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Morota Breaks Own PV NR - Weekend Track Roundup


The Michitaka Kinami Memorial Meet in Osaka was the weekend's main event on the track, and women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota (Art Home) led the way with its biggest result. After struggling with injuries the last couple of years, Morota was back with a 4.50 m national record on her 1st attempt at the height, bettering the 4.48 m NR she set back in 2023 and outdoing 2nd place by 25 cm. Morota packed it in at that point and didn't try for 4.55 m, but as she looked back to peak form expect to see her try to take the record further this season.

Other highlights from Kinami:
  • Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) and Morgan Mitchell (Australia) both broke the meet record in the women's 400 m, Matsumoto getting the win in 52.24 and Mitchell 2nd in 52.27.
  • Jaylah Hancock-Cameron (Australia) outran Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) for the win in the women's 800 m 2:01.85 to 2:04.09, while NR holder Rin Kubo (Sekisui Kagaku) struggled in the start of her corporate league career with a 2:07.47 for 7th.
  • Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) easily won the women's 10000 m in 31:41.22 by almost 30 seconds over Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo). Collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was 9th in 32:59.68, indicating post-race that she plans to run her marathon debut in Hokkaido in August after struggling for years to regain pre-injury form on the track.
  • NR holder Rachid Muratake (JAL) set a 13.05 (-0.2) MR to win the men's 110 mH final.
  • MR came in the men's 400 mH final too, where Kazuki Kurokawa (Sumitomo Denko) won in 48.35 and Kaito Tsutsue (Sports Techno Wako) was under his own MR in 48.55 for 2nd.
  • NR holder Masateru Yugami (Toyota) threw a 60.95 m NR in the men's discus throw.
  • Hiroki Minamoto (NTN) ran 1:45.46, good for all-time JPN #3, believe it or not, to win the men's 800m, with Sho Tanabe (Chuo Univ.) 2nd in 1:45.57 and landing at all-time JPN #4.
  • NR holder Mebuki Suzuki (Toyota) won the men's 10000 m by 20 seconds in 27:20.11, sealing up his place on the Japanese team at this fall's Nagoya Asian Games.

In other domestic action, region corporate track and field championships kicked off in the Chugoku Region, where the men's 10000 m and women's 5000 m were held a week ahead of the rest of the meet, and the Chubu Region, where the full meet happened.
  • In Chugoku, Naoki Aiba (Chudenko) took the men's 10000 m in 28:36.27, Atoha Kataoka (Tenmaya) winning the women's 5000 m in 16:42.60.
  • In Chubu, Shoya Kawase (NTN) won the men's 5000 m in 13:45.20, Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) winning a 3-way spring finish in the men's 10000 m in 28:00.09 with Kelvin Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) 2nd in 28:00.50 and Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) 3rd in 28:00.89.
  • Yu Ishikawa (Kitano Kendan) and Nodoka Seko (NAC) set Chubu MR in the women's 100 m in 11.73 (+2.0) and 11.77. Ayaka Koike (Denso) managed a MR in the women's 3000 mSC in 10:10.54. The Toyota and Ultimate women both broke the 4x400 m MR, Toyota winning in 3:50.54 and Ultimate 2nd in 3:53.74. Sara Isobe (Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 5000 m in 15:43.73, Sumika Hori (Denso) taking 1st in the 10000 m in 34:18.54.
Overseas, Ryo Higuchi (Univ. of Kansas) ran a 3:38.58 PB for 6th in the Arkansas Twilight meet men's 1500 m A-heat, the 2nd-fastest time so far this year by a Japanese man. A day later, U20 NR holder Keita Sato (Swoosh TC), just 2 weeks into his stint under Mike Smith's coaching in Flagstaff, won the Portland Twilight men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:40.10, joining Higuchi in qualifying for next month's National Championships.

Last week Allon Tatsunami Clay (Penn State Univ.) ran 3:37.84, the fastest Japanese time this year, to win the Larry Ellis Invitational. It's not really a surprise that 3 of the best 1500 m performances this year are coming from athletes who've relocated to the U.S. to pursue middle distance events instead of staying in Japan and getting pushed into longer stuff like Sato experienced at Komazawa University, where head coach Hiroaki Oyagi refused to allow Sato to run even a single 1500 m after the fall of his frosh year despite being the U20 NR holder. With 4 spots up for grabs at Nationals for the Asian Games and World Road Running championships it'll be interesting to see how many of the 3 of them make the teams.

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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