It's been a busy year, and a record-breaking one that kicked off with a Hakone Ekiden CR by Aoyama Gakuin University and ended with a new men's marathon NR from Suguru Osako. JRN's 10-most read stories of 2025:
Tokyo World Championships to Leave Final Decision on Going Ahead in Heat to World Athletics - Aug. 25
After fears of hot conditions were used as a justification to move the Tokyo Olympics marathons to Sapporo, concern was high about the conditions at September's Tokyo World Championships. Ultimately, though, it wasn't much of an issue, with longer distance events being moved slightly earlier in the mornings on which they were scheduled.
Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon - Apr. 10
Australian business owner Matthew Inglis Fox who had come to Japan to run the Osaka Marathon was arrested on suspicion of illegally importing cannabis products. After several months of confinement Fox returned to his home country.
2024 Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University broke the event's overall course record for the second year in a row, running 10:41:19 for the 10-stage, 217.1 km course. After sitting in 4th at the end of Day One, runner-up Komazawa University outran AGU over the second day of the race, setting a CR of 5:20:50 for the 109.6 km Day Two course thanks in part to a brilliant new Seventh Stage CR by star 3rd-year Keita Sato, but still finished almost 3 minutes behind in 10:44:07. Preview. A post-race review of the Hakone numbers.
Like in Osaka a week earlier, Ethiopians took the top spots in both the men's and women's races at the Tokyo Marathon, Tadese Tekele running a world-leading 2:03:23 and Sutume Asefa Kebede following that with a women's world lead of 2:16:31. Following his breakthrough win at the National Corporate Half Marathon, Tsubasa Ichiyama cracked the top 10 with a 2:06:00 PB. Tomoki Suzuki and Catherine Debrunner both set CR in the wheelchair races. Original elite field listing. Pre-race preview.
Japan announced a team of 35 women and 36 men for the May 27-31 Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea, a key chance for Japanese athletes to score World Rankings points ahead of the qualification deadline for September's Tokyo World Championships.
Ethiopian Yihunlign Adane outkicked the debuting Ryota Kondo by 2 seconds to win the Osaka Marathon in a 2:05:37 CR despite mid-race snow. Abdisa Tola and Kyohei Hosoya also went under 2:06, with Hakone Champ AGU's Asahi Kuroda setting a new collegiate record of 2:06:05 in his debut. Ethiopian women swept the top 3 spots, Waganesh Mekasha winning by 7 seconds in 2:26:33. Preview.
The Asahi Kasei corporate team won an anchor stage battle against 2024 national champion Toyota and 2022-2023 winner Honda to take the 2025 New Year Ekiden national title, its first since 2020. A member of Asahi Kasei's winning lineup, Emmanuel Kiprop Kipruto would be suspended later in the year by World Athletics over a financial conflict with his agent. Preview.
The JAAF named Yuka Ando, Kana Kobayashi and Sayaka Sato as the women's marathon team for the 2025 Tokyo World Championships, with Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki as alternate. Ryota Kondo, Naoki Koyama and Yuya Yoshida were picked for the men's team, Kyohei Hosoya controversially picked as alternate over his former Chuo Gakuin University teammate Tsubasa Ichiyama.
The Tokyo Marathon Foundation announced that it would increase entry fees by 20% for Japanese residents and by 43.75% for international entrants for its 2026 edition, bringing the event closer to the other Abbott World Marathon Majors races in costs for participants.
Favorite Sheila Chepkirui had no problem winning the Nagoya Women's Marathon, running 2:20:40 with a long push from 30 km. Sayaka Sato ran a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd that ended up being the fastest Japanese women's time of the year, enough to get her onto Japan's team for the Tokyo World Championships. Original elite field listing. Pre-race preview.
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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