GMO Wins First National Title at Era-Changing 2026 New Year Ekiden

Things have really been coming up fast the last year or so in Japanese distance running, but even so this year's New Year Ekiden really felt like the era has changed. GMO took the lead on the second of the race's 7 legs and went on to take over 2 minutes off the overall course record for the 100.0 km course, winning its first national title in 4:44:00. En route 6 of the 7 legs had new CR, a lot of them with multiple people breaking them, and the only leg that didn't, the 12.3 km First Stage, saw Shunpei Tomita of Logisteed run 34:23, only 7 seconds off the CR held by sub-27 Kenyan Martin Mathathi.

The level at the collegiate Hakone Ekiden keeps going up up up, and that showed here as 3 of the new stage CR were set by guys in their first season in the corporate leagues who were some of the biggest stars at Hakone last year. Aoyama Gakuin University grad Aoi Ota sneaked in 1 second ahead of Toyota's Jin Yuasa to set a 46:00 CR on the 15.9 km Fifth Stage. Collegiate half marathon record holder Kotaro Shinohara, captain at Komazawa University this time last year, ran a 42.53 CR for the 15.3 km Third Stage, equivalent to a 45:06 10-miler.

But the most mind-blowing run of the day was by Hibiki Yoshida from the mid-tier Sunbelx team, who ran the fastest-ever Japanese time on the Second Stage at last year's Hakone in his last run for Soka University, running the equivalent of a 1:00:01 half marathon there. Here he passed 23 people to move into 1st on the 21.9 km Second Stage, retaken at the end by GMO's Yuto Imae but chopping a massive 39 seconds off the CR. The old CR of 1:01:40 was equivalent to a 59:25 half marathon and was set by Toyota's Tomoki Ota, who went on to run a 59:27 NR at last February's Marugame Half Marathon. Do the math on Yoshida's record. He can run in the 58:40s, and he's got the same kind of energy as Conner Mantz. Get them in a half marathon together ASAP.

Yoshida actually made it a way more interesting race than it looks like from the results, Sunbelx never having finished better than 15th before but thanks to him right up in the top 3 most of the rest of the way with GMO and Logisteed. GMO had never won, and Logisteed had never done better than 4th, so in that way it was another signal of a change in the era, with the last few winning teams and traditional powerhouses Asahi Kasei, Honda, Toyota and Fujitsu all struggling. Logisteed finished a team record 2nd in 4:46:27, only 20 seconds off the old overall CR. Toyota managed to work its way up into 3rd on the last 2 stages, and JR Higashi Nihon ran Sunbelx down for 4th, 4:47:47 to 4:47:51, thanks in a big way to a new CR by its 4th runner Raphael Dapash. But improving its best-ever placing from 15th to 5th, its first-ever finish on the 8-deep podium, was enough to make head coach Tadanao Tanaka cry when he addressed the team's supporters post-race.

Honda sneaked onto the podium in 8th thanks to a great anchor run from Tatsuhiko Ito, but defending champs Asahi Kasei, missing a Kenyan in their lineup after team member Emmanuel Kiprop Kipruto was suspended by World Athletics 2 weeks ago over a financial conflict with his agent, were only 9th. Fujitsu was in the same boat as Asahi Kasei, lacking a Kenyan and finishing 10th.

So with a new crop of teams filling most of the top spots and the usual podium placers mostly falling short, it seemed like things have changed. And the quality of the performances really was something new. If the New Year Ekiden was like this then Hakone is bound to be insanely good over the next 2 days, and given how much better the Hakone field is this year even compared to last year, just wait to see what happens at next year's New Year Ekiden.

The performances were so good, 58-minute half marathons and the like, that you have to stop and think about how World Athletics' pride and joy, its world rankings system, in a way discriminates against Japanese athletes. Almost none of the athletes who ran incredible times today are in the WA Road Running world rankings, and those who are aren't ranked anywhere near their real abilities, because the WA system doesn't accommodate the ekiden format that they spend the entire year focused on delivering their peak performances at. This hurts their opportunities to compete in top-tier races and earn commensurate with their ability, and it means lesser athletes fill the slots they should be occupying.

It goes both ways, as the Japanese system has a vested financial interest in keeping its top people racing at home instead of abroad, and in keeping those athletes financially dependent on their corporate team contracts and coaches' orders. But looking at how today showed how much things have change, it's hard not to feel like other things have got to change too.

70th New Year Ekiden

Corporate Men's National Championships

Maebashi, Gunma, 1 Jan. 2026

40 teams, 7 stages, 100.0 km

complete results

Top Team Results

1. GMO - 4:44:00 - CR

2. Logisteed - 4:46:27

3. Toyota - 4:47:12

4. JR Higashi Nihon - 4:47:47

5. Sunbelx - 4:47:51

6. Chugoku Denryoku - 4:48:04

7. Kurosaki Harima - 4:48:37

8. Honda - 4:48:38

9. Asahi Kasei - 4:48:44

10. Fujitsu - 4:49:20

11. Mitsubishi Juko - 4:49:21

12. Yasukawa Denki - 4:49:27

13. Subaru - 4:49:30

14. Toyota Boshoku - 4:49:32

15. Sumitomo Denko - 4:50:16

16. Otsuka Seiyaku - 4:50:40

17. Nishitetsu - 4:51:44

18. Aichi Seiko - 4:51:44

19. Yakult - 4:51:45

20. Mazda - 4:51:46

Top Individual Stage Performances

First Stage (12.3 km)

1. Shunpei Tomita (Logisteed) - 34:23

2. Taisei Kiyono (Chugoku Denryoku) - 34:24

3. Nagiya Mori (Honda) - 34:25

4. Naoki Ota (Yakult) - 34:26

5. Taiga Hirayama (Konica Minolta) - 34:26

6. Ryuji Miura (Subaru) - 34:27

7. Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) - 34:28

8. Kiseki Shiozawa (Fujitsu) - 34:28

9. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 34:28

10. Sonata Nagashima (Asahi Kasei) - 34:29

Second Stage (21.9 km)

1. Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) - 1:01:01 - CR

2. Yuto Imae (GMO) - 1:01:11 (CR)

3. Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Logisteed) - 1:01:29 (CR)

4. Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:01:53

5. Kotaro Kondo (SGH) - 1:01:57

6. Mebuki Suzuki (Toyota) - 1:02:02

7. Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:02:04

8. Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) - 1:02:10

8. Ryuichi Hashimoto (Press Kogyo) - 1:02:10

10. Ren Umezaki (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:02:13

Third Stage (15.3 km)

1. Kotaro Shinohara (Fujitsu) - 42:53 - CR

2. Takato Suzuki (GMO) - 43:07

3. Rei Matsunaga (JR Higashi Nihon) - 43:13

4. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 43:19

5. Daisuke Uekado (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 43:23

6. Haruki Sato (Sumitomo Denko) - 43:26

7. Tamaki Fujimoto (Logisteed) - 43:29

8. Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) - 43:35

9. Haruka Onodera (Toyota Boshoku) - 43:38

10. Ren Tazawa (Toyota) - 43:41

Fourth Stage (7.6 km)

1. Raphael Dapash (JR Higashi Nihon) - 20:32 - CR

2. Michael Temoi (GMO) - 20:38

3. Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) - 20:43

4. Sitonik Kiprono (Kurosaki Harima) - 20:47

5. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) - 20:48

6. Richard Chepselgon (Sunbelx) - 20:50

7. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) - 20:52

8. Kelvin Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) - 20:55

9. Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 20:56

10. Rogers Kibet (Konica Minolta) - 21:03

Fifth Stage (15.9 km)

1. Aoi Ota (GMO) - 46:00 - CR

2. Jin Yuasa (Toyota) - 46:01 (CR)

3. Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) - 46:04 (CR)

4. Kanta Ikeda (Chugoku Denryoku) - 46:12 (CR)

5. Haruki Abe (Yasukawa Denki) - 46:16 (CR)

5. Mahiro Yoshimoto (SGH) - 46:16 (CR)

7. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) - 46:27 (CR)

8. Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) - 46:52

9. Masaki Tsuda (Nishitetsu) - 46:57

10. Kenzo Ijichi (Yakult) - 46:58

Sixth Stage (11.4 km)

1. Yudai Shimazu (GMO) - 32:27 - CR

2. Ken Yokote (Fujitsu) - 33:11

3. Ryoji Tatezawa (SGH) - 33:16

4. Hironori Muramatsu (Logisteed) - 33:17

5. Naoki Aiba (Chudenko) - 33:29

6. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) - 33:33

6. Kazumoto Iwasa (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 33:33

8. Keishun Kushima (Yasukawa Denki) - 33:38

9. Shogo Hifumi (Osaka Police) - 33:39

10. Yuta Kubode (Chugoku Denryoku) - 33:40

Seventh Stage (15.6 km)

1. Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 45:23 - CR

2. Taiju Nakashima (Chugoku Denryoku) - 45:30 (CR)

2. Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei) - 45:30 (CR)

4. Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) - 45:37 (CR)

5. Hironori Tsuetaki (Fujitsu) - 46:05

6. Masaya Tsurukawa (GMO) - 46:09

7. Masaki Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) - 46:18

7. Taisei Kobayashi (Mitsubishi Juko) - 46:18

9. Kenshin Ebisawa (Logisteed) - 46:28

10. Yuto Hirosawa (Konica Minolta) - 46:30

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

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