Skip to main content

Midweek Track Results


Stop 4 on the 2026 Hokuren Distance Challenge happened Wednesday in Fukagawa. Things were pretty low-key, with the main results coming in the men's 1500 m and women's 800 m. In the men's 1500 m, Korean NR holder Jae Ung Lee ran the 2nd-fastest time of his career, 3:37.75, for the win. All 3 of his sub-3:39 performances to date have now happened at the HDC series, with a 3:38.55 in Shibetsu in June last year followed by his 3:36.01 NR in Kitami a month later. Atsuki Urushibata was 2nd in 3:38.98, his first time under 3:40.

American Nicole Montgomery took almost a second off her PB to win the women's 800 m in 2:02.29, with the top 5 all running PBs under 2:07. Japan's #2 800 m runner Ayano Shiomi opted to step up in distance, running a 6-second PB of 4:11.12 for 2nd in the women's 1500 m. Margaret Ekalale won in 4:10.49.

Women's 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo was in Canada for The Jerome Classic meet, where she was 3rd in a 3-way sprint finish in 2:02.57. Kiwi Boh Ritchie took the win in 2:02.46, with American Lauren Tolbert 2nd in 2:02.51. Fresh off his all-time JPN #2 1:44.32 in Edmonton a few days ago, Allon Clay won the men's 800 m in 1:44.51 which was still faster than the 3rd-fastest Japanese man has ever run. Kazuyoshi Tamogami was 6th in 1:48.89.

In Europe, men's long jump national champ Yuki Hashioka was the only Japanese athlete at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial meet in Budapest. A 7.91 m (0.0) jump there was good for 5th, with Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou winning by 19 cm at 8.31 m (-0.6).

This year's Hokuren Distance Challenge series wraps up Saturday in Shibetsu, with a good number of Japanese athlete competing at Belgium's Night of Athletics meet the same day.

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wasn't Ayana Shiomi's 1500m run an eye opener! I think she might need to change her distance from 800m to 1500m or consider running both if the schedule allows. She was very impressive and the time was very fast for a Japanese athlete. Mizuki Michishita's current 1500m personal best (PB) is 4:10.48 and aside from Nozomi Tanaka there aren't many others in that range!

I watched Rin Kubo's race on YouTube and it was a close 3-way finish. She is still yet to find her top high school form. Perhaps, she will peak when it counts in the Asian Games?

Looking forward to seeing how Miu Saito runs in the 3000mSC in Belgium. I hope she does well and, if the conditions allow, get her close to her national record time.
July 16, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
Post a Comment
Read more

2026 Izumo Ekiden Preview

We're at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii where JRN associate editor Mika Tokairin is making her debut here as an athlete after having come to Kona for years as a journalist. Next to Kona the most eyes worldwide will be on the Chicago Marathon , where a solid Japanese contingent is lining up including men's marathon NR holder Suguru Osako and half marathon NR holder Tomoki Ota , Kiyoshi Koga , and the other power couple in Japanese marathoning, last year's Berlin Marathon runner-up Akira Akasaki and Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Akasaki . Osako's manager told JRN that he is going for the Asian Record of 2:04:43 held by Moroccan-born Bahraini El-Hassan El-Abbassi who was served up a 4-year suspension not long after setting the record. Last year's Warsaw Marathon winner Ryoma Takeuchi is at the Perth Running Festival marathon in Australia where he hopes to add a CR win to his PB at July's Gold Coast Marathon. On the home front Keita Satoh i...
Post a Comment
Read more

April's Kasumigaura Marathon Canceled

The organizing committee of the 31st Kasumigaura Marathon and International Blind Marathon has been working hard to develop safety and health protocols adequate to mitigate the risk of spreading the coronavirus at the event. But with increased case numbers in recent months and a number of prefectures remaining under an extended state of emergency declaration, the future outlook for the organizers' ability to hold the race safely remains uncertain. As a result, the decision has been made to cancel this year's race, originally scheduled for Apr. 18. The popular Kasumigaura Walking event held in tandem with the marathon has also been canceled due to the pandemic situation. We thank you for your understanding.  Translator's note: The Kasumigaura Marathon had 10,096 finishers in its last running in 2019. Its cancelation follows those of March's Tokushima Marathon and April's Nagano Marathon  earlier this week. The only major spring Japanese marathons still on the calen...
Post a Comment
Read more