It feels like old times again, with at least five big events on the Japanese calendar. The biggest is Monday's Izumo Ekiden, the season opener for the top university men's teams in the country. We'll have a separate Izumo preview out soon, but you can look forward to the race being broadcast live on Fuji TV starting at 13:00 local time Monday. We'll also cover it live on @JRNLive.

The other big ekiden is Sunday's Kurayoshi Women's Ekiden and Nihonkai Ekiden, the first major high school races of the season. They're really one thing billed with separate event names for the girls' and boys' races, five stages totaling 21.0975 km for girls and seven stages totaling 42.195 km for boys. Most of the top high school programs in the country will be there, with 2021 National High School Ekiden 2nd and 4th-placers Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. and Ritsumeikan Uji H.S. leading the 70 teams in the girls' race and 2021 Nationals winner Sera H.S., 2nd-place Rakunan H.S. and 5th-place Saku Chosei H.S. fronting the 96 team-deep boys' race.

Also on the roads, five Japanese men will be lining up Sunday at the Chicago Marathon. With ekiden season preventing there from being any high-level fall domestic marathons a lot of Japanese athletes have been going overseas this fall, some to try to pick up qualification for next year's MGC Race 2024 Olympic marathon trials, and for those already qualified, to get some experience running a high-level race where Japanese athletes are in the minority. Led by 2:06:26 guy Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima), all five in Chicago are in category B. No Japanese women are entered, but the wheelchair race also features male athletes Kota Hokinoue and Sho Watanabe.

On the track, the National Sports Festival has already gotten started in Tochigi, with the opening day on Thursday producing a great junior mens' 5000 m. Led by Hiroto Yoshioka (Saku Chosei H.S.) in 13:53.85, the top 8 all went under 14 minutes, with 9th through 14th all under 14:10. Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) also took the senior men's 3000 mSC in 8:45.18. Upcoming highlights include the junior women's 3000 m on Friday and the junior men's 3000 m and senior women's 5000 m on Sunday.

Last up is the Chubu Region Corporate Track and Field Championships in Gifu. Chubu is the only corporate region with both a spring and fall track championship meet, and coming right before ekiden season it's had some good performances in the past. For men most of the talent is concentrated in the 10000 m, especially Heat 3 where top Kenyans Rodgers Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo), Charles Kamau (NTN) and Bedan Karoki (Toyota) face marathoners Yuma Hattori (Toyota) and Daiji Kawai (Toenec), 27:33.13 man Tomoki Ota (Toyota), steeplechase Olympian Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) and more. 3000 m is the main distance for women, where Ethiopians Zeyituna Husan and Desta Burka lead the Denso corporate women's team. Streaming of the men's 10000 m will be here starting at 15:50 local time Saturday, and here for the women's 3000 m and other events starting 8:50 a.m. Sunday.

Ichiyama 8th at Copenhagen Marathon

Currently the #10-ranked Japanese man in the marathon with the fastest-ever domestic time at the elite Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) made his international debut at Sunday's Copenhagen Marathon , literally an international debut as it was his first time outside the country. Ichiyama hoped to be in contention to break the 2:08:23 CR and go for the win, and with cool and breezy conditions ran easy in the lead group through 30 km. But something ate away at almost everyone as time went by, several people in the lead men's and women's groups saying humidity, and past 30 km Ichiyama fell off. Falling as low as 9th, he rallied after 40 km to finish 8th in 2:13:07. "It was different than in Japanese races," he said. "I'm used to bigger packs and more even pacing, but this was a kind of racing I hadn't done before. There's a lot to think about. I didn't feel like I was sweating a lot, but I got really thirsty and started sk

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a

Wanjiru Breaks Own MR, Fuwa and Ishida Return - Kanto Regionals Day 1 Highlights

Japan's best college meet kicked off Thursday at Tokyo's National Stadium at the 103rd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships . Looking like she was doing a controlled tempo run, 2nd-yr Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) lapped the entire field to win the women's 10000 m in a meet record 32:02.87, almost 15 seconds under the record she last year in her debut. 3rd-yr Aoi Takahashi (Josai Univ.) was 2nd in 33:29.22 and 2nd-yr Nana Nagashima (Josai Kokusai Univ.) 3rd in a PB 33:30.28, but the other main news alongside Wanjiru's new record was the return of collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) in her first 10000 m in 19 months. Fuwa hung at the back of the chase pack for the first half, made a move to lead it in the second half, and ultimately faded to 9th in 33:40.20. Every comeback has to start somewhere. The D1 men's 10000 m had a tight group up front with the top 6 all finishing within 6 seconds and under 28:10. 3rd-yr Jam

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