japan running news

by Brett Larner Three-time 1500 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) had an excellent day at the July 11 Brasschaat meet in Belgium, breaking her four year-old 5000 m PB by 11 seconds to win the women's 5000 m in 15:28.44. Steepler Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) also had a good day as he won the men's 3000 m in 8:02.09. All told, five Japanese athletes won their events at the meet. A summary of results: 2010 Brasschaat Meet - Top Results click here for complete results Women's 5000 m 1. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 15:28.44 - PB 2. Freya Murray (GBR) - 15:31.17 3. Allison Grace (USA) - 15:50.00 Men's 3000 m 1. Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) - 8:02.09 2. Jordan Horn (USA) - 8:03.73 3. Steffen Iliczka (Germany) - 8:09.88 Men's 1500 m 1. Jeff See (USA) - 3:40.94 2. Wouter De Boer (Netherlands) - 3:41.12 3. Andrew Jesien (USA) - 3:41.23 ----- 8. Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team Fujitsu) - 3:41.89 Men's 1500 m B-heat 1. Hiroshi Ino (Team NTN) - 3:45.70 2. ...

by Brett Larner Like rival Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) in Spain just 24 hours earlier, the prodigious Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) couldn't crack the barrier in his last attempt at earning a World Championships A-standard in the 5000 m. A week after running a 3000 m PB Sato ran the 5000 m at the July 26 Flanders Cup meet in Brasschaat, Belgium . Sato needed to attain the A-standard of 13:20.00 to join his former high school teammate Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) in the 5000 m on the national team for next month's World Championships. His time of 13:35.32 was good for 2nd in the Flanders Cup race but fell short of even the B-standard. A small group of other Japanese runners also ran the Flanders 5000 m, with Sato's training partner Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin) landing 12th in 13:41.44. In April Sato ran 27:38.25 for 10000 m, the third-best ever by a Japanese man and comfortably clearing the World Championships A-standard. Injury troubles held him back at Jun...