More Meet Records on National Sports Festival Day 3

The meet records kept coming on Day 3 of the 2025 National Sports Festival Sunday in Shiga. The biggest came in the junior women's javelin throw, where Ayaka Suzuki (Namisho H.S.) opened with a 57.11 m MR throw to win by almost 9 meters. That would have been good enough for 4th in the senior women's javelin throw, where Marina Saito (Suzuki) won over Momone Ueda (Zenrin) 59.39 m to 59.34 m, but more newsworthily put her at all-time #5 on the Japanese high school rankings, 1.79 m behind Paris Olympics champ Haruka Kitaguchi.

Both the junior women's 5000 m race walk and junior men's 5000 m race walk took the event to new levels, with the top 4 in the women's race going under the MR and the top 2 in the men's race doing the same. Hikari Osaka (Nishinomiya H.S.) took the women's race by less than a second over Yuna Uchiyama (Honjo Higashi H.S.) 22:40.75 to 22:41.50, but the men's race was clearer-cut with Daichi Yamada (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) winning by 16 seconds over Toshiya Inoue (Nagano Nichidai H.S.) 20:03.54 to 20:19.72. The fact that Inoue was still under the MR shows how good Yamada's performance was.

The MR went in the senior men's 110 m hurdles thanks to Tatsuki Abe (Juntendo Univ.), who turned in a 13.26 (+0.2) for the win. Chisato Kiyoyama (Ichigo) didn't quite get to the senior women's 100 mH MR but still turned in a dominant win in 13.07 (-0.4).

With teams made up of 3 students and one pro both the women's 4x100 m and men's 4x100 m saw new meet records. Anchored by Midori Mikase, the Hokkaido women's team set a new MR of 44.58 for the win over Yamagata. Shizuoka took the men's title with a great anchor run from Shota Iizuka, becoming the first team to break 39 at the National Sports Festival in 38.95. With Yuki Koike leading off the Hokkaido men tied the old MR in 39.13 for 2nd.

Other winners included:

Sora Murata (Tsukuba Univ.) and Akari Osakaya (Ehime T&F Assoc.) both tied the 4.20 m MR in the senior women's pole vault, Murata getting the win.
High school record holder Sorato Shimizu (Seiryo H.S.) tied the MR in junior men's 100 m A-final, running 10.19 (+0.2). Risa Akizawa (Tokyo Gakkan Niigata H.S.) won the junior women's 100 m A-final in 11.56 (+0.8).
Sora Matsukawa (Naha Kokusai H.S.) took the junior women's triple jump with a 12.37 m (+0.3) last-round jump. The next 3 placers were all within 9 cm of Matsukawa.
Natsuki Yamakawa (Team SSP) won the senior men's long jump by 1 cm over Tenju Togawa (Ueno Nakamura Shikain) 7.77 m (+0.6) to 7.76 m (-0.1).
Akane Minamisawa (Matsumoto Doken) won the senior women's 400 mH in 56.96, Daiki Ogawa (Toyo Univ.) taking the senior men's title in 49.03.

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

East Japan Corporate Ekiden English Commentary

For the time being I'll be using this post for English commentary on today's East Japan Jitsugyodan Ekiden Championships. Reload article to see updates. Race broadcast starts at 1:55 p.m. Japan time. Click here to watch TBS' broadcast online.

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

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