japan running news

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito...

There are a lot of Japanese athletes racing overseas this weekend, but at home the main action is the National University Women's Half Marathon Sunday in Matsue. Last year's runner-up Rio Einaga of Osaka Gakuin University and 3rd and 5th-placers Saki Harada and Nanase Tanimoto from six-time national champion Meijo University lead the entry list, with their top competition including Saki Arai of Daito Bunka University , the anchor stage winner at December's Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national championship, Yuiri Ogata , Sakurako Yanai and Momoko Shimada from Mt. Fuji runner-up team Nittai University , and Yui Yoshii , Momona Yotsumoto and Mariya Noda from 3rd-place team Daito Bunka University . Complete entry list here . Overseas, the biggest block of Japanese athletes will be at Sound Running's The TEN in California. With a best of 31:34.39 Mikuni Yada (Edion) is the only Japanese woman in the meet, running the 10000 m Paris section. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama...

Tokyo University 's Hiroaki Furukawa and Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University 's Shota Shiode scored sub-2:20 wins at the Kumamoto Castle Marathon and Kochi Ryoma Marathon, and Hakone runner-up Komazawa University 's Ibuki Kaneko and Kyosuke Hanao had good runs over 30 km , Kaneko 2nd at the Ome 30 km in 1:34:15 and Hanao only 5th at the Kumanichi 30 km but faster in 1:33:14. But there were other big results for Japanese collegiate runners this weekend overseas and at home. At the FISU World University Cross Country Championships in Muscat, Oman, Haruka Ogawa of Rikkyo University was at the front of the pack the entire way through the women's 10 km, unable to hang with eventual gold medalist Maria Karabo Mailula of South Africa over the last 2 km loop and losing touch with Great Britain's Alice Goodall just before the end but hanging on for bronze in 34:22. Ogawa was the only Japanese woman to make the top 10, with Rio Einaga (Osaka Gakuin Univ.)...

Indoor track isn't really part of the vocabulary for Japanese middle and long distance athletes, but three turned in a string of new national records in the U.S. this weekend. At the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Saturday in Boston, Olympic steepler Ryoma Aoki (Honda) ran a new mile national record of 3:54.84 to finish 4th in Heat 2, taking 1.17 off the previous 3:56.01 NR set in Boston last year by Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.). Like Iizawa's old mark, as the fastest mile time ever by a Japanese man Aoki's new record will count as both the indoor NR and outright NR. 6th in Heat 4, Keisuke Morita (Subaru) also got under 4 minutes with a 3:59.03, with Nanami Arai (Honda) 9th behind Morita in 4:00.45. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) took the top spot in Heat 12 in 4:01.34. Sunday at the Millrose Games in New York, Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) beat both her indoor 3000 m NR of 8:45.64 and outdoor NR of 8:40.84, splitting 8:40.05 en route in the women's ...

  Rain and wind through most of the weekend meant conditions weren't great for the 102nd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium, but five athletes still managed to deliver new meet records, three in long distance events. In Thursday's D1 women's pole vault , 1st-year Mitsuki Kobayashi (Nittai Univ.) had a solid debut with a meet record 4.06 m. Kobayashi was the only athlete to make it over 4.00 m, clearing it on her second attempt. She then passed on 4.05 m, the meet record set two years ago by Nittai's Jun Maekawa , to give 4.06 m a shot. Kobayashi cleared that on her second attempt too, walking away the new MR holder. Also Thursday, 1st-year Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) won the D1 women's 10000 m by over 30 seconds, lapping everyone in the race except runner-up Risa Yamazaki (Nittai Univ.). In her debut at the distance Wanjiru ran 32:17.19, almost four seconds under the previous record of 32:20.76 ...

  Saturday is a light day for long distance at the 102nd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships , with the D1 and D2/D3 men's 3000 m steeplechase heats the only event on the program. That means Sunday is going to be packed, but for today everything will happen between 13:55 and 15:00. D2/D3 has three heats starting at 13:55. At the top tier, three men are in range of the 8:42.57 D2 meet record. In Heat One, Kento Uchida (4th yr., Rikkyo Univ.) has run 8:37.24. In Heat Two, Asahi Kuroda (2nd yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) has run 8:38.55. In Heat Three, Hibiki Obara (4th yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) has a best of 8:41.93. Also in Heat Three, Yuki Morita (2nd yr., Tokyo Univ. Grad School) has a shot at the 8:56.84 D3 MR. New records probably won't happen today, but Uchida, Kuroda and Obara all making the final will set up a great race tomorrow. The D1 heats start at 14:40. National record holder Ryuji Miura (4th yr., Juntendo Univ.) is giving the steeple a miss to ru...

Saturday is day three of the 101st Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships at Tokyo's National Stadium. It's a day mostly dedicated to qualifying rounds for Sunday, the only track final being the D1 10000 mRW at 17:55. Toyo University dominates the D1 men's walks, both the meet and collegiate records being held by Toyo alumni Daisuke Matsunaga and Koki Ikeda . But the favorite this time around is 4th-year Ryo Hamanishi (Meiji Univ.), with a best of 39:23.40 the only athlete in the race under 40 minutes. Only three others, Kento Yoshikawa (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.), Eiji Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) and Mitsuki Murate (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.), have broken 41 minutes, meaning it'll take a pretty big upset for Toyo to be in the game. The women's heptathlon also gets underway, its meet record of 5633 having come last year via Karin Odama (Nittai Univ.). Field event finals include the D1 men's high jump, D1 men's pole vault, women's triple jump, D1 men...