japan running news

A Tokyo Olympian in the men's 100 m, Shuhei Tada (29, Sumitomo Denko) has announced that he is taking a break. Tada finished 7th in the 100 m at the Aug. 20 Twilight Games at Kanagawa's Nissan Stadium, running 10.32 (-0.3). After that race Tada said, "I was feeling tired. But some of the others who had been racing a lot still put in good times, so I think my lack of training after my injury last year is impacting me now." Tada was unable to hit the 10.00 qualifying standard for September's Tokyo World Athletics Championships. "I'm going to take some time off and rest for a while until the day comes when there's a way forward." In 2017 Tada ran a wind-aided 9.94, the first time a Japanese man broke 10 on Japanese soil. With his fast start he was an important part of Japan's bronze medal-winning 4x100 m relay teams at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships. Given the recent surge in the number of talented young athletes Tada said he found inspi...

A native of Shimabara, Nagasaki, Ryota Kondo , 25, visited Nagasaki City Hall ahead of September's Tokyo World Championships where he will represent Japan in the marathon. At February's Osaka Marathon Kondo set a debut marathon national record of 2:05:39, finishing 2nd overall and in the top Japanese spot to earn himself a place on the Japanese national team for the World Championships. "I like to go hiking in Oehara, or up the steep slopes in Nagayo and Nameshi," he told city officials. "Climbing steep hills strengthens my legs and hips." At the Tokyo World Championships the men's marathon will start at 8:00 a.m. on September 15. The race is likely to happen in lingering late-summer heat. "I tend to be pretty positive about things," Kondo said. "I think the hot conditions will prevent a lot of other athletes from performing up to their full ability. The way I see it, when things get tough it's an opportunity." Kondo is the third ...

Miyuki Uehara age: 23 sponsor: Daiichi Seimei graduated from: Kagoshima Joshi H.S. best time inside MGC window: 2:24:19, 9th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon PB: 2:24:19, 9th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 15:21.40 (2015) 10000 m: 31:38.80 (2016) half marathon: 1:09:13 (2017) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 9th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:24:19 – PB 9th, 2018 Berlin Marathon, 2:25:46 other major results: 6th, 2019 Hakodate Half Marathon, 1:12:07 6th, 2019 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, 1:11:03 21st, 2018 National Corporate Women’s Ekiden Third Stage (10.9 km), 37:17 5th, 2018 National Championships 5000 m, 15:36.33 2nd, 2017 Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, 1:09:13 – PB 24th, 2017 London World Championships 10000 m, 32:31.58 3rd, 2017 National Championships 10000 m, 31:48.81 15th, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics 5000 m final, 15:34.99 2nd, 2016 Bolder Boulder 10 km, 34:16 Just 20 at the time, Uehara became only the s...

On Apr. 11 the Noritz women's corporate team announced that former Suzuki Hamamatsu AC coach Masayuki Satouchi has been appointed its new head coach effective immediately. During his time at Suzuki, Satouchi developed two of Japan's top marathon women, Yuka Ando , 25, all-time Japanese #4 at 2:11:36 and currently running for the Wacoal team, and London World Championships team member Mao Kiyota , 25, 2:23:47. After that he left his coaching position, but his ability as a women's coach remained highly regarded. The Noritz team currently features three-time World Championships team member Mari Ozaki , 43, and 2020 Olympic trials qualifier Madoka Nakano , 27, on its roster. Previous head coach Yoshihiko Morioka retired at the end of January. source article: https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/201904110000442.html translated by Brett Larner

On Feb. 1 the Wacoal women's corporate team announced that 2017 London World Championships team member Yuka Ando , 24, has joined its organization. Ando previously ran for the Suzuki Hamamatsu AC team. Known for her unique "ninja running" style with minimal upper body motion and arms held almost straight down at her sides, Ando ran 2:21:36 at the 2017 Nagoya Women's Marathon to become the fourth-fastest Japanese woman ever and break the debut marathon national record. She placed only an unremarkable 17th at the World Championships later that year, but with a 2:27:37 at the 2018 Osaka International Women's Marathon she qualified for September's MGC Race, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon trials event. The Suzuki Hamamatsu AC team has undergone repeated coaching staff changes in recent years. In her new environment alongside half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi Ando will now be able to target the Tokyo Olympics. source article: https://...

All-time fourth-fastest Japanese marathoner Hiroto Inoue (25, MHPS) returned to Tokyo's Narita Airport on July 29 from altitude training in Boulder, U.S.A. ahead of next month's Jakarta Asian Games. In Boulder he did three 40 km training runs at 1600 m altitude. "I trained with a lot of focus. If things go well I'm mentally prepared to run the race solo." To help cope with the expected heat at the Asian Games Inoue is considering wearing a cap while racing for the first time. "When I tried it in training it seemed a lot cooler," he said favorably of the cap. "It felt good." Ever since his days at Yamanashi Gakuin University Inoue has raced without a cap because he has disliked the feeling of it making his head hotter. Team members were not allowed to run with sunglasses either. In last summer's London World Championships marathon he didn't wear a cap, but after completing this altitude training camp, he said, "The visor of the...

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The Tenmaya women's corporate team announced on Dec. 19 that two-time World Championships marathoner and 2012 London Olympian Risa Shigetomo , 30, will retire from competition at the end of the season in March next year. A press conference is scheduled for Dec. 21. As a third-year at Okayama's Kojokan H.S. in 2005 Shigetomo led the team to win its first-ever National High School Ekiden Championships title. She joined the Tenmaya team the following spring after her graduation. With a powerful stride driven by her tall 168 cm frame, Shigetomo won the 2012 Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2:23:23 to qualify for the London Olympic team. At the Olympics she finished only 70th in 2:40:06. This year Shigetomo won Osaka for the second time in 2:24:22, earning a return trip to London for this summer's World Championships where she finished 27th in 2:36:03. Translator's note: Shigetomo also ran in the 2015 Beijing World Championships, where she was 14th in 2:...

World Championships men's marathon team members Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) and Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) both lined up in marathons again today, just under two months since representing their country in London. At the first running of the Tohoku Miyagi Fukko Marathon , a new event along the Sendai coastline washed away by the 2011 tsunami, Inoue went out at training run pace for the first half, almost four minutes behind leader Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) before picking up the pace. 私はやっぱ、大仁さんのこーゆーところが尊敬。 東京マラソンから世界陸上で知名度上がったけど、山梨学院時代の4年間も最高だった。 知ってる人いたら語ろ(￣▽￣) ニューイヤー見に行きたいなぁ pic.twitter.com/D3ZEbj7SXl — Miichiikaaaa@駅伝垢 (@luckygirl_2001) October 1, 2017 The debuting Hosomori faded over the second half, run down by amateur  Taiyo Akiyama  with 5 km to go and Inoue right after. Inoue made contact with Akiyama near 40 km, but rather than run away with it the 2:08 marathoner ran side-by-side with Akiyama all the way to the finish line, smiling and encouraging him ...

2017 London World Championships 5000 m and 10000 m runner Ayuko Suzuki (25, Japan Post) left from Narita Airport on Sept. 18 for altitude training in Boulder, Colorado. Two days earlier at a half marathon in Czech Republic, Yuta Shitara (25, Honda), like Suzuki born in 1991, broke the 10-year-old Japanese men's half marathon national record in a time of 1:00:17. "It's a big motivation to see an athlete the same age as me doing something like that," she said. Showing her determination to be one of her generation's leaders, she added, "I'll be 28 [at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics] , right in my prime mentally and physically. I want to run big too." In the leadup to the Tokyo Olympics Suzuki has the marathon in sight along with the track. "I need to run a half marathon and marathon somewhere once to check [how well they suit me] ," she said. "Coach and I will be talking about it." If everything goes according to plan, December...

an editorial by Tetsuhiko Kin Kin is a television commentator, coach, and former Waseda University ekiden runner. The battle to determine the Japanese national representatives in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics three years from now has begun. The Marathon Grand Challenge (MGC) selection race features an unprecedented two-tier arrangement and will automatically select the Olympic team members when it is held in or after September, 2019. Athletes must first qualify in order to the run MGC race. The first race in the MGC Series of races in which athletes can earn their spots in the MGC race took place Aug. 27 at the Hokkaido Marathon , with high school and university ekiden star Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin) taking the men's race and the young Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) the women's to pick up their places in the Olympic qualifier. Both races were hesitant and passive. The men's race in particular went out slowly from the start, and with the winner needing to b...

The World Championships in athletics were first held in Helsinki, Finland in 1983. Up until the 1991 Tokyo World Championships they were held once every four years, but beginning with the 1993 Stuttgart World Championships they switched to an every other year format. London this year was the 16th edition. To date 68 men with Hakone Ekiden experience have competed in the World Championships, with three of them winning medals in the marathon. In Tokyo in 1991 Hiromi Taniguchi became the first Japanese World Championships gold medalist, raising the excitement level at the games.  As a student at Nittai University Taniguchi had won the Hakone Ekiden's downhill Sixth Stage three years in a row from 1981 to 1983. As a fourth-year in 1983 he set a new stage record of 57:47. Course changes have rendered his record an historical artifact, but Taniguchi is still considered Hakone's greatest downhill runner. At the 1999 Seville World Championships and 2005 Helsinki World Championsh...

an editorial by Koji Ito   men's 100 m national record holder JAAF Development Committee Chair In London Japan won the men's 4x100 m relay bronze, its first-ever World Championships 4x100 m medal. I'm glad that they were able to win a medal. My honest impression was that they have done well to come this far. Before the race started sprint coach Shunji Karube was saying, "They're totally going to medal," but a key part of Japan's strength is in fact the rich experience he and Coach Hiroyasu Tsuchie bring to the picture. I think their tactics are amazing. During the heats they could make an assessment of Aska Cambridge 's situation in just half a day and replace him with Kenji Fujimitsu , who delivered a solid run. Japan has entered the ranks of the world's true relay powerhouse nations. Apart from leading man Shuhei Tada , the other three members were talking before the race in a totally relaxed way that would have been unthinkable in my e...

Thanks to a last-minute rush Japan walked away from the London World Championships with a passable haul. The JAAF judges performance in terms of medals and top 8 finishes. Up to Saturday, only one Japanese athlete had met either, 18-year-old sprinter Abdul Hakim Sani Brown finishing 7th in the men's 200 m final as the first Japanese man to make a 200 m final at Worlds since 2003. Three other Japanese athletes had scored top 10 placings, Yuki Kawauchi and Kentaro Nakamoto in the men's marathon and Ayuko Suzuki in the women's 10000 m, but under the JAAF's criteria these were not viewed as success. Saturday's men's 4x100 m final brought the first Japanese medal of the Championships, with Japan following up on its Rio Olympics silver with a bronze, its first-ever Worlds medal in the discipline. Sunday morning brought Japan's best-ever showing in the men's 50 km race walk, Rio bronze medalist Hirooki Arai moving up to silver, Kai Kobayashi taki...

Rio Olympics men's 50 km Race Walk bronze medalist Hirooki Arai followed up with Japan's first silver medal of the London World Championships, leading teammate Kai Kobayashi to a Japanese double medal haul. Far behind the championships record pace set by eventual gold medalist Yohann Diniz of France, Arai, Kobayashi and teammate Satoshi Maruo all sat together in the chase pack through 15 km. Maruo began to drop back approaching 20 km, but Arai and Kobayashi stayed up front through 35 km before making a break that took them all the way to silver and bronze medal finishes 2 seconds apart just over 8 minutes behind Diniz. Maruo fought his way back through the pack, ultimately finishing 5th just over a minute and a half behind his medalist teammates. On paper the men's 20 km crew had the potential to repeat the 50 km results, but it wasn't to be. One by one Rio Olympics 7th placer Daisuke Matsunaga and world #2 and #3-ranked Eiki Takahashi and Isamu Fujisawa sli...

Following up on its silver medal at the Rio Olympics, the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay squad delivered the first Japanese medal of the London World Championships as it took bronze behind hosts Great Britain and U.S.A. Swapping in alternate Kenji Fujimitsu for ailing anchor Aska Cambridge in the final, the team featured only two starting members of the Rio lineup. Lead runner Shuhei Tada , a student at Kwansei Gakuin University who burst onto the scene in May, again proved himself the best new development in Japanese men's sprinting with a fast start. Rio members Shota Iizuka and Yoshihide Kiryu did their bits on second and third to keep Japan even with Jamaica in 3rd before Fujimitsu delivered the goods. With bronze at the Beijing Olympics and silver in Rio last year it was Japan's first-ever World Championships men's 4x100 m relay medal. At age Fujimitsu may not make it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but with Cambridge, 200 m finalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown and ...

Finishing 4th in her opening round heat, national champion Ayako Kimura became the first Japanese woman to make a World Championships 100 m hurdles semifinal, running 13.15 to auto-qualify. In Semifinal 2 she was unable to match that performance, finishing last in 13.29. National Championships runner-up Hitomi Shimura ran 13.29 in her heat and did not move on to the semifinals. In the men's 1500 m semifinals, Japan-based junior world record holder Ronald Kwemoi struggled with a recent injury and failed to advance to the final. Running in the same heat, American Johnny Gregorek , who ran last year's Izumo Ekiden as part of the Ivy League Select Team, moved up from last place over the last 300 m to snag the last spot in the final, the only U.S. man to make the 1500 m final. In the men's high jump, national champion Takashi Eto cleared 2.22 m for 9th in his qualification group and did not advance. In the decathlon, at the end of the first day of competition Japan...

18-year-old national champion Abdul Hakim Sani Brown became the first Japanese man since Shingo Suetsugu 's 2003 bronze medal and the youngest man ever to make a World Championships 200 m final. With a 20.32 best he faced seven men who had all broken 20 and run under 20.30 in the semifinals, and with a strong run off the curve he succeeded in taking one of them, the United States' Isiah Young , finishing 7th in 20.63 to Young's 20.64. In the women's 5000 m heats national champion Rina Nabeshima became the tenth-fastest Japanese woman ever when she ran 15:11.83 in Heat Two, but with the slowest qualifying time going to Bahrain's Kalkidan Gezahegne in 15:07.19 she failed to advance to the final. 9th in the final at the last World Championships, Nabeshima's teammate Ayuko Suzuki showed fatigue from the 10000 m as she ran only 15:24.86 in Heat One. In the men's javelin throw, national champion Ryohei Arai was far off his best, fouling on his first att...

For the first time in 14 years Japan landed a man in the finals of the World Championships 200 m. In Semifinal 1, 2010 World Junior Champion and Rio Olympics 4x100 m silver medalist Shota Iizuka was eliminated when he finished 5th in 20.62 (+2.1 m/s). In Semifinal 2, 2016 World Youth Champion and 2017 national champion Abdul Hakim Sani Brown beat Rio 4x100 m gold medalist Yohan Blake (Jamaica) for 2nd in 20.43 (-0.3 m/s) to make for the final, the youngest man to ever do it. The only one of the eight qualifiers not to break 20.30 in his semi, a time faster than his PB, Sani Brown told Japanese media afterwards that he had been lucky to make it. It's going to take some more luck for him to take down some of the other big names in Thursday's final. #london2017 #200m サニブラウン 20.43 -0.3 準決勝2組2着。着順で決勝決めた👏 pic.twitter.com/kQhWH0O5X9 — EKIDEN HAKIM MANIA (@ekiden_mania) August 9, 2017 London World Championships Day Six Japanese Results London, England, 8/9/17 cl...

The six members of Japan's men's and women's marathon teams at the ongoing London World Championships returned to Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Aug. 9. Decked out in the official team suit, Japanese team captain and at 9th the top-placing Japanese marathoner in London Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) spoke to the media. Having declared pre-race his intention to withdraw from consideration for future Japanese National Team positions, post-race Kawauchi showed no change in that intent. With regard to his future plans, his motivation as a competitor likewise remaining unchanged, Kawauchi indicated that he will run Decmeber's Fukuoka International Marathon,where his 3rd-place overall finish last year earned him his place in London. "In Fukuoka I want to break my PB and run 2:07," he said. "There are things I want to accomplish besides being on the National Team." Kawauchi revealed that his next marathon will be September's Oslo Marathon...