japan running news

It’s Tokyo Marathon weekend, and the main question right now is about the weather. Monday’s Osaka Marathon had freezing cold temperatures and snow over the last quarter of the race, which still had record-breaking performances. Right now Tokyo looks to be in the mid-teens most of the race and could hit 20˚ by the end. Cloud cover will be critical, and what’s in the forecast right now looks like it will burn off by the last hour of the race. It could get a bit rough out there. Nippon TV, the world’s premiere road race broadcaster, is doing the live TV broadcast from 9:00 to 11:50 a.m. local time, with an international TV feed hosted by JRN’s Brett Larner to be shown in 159 countries worldwide. The leaderboard with live splits and results will be here , with Japanese-language tracking here . Both the women’s and men’s races have great fields lined up. On the women’s side is last year’s winner and CR-breaker Sutume Asefa Kebede , facing 2024 Dubai and Berlin winner Tigist Ketema , 2023...

photos © 2025 Victor Sailer/PhotoRun, all rights reserved It was a bit too cold and windy for really fast times and snow started falling over the last quarter of the race, but that didn't stop the top 4 men at the Osaka Marathon from going under the course record. A 1:02:29 first half kept at least 16 men together with the 2:04:56 Japanese national record in sight, among them NR holder Kengo Suzuki in what he hoped would be a comeback run. By 30 km in 1:28:56 the lead group was down to a dozen, still close to NR pace. At the turnaround point just past 30 km the motorcycle cops leading them too far past the turnaround cone, adding about 15 seconds that ended up burning 2 men worst. And just after that, the big uphill just after that really broke things up. Ethiopian trio Yihunilign Adane , Abdisa Tola and Getaneh Molla broke away after the hill, but with 2:05 in sight debuting sub-61 half marathoner Ryota Kondo and 2:06 man Kyohei Hosoya closed hard. 8 seconds back at 40 km, K...

The Osaka Marathon is Monday, with a live ad-free national broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. local time on NHK that you'll probably need a VPN to pick up online. No word yet on live results, but maybe try the separate elite field site . We'll post a link if something surfaces, and whatever we can from on the ground in Osaka. Anyway, there are some pretty good story lines this time around. Last year the big one was Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden Koku Gakuin University runner Kiyoto Hirabayashi winning with a debut and collegiate record of 2:06:18. That was eclipsed at the start of this month by Hiroki Wakabayashi from Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University with a 2:06:07 at Beppu-Oita , and with the arguably more talented 2025-26 AGU captain Asahi Kuroda making his debut in Osaka that might not even last til the end of the month. But you want story? Here's story: On Wednesday right after his 21st birthday Wakabayashi and Kuroda's teammate Sena M...

Japan's National Cross Country Championships happened Saturday in Fukuoka, maybe the earliest selection race in the world for next January's World XC Championships in Florida. The senior men's 10 km lived up to the hype with a 4-way race between 3000 m SC NR holder Ryuji Miura , 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri , sub-28 man Ryuto Igawa and Hakone Ekiden downhill specialist Aoi Ito . It came down to a sprint finish between Miura and Igawa, with Miura getting the win 28:24 to 28:25 and Shiojiri a few steps back in 28:29. Considering that the National Corporate Road 10 km Championships two weeks ago were won with a time over 29 minutes, times were fast overall with the top 6 under 29 minutes. The senior women's 8 km was a pack race most of the way, with one of the favorites Momoka Kawaguchi pulling away for the win in 26:25. 6th-place Wakana Itsuki was only 10 seconds behind 2nd-placer Sora Shinozakura , who clocked 26:31, showing what a close race it was. Anna Suzuki...

Sena Minawatari , a 3rd-year at Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University  who revealed in January that he had been diagnosed with malignant lymphoma in November, passed away on Feb. 19. He had just turned 21 two weeks earlier. Following the wishes of his family, Aoyama Gakuin announced the news on its team website on Feb. 21. Titled "In honor of the departure of our dear friend," the announcement read: "We are saddened to announce that Sena Minawatari, part of our team for last year's Hakone Ekiden and this season's National University Ekiden, has passed away. He was an indispensable part of our team, and we would like to express our deepest gratitude and respect for his passion and the achievements it produced. We feel grief and loss at this sudden departure, and we will carry the memories we have with him in our hearts as we continue to move forward. He fought this illness until the very end, and we ask that his memory be looked upon with warmth of heart...

The 2025 National Cross Country Championships happen Saturday in Fukuoka. Streaming starts at 11:20 a.m. local time, with the race schedule looking like this: 11:50  - H.S, girls' 4 km 12:10  - H.S. boys: 4 km 12:30  - Senior women's 2 km 12:40  - Senior men's 2 km 12:50  - U20 women's 6 km 13:15  - U20 men's 8 km 13:50  - Senior women's 8 km 14:25  - Senior men's 10 km 15:05  - J.H.S. girls' 2 km 15:20  - J.H.S. boys' 2 km Start lists are here . Based on those, the senior men's 10 km looks like it has the best matchup, with the field including 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru), 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu), 5000 m H.S. record holder Hiroto Yoshioka (Juntendo Univ.), Olympic triathlete Kenji Nener (Tochigi T&F Assoc.), Hakone downhill star  Aoi Ito (Komazawa Univ.), sub-28 10000 m runners Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) and Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei), and many more. There's not a lot of comparable dep...

The  Tokyo Marathon  announced some withdrawals and additions to the field for next week's race today. Names are as below with reasons given on the Tokyo Marathon website : Men's Marathon Withdrawals Suguru Osako (Japan/Nike) - declines to participate Benard Koech (Kenya/Kyudenko) - in poor condition Hidekazu Hijikata (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - injury Tadashi Isshiki (Japan/NTT Nishi Nihon) - injury Takumi Oishi (Japan/Suzuki) - injury Keigo Yano (Japan/Kao) - injury Tatsuro Oyazaki (Japan/Shindengen) - injury Men's Marathon Additions Hiroaki Furukawa (Japan/Tokyo University Grad School) - 2:16:14 (Kumamoto 2024) Women's Marathon Withdrawals Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) - in poor condition Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - in poor condition Men's Wheelchair Withdrawals Jin Hua (China) - injury Women's Wheelchair Withdrawals Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Great Britain) - injury Women's Wheelchair Additions Yen Hoang (U.S.A.) © 2025 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

The NYRR have announced the elite fields for the 2025 United Airlines NYC Half , and 3 top-tier runners from Japanese universities feature prominently in the men's field. Having just lost his 59:32 collegiate record to Komazawa University 's Kotaro Shinohara in Marugame earlier this month , collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m record holder Richard Etir of Tokyo Kokusai University heads to New York fresh off a 1:05:31 CR on the 23.1 km Hakone Ekiden Second Stage , equivalent to a 59:50 half marathon on a rolling net uphill course. That should predict success on the tough NYC course. He'll be the main competition for newly crowned American record holder Connor Mantz , 59:17 in Houston at the end of January, with defending champ and sub-59 man Abel Kipchumba  in contention too after a 59:52 win at last year's Great North Run. Sub-27 10000 m men Mohammed Ahmed and Woody Kincaid are also debuting. Komazawa teammates Yudai Kiyama and Hibiki Murakami earned spots in New York ...

The Kumanichi 30 km and Ome 30 km were the two big road races this past weekend, but there were at least 5 big mass-participation marathons with decent semi-elite results Sunday too. The Kyoto Marathon saw the fastest times of the weekend, with local boy Yuma Morii beating Yudai Fukuda 2:16:19 to 2:16:50 to win. Fuka Hirokawa won the women's race by over 3 minutes in 2:45:09, but 3rd-placer Miyu Fukada had a much faster net time, 2:41:09 versus her gun time of 2:50:16. It's not clear why she started so far back. The Kumamoto Castle Marathon had a great race up front between last year's winner and CR holder Hiroaki Furukawa and Hyuga Abe . Abe missed Furukawa's CR by 12 seconds but beat Furukawa by 14, going 2:16:26 to 2:16:40. Michiru Kato won out over the ageless Mai Fujisawa in the women's race, winning in 2:45:32 to Fujisawa's 2:47:11. Veterans dominated at the Kitakyushu Marathon , where Rio Olympian Hisanori Kitajima , now 40, beat another 40+ ru...

The 5th annual National Mixed-Gender University Ekiden took place Sunday in Osaka's Nagai Park. Its 6-leg course totaling 20 km, the race broke down into individual legs of 3 km, 2 km, 5 km, 3 km, 2 km and 5 km, with men and women from competing universities alternating on each leg. Nittai University returned to the top position, breaking the overall CR with its winning time of 58:27. Nittai's Hiroto Takamura led off in only 6th, but second runner Kazuyo Iida had a good run to move up into 2nd, putting third runner Ryota Tominaga into position to take the lead. Once out front Nittai's remaining 3 runners Risa Yamazaki , Takanori Wakesu and Yuiri Ogata held onto 1st the rest of the way to the win. Daito Bunka University was 2nd in 59:17 in its debut at the event, with last year's winner Juntendo University taking 3rd this time in 59:53. 5th National Mixed-Gender University Ekiden Nagai Park, Osaka, 16 Sept. 2025 21 teams, 6 legs, 20.0 km complete results Top Ind...

  In his debut at the Ome 30 km Road Race Sunday in western Tokyo, Masato Arao (ND Software) won in 1:30:50. En route he split 15:04, 30:10, 45:46 and 1:01:14 while running in the lead pack, but breaking away on a hilly section of the course he was alone by the time he hit 25 km in 1:16:00. Unthreatened the rest of the way, he soloed the last 5 km to take the win. Arao went to Sakata Minami H.S. in Yamagata and Toyo University . After graduating he moved back to Yamagata and started working full-time while continuing to run races as an amateur. In September he ran a PB of 1:02:53 for 2nd at the Ichinoseki International Half Marathon. That attracted the interest of the ND Software corporate team, which he joined on Jan. 1 this year. He ran the anchor stage for the Yamagata team at the National Men's Ekiden on Jan. 19. In 2nd was his ND Software teammate Taiki Suzuki in 1:31:53. Ryo Kuchimachi (Subaru) was 3rd in 1:32:14. Moe Shimizu (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won the women's ...

  Maybe the next big thing coming down the Tenmaya corporate pipeline, Mizuki Nishimura made good on her pre-race plan for the Kumanichi 30 km to get as close as she could to her Tenmaya teammate Honami Maeda 's 1:38:35 NR. Out solo almost on track to break 1:40 in excellent conditions, Nishimura started to slow in the middle third of the race but had enough time and energy to work with to still take almost 2 minutes off the old pre-super shoe era CR, winning easily in 1:41:42. 2nd and 3rd-placers Mio Kuroda and Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh were together through 20 km before Galbadrakh faded, Kuroda taking 2nd in 1:44:49 and Galbadrakh 3rd in 1:45:44 in a tuneup for next month's Tokyo Marathon. 天満屋の西村美月選手、熊日30キロで1:41:42大会新記録。 Mizuki Nishimura wins Kumanichi 30k in 1:41:42 CR. pic.twitter.com/rAru1WywEm — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) February 16, 2025 The men's race started conservatively, keeping a large group of 11 together until 20 km. sub-61 half marathoner Dai...

The Mar. 9 Nagoya Women's Marathon is the last big elite marathon on Japan's winter schedule, this year with a trio of sub-2:20 runners up front, Sheila Chepkirui , Aga Ruti and Hitomi Niiya . It being a home soil World Championships selection cycle there's decent depth behind them, and 2:21 runner Rika Kaseda looks especially on her game right now with a 1:07:53 PB at the Marugame Half earlier this month. Australian Isobel Batt-Doyle is also trending in the right direction, having run 2:22:59 in her last go in Valencia in December. The debut list is pretty interesting, with women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima , 1:08:03, making her debut, as are 1:09:01 Australian Leanne Pompeani and track runner Yuna Wada . 2018 World Half Marathon silver medalist Pauline Kamulu isn't technically debuting, having run 2:31:04 at last summer's hot and humid Hokkaido Marathon, but with a 1:07:33 in Marugame ahead of Kaseda she has a lot of potential to go 10 minutes ...

  Kagawa prefecture is set to hold its first JAAF-certified full marathon in March next year with the launch of the Kagawa Marathon . The new event's executive committee approved the decision to move forward at a board meeting. The new race will take place Mar. 15, 2026. Kagawa governor Tomohito Ikeda said that the Kagawa Marathon would include a fun run to make it easy for beginners to be a part of it, that well-known former athletes were being appointed event ambassadors to increase its appeal, and that race weekend would include a market and music concerts. "It will be a fast race where runners can run with ease and go for time goals," he said. "We hope to make it an event where people from outside the prefecture will want to spend extra time." The prefecture will launch official social media accounts to help build interest in the new race. Translator's note: Kagawa prefecture is home to the Marugame Half Marathon where a new Japanese NR was set earlier ...

At the 65th Karatsu 10-Mile Road Race Sunday in Karatsu, Saga, Shota Nakano (Honda) won in 47:30. Nakano graduated from Hiroshima's Sera H.S. before joining Chuo University . He ran the Hakone Ekiden three years in a row beginning his 2nd year at Chuo, winning the Third Stage his 3rd year. After graduating last spring he joined Honda, where he set a 1500 m PB of 3:41.47 at September's National Corporate Track and Field Championships. His other PBs include 13:24.11 for 5000 m, 28:00.86 for 10000 m and 1:02:49 for the half marathon. This was his first time racing the 10-mile distance. Yushin Akatsu (Komori Corp.) was 2 seconds behind Nakano in 47:32, with Daiki Nomimura (NTT Nishi Nihon) 3rd in 47:33 and veteran Keita Shitara (Nishitetsu) 4th in 47:35. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) took the women's 10 km in 34:12 and Shiena Kanamori (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) the high school girls' 5 km in 16:22. Taiyo Iwasa (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) won the high school boys' 10 km ...

Starting in front of the Ehime Prefectural Government building in Matsuyama and ending in Shiroyama Park, the 62nd Ehime Marathon took place Sunday. First across the finish line was Chuo University 4th-year Kazusa Takanuma in 2:13:00. Takanuma had previously run the 2023 Hokkaido Marathon, where he struggled in to a 2:43:37 finish. His win this time took over 30 minutes off that time in just his second attempt at the distance. A native of Shizuoka, Takanuma went to Tomioka J.H.S. and Fujieda Meisei H.S. Even though he never made it to a national-level competition, after entering Chuo he began to improve. During his 2nd year he ran the half marathon at the Kanto Region University Championships, placing 22nd in the D1 race. He was never named to Chuo's starting roster for any of the major university ekidens, but at last year's Marugame Half Marathon he clocked an excellent 1:02:19 PB. After graduating next month he will join the Suzuki team, where he plans to focus on the m...