Koga 13.07 110 mH U20 NR at National Sports Festival

Day 4 of the National Sports Festival in Shiga saw more records fall. In the junior men's 110 m hurdles, Jeremiah Koga (Tokyo H.S.) ran a stellar 13.07 (+0.7) U20 NR, high school record and meet record for the win. Koga bettered current NR holder Rachid Muratake's U20 NR by 0.21, making his prospects in the event look pretty exciting. And it wasn't just him. In 2nd, Koki Takajo (Miyazaki Nishi H.S.) ran an U18 NR of 13.17. Muratake breaking 13 this season was a big step for the event in Japan, and it looks like there's more talent ready to follow him.

It's a bit more of a fringe event, but the junior women's 300 mH also saw a new U18 NR. Winner Rachel Mayu Gardener (Hosei Daini H.S.) won in 41.11, and right behind her Yuna Kusuda (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) came through in 41.27 to set a new U18 NR. And again, it wasn't just her. 3rd-placer Makoto Saka (Saku Chosei H.S.) also went under the old U18 record, clocking 41.44.

The other big event of the day saw a rematch of all the current top names in one of the hardest Japanese squads to have made at the Tokyo World Championships, the senior men's high jump. Tomohiro Shinno (Kraftia) cleared 2.29 m on his 1st attempt. Ryoichi Akamatsu (Seibu Prince) took 2 tries to clear it, then passed and went for 2.32. When he missed it the win went to Shinno. In 3rd, Yuto Seko (FAAS) cleared 2.26 m on his 2nd attempt. Struggling with some niggling leg pain since his Diamond League debut in Silesia in August, Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex RC) took 3 attempts to get over 2.26 m, tying his PB. But even though he ended up 4th Hasegawa told JRN post-meet that he was glad to have ended the season with a step back in the right direction. Up-and-comiing Sota Haraguchi (Juntendo Univ.) was 5th at 2.20 m.

In other finals:

Yuta Kawasaki (Okayama Shodai H.S.) won the junior men's shot put title with a last-round throw of 17.61 m, his only attempt over 17 m.
Ruku Azuma (Ino H.S.) won the junior men's discus throw with his first throw of 51.33 m. Nobody else in the field threw over 50 m, but Azuma did it again on his 5th and 6th attempts.
Shogo Tochigi (Shiritsu Kashiwa H.S.) won the junior men's 300 mH in 35.42.
The junior women's 1500 m title went to Mary Muthoni (Aomori Yamada H.S.) in 4:24.94, less than a second ahead of Honomi Muramatsu (Tokai Sagami H.S.), 2nd in 4:25.78, and Aika Koreeda (Utube J.H.S.), 3rd in 4:25.81.
Nana Ishihara (Hakuoh Ashikaga H.S.) won the junior women's 100 mH in 13.29 (+0.8).
Masateru Yugami (Toyota) came out of top of a close senior men's discus throw, winning with a 57.97 m throw on his 4th attempt.
Yuki Morisaki (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ.) took the senior women's high jump when she cleared 1.85 m on her 2nd attempt.
After anchoring the winning Hokkaido team in the 4x100 m relay, Midori Mikase (Sumitomo Denko) came back to win the senior women's 100 m final in 11.57 (+0.4).
Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) won the senior men's 100 m final in 10.17 (+0.3), with NR holder Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) 4th in 10.29.

The National Sports Festival wraps Tuesday.

Hokkaido Marathon Elite Field

The Hokkaido Marathon happens Aug. 30 in Sapporo. Although it's not a top-tier race on the global schedule, the JAAF gives it special status in qualification for the MGC Race Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials, with 3 spots available to men who run under 2:12:00 and women under 2:32:00. Compare that to the criteria for making the trials by running the WA platinum label Sydney Marathon the same day, where men have to run under 2:06:30 and women 2:23:30 regardless of how they place. It's hard to see that as anything other than disincentivizing Japanese runners from racing abroad, with protecting the JAAF's financial interest in domestic races being the priority over getting the best athletes into the Olympic trials. But anyway, there are pretty good fields of people willing to not step out of line. All 6 women with marathon finishes to their name have run under 2:30 in the last 3 years led by veteran Hitomi Niiya with a 2:21:50 in Tokyo 2 years ago. Most are in the 2:26-2...

Olympic Marathoner Nakamoto Scores 10000 m PB

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/05/19/kiji/K20120519003286760.html translated by Brett Larner London Olympics men's marathon team member Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) set a 10000 m PB May 19 at Sayagatani Field in Kita-Kyushu, finishing 9th at the Kyushu Corporate Track & Field Championships in 28:54.59. "A PB makes me feel pretty good inside about things," Nakamoto commented with a smile. "I'll be going into marathon training in good shape." Nakamoto's previous best time was 29:04.24. In today's race he stuck to the back of the lead pack, saving his energy for a intended surge over the final stage but unable to execute as planned. "My closing speed is still a problem," he said without seeming too concerned. His coach Naoki Yamagashira said, "We achieved our goal of improving his track speed. He scored 100% today." Next up Nakamoto will run the Bupa London 10000 road race on April 27 as par...

Japan's Team for Nagoya Asian Games

The JOC announced the full lineups for the men's and women's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games . Being hosted in Japan the Asian Games are a pretty big deal, and it's pretty close to the maximum of 2 athletes per event. The men's and women's triple jump, the women's 400 m and the women's discus throw only have 1 athlete on the Japanese team, and it's a big FU to the shot putters apparently as nobody was named to either the men's or women's teams even though people ranked lower in the World Athletics Asian rankings than top JPN shot putters Daichi Morishita and Chiharu Saka did make the team in other events. But, let's focus on what it is, not what it isn't. Going off this week's Asian rankings 8 men and 5 women are ranked #1 in their event, with a total of 19 men and 14 women ranked in the top 3. Factor in a limit of 2 per nationality and the relays and Japan's chances of scoring a great medal haul are looking good. M...

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