japan running news

Held in the stadium where Japan saw its first-ever sub-10 clocking for 100 m, Saturday's new Athlete Night Games in Fukui meet produced four national records highlighted by an incredible men's long jump competition. Yuki Hashioka (Nihon Univ.) opened with a jump of 8.32 m +1.6 m/s that shattered the national record dating way back in 1992 by 7 cm. Hibika Tsuha (Toyo Univ.) followed him with a jump of 8.21 m + 2.0 m/s that put him into the all-time Japanese top three, then bettered that with an 8.23 m +0.6 m/s.



Out of nowhere, Shotaro Shiroyama (Zenrin) knocked them both back in the record books on his third jump with a new national record of 8.40 m +1.5 m/s, the #2 mark in the world so far this year and only his second time clearing 8 m with a legal wind. Japanese fans were quick to compare the trio's results to this season's Diamond League meets.

DL Shanghai
🥇8m24🥈8m16🥉8m14
DL Lausanne
🥇8m32🥈8m19🥉8m13
DL London
🥇8m37🥈8m32🥉8m11
DL Fukui
🥇8m40🥈8m32🥉8m23 htt…

Front-page news and the top story in just about every mainstream Japanese media outlet, the 2017 National University Track and Field Championships in Fukui will always be remembered for the first-ever Japanese men's legal sub-10 clocking in the 100 m from Toyo University 4th-year Yoshihide Kiryu. After his historic 9.98 (+1.8 m/s) national record, Kiryu wrapped his university career by anchoring Toyo's 4x100 m team to a 2nd-place finish and making a major contribution to Toyo's solid 3rd-place in final overall university scoring.



His London World Championships 4x100 m teammate Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin University) was also in good form, breaking Kiryu's old meet record in the 100 m in 10.07 and anchoring Kwansei Gakuin to 3rd in the 4x100 m. But there was no shortage of other record-breaking performances at this year's Nationals.



Biggest among those came in the women's 800 m where Nittai University 4th-year Yume Kitamura set a meet and national university rec…