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.

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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