japan running news

by Brett Larner

2011 national corporate 10000 m champion Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) continued her unbeaten streak in her first year on the pro circuit, winning the National Sports Festival senior women's 5000 m Oct. 7 in Yamaguchi.  Nishihara ran in a tight pack that included collegiate 10000 m national record holder and former teammate Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.) and Japan's top woman at the Daegu World Championships 5000 m, Hitomi Niiya (Sakura AC) before surging away in the last km to take the win in a new PB of 15:23.80.  Also continuing a strong season, Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) outran the rest of the pack for 2nd in 15:29.69, with Yoshimoto 3rd in 15:30.94.

The junior men's 5000 m was a closer race, the top four finishing within roughly three seconds of each other with a gap of ten seconds over the rest of the field.  Ken Yokote (Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) took the win in 14:04.49 over three members of top-ranked high schools, Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu G…

by Brett Larner

The women's ekiden season kicked off with a matchup between the two top university teams in the country, Kyoto's dynamic pair Bukkyo University and Ritsumeikan University.  Ritsumeikan, missing aces Michi Numata and Hanae Tanaka, dominated the first half by winning the first three stages, including new records on the First and Third Stages by members Mutsumi Ikeda and Risa Takenaka.  Down 50 seconds at the start of the Fourth Stage, 2010 national champion Bukkyo's fortunes turned around thanks to a stage record run by ace Hikari Yoshimoto, and thanks to stage win by anchor Shiho Takechi and the absence of Ritsumeikan's Numata and Tanaka Bukkyo pulled away to a comfortable win nearly a minute and a half up on their rivals.

Bukkyo and Ritsumeikan are both so far ahead of any other school that their B-teams beat the next-strongest school, Kyoto Sangyo University.  Ritsumeikan's B-squad Fifth Stage runner Ikumi Natsuhara actually won her stage by nearl…

2011 World Championships 
Women's 10000 m Final
Daegu, Korea, 8/27/11
click here for complete results

1. Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya) - 30:48.98 - PB
2. Sally Kipyego (Kenya) - 30:50.04
3. Linet Masai (Kenya) - 30:53.59
4. Priscah Cherono (Kenya) - 30:56.43 - PB
5. Meselech Melkamu (Ethiopia) - 30:56.55
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14. Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.) - 32:32.22
15. Kayo Sugihara (Team Denso) - 32:53.89
17. Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno) - 34:08.37

Women's 3000 mSC Heat Two
Daegu, Korea, 8/27/11
click here for complete results

1. Sofia Assefa (Ethiopia) - 9:32.48 - Q
2. Lydia Rotich (Kenya) - 9:36.70 - Q
3. Sara Moreira (Portugal) - 9:36.97 - Q
4. Emma Coburn (U.S.A.) - 9:38.42 - Q
5. Lyubov Kharlamova (Russia) - 9:40.04 - q
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8. Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) - 10:05.34

by Brett Larner

Japan's medal chances in the long distance events at the Daegu World Championships may be very slim at best, but the country is nevertheless sending a strong contingent including three national record holders and some of the best young talent to have emerged in recent years.  Chief among them are Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), on the cusp of a national record in the last two years, and the resurgent Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno), the women's 10000 m junior national record holder coached by Samuel Wanjiru's high school-era coach Takao Watanabe.

2011 World Championships Japanese Long Distance Team

Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - Men's 10000 m
2011 national champion, 10000 m
Born: Nov. 26, 1986 (24 yrs.)
PB: 27:38.25 (2009; all-time Japanese #3)
3000 m: 7:44.63 (2010; all-time Japanese #2)
5000 m: 13:23.57 (2006)

In university Sato was described by his competitors as a monster, breaking Hakone Ekiden stage records his first three years and just missing a …

by Brett Larner

It was a relatively quiet long weekend across Japan, with a smattering of prefectural track championships across the country in the hot sun ahead of an approaching typhoon.  At the Kyoto Prefecture Championships, Bukkyo University-related runners cleaned up, taking the top five spots in the women's 5000 m led by recent graduate Kasumi Nishihara's meet record 15:39.28.  An impressive mark considering that it was run in temperatures in the mid-30's with high humidity.    Fresh from being named to the Japanese 10000 m squad for next month's World Championships, Bukkyo's top current runner Hikari Yoshimoto won the women's 3000 m in 9:14.75, her first win after a few relatively flat months.

Bukkyo's major rival Ritsumeikan University mostly gave the Kyoto meet a miss, opting instead for the West Japan University Championships in Gifu.  There team leader Risa Takenaka also set a meet record in the 5000 m, running 15:59.07 in even hotter, wetter co…

by Brett Larner

In thick humidity Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Kayo Sugihara (Team Denso) won their first national 10000 m titles June 10 on the first day of the 2011 Japanese National Track & Field Championships at Kumagaya Dome in Kumagaya, Saitama. Coming into Nationals already holding World Championships-elligible marks set at May's Cardinal Invitational, both Sato and Sugihara ran conservative, sit-and-kick races to take both their titles, Sato winning the men's race in 28:10.87 and Sugihara the women's race in 32:18.79. Sugihara earned a guaranteed spot on the Daegu World Championships team, with a Sato a provisional entry.


In the absence of defending champion Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) and top-ranked men Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei) and Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) the race was expected to be between the three fastest men of the year so far, Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta), Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Akinobu Murasawa …

by Brett Larner
updated 6/10/11 to reflect starting list changes

The 2011 Japanese National Track and Field Championships kick off Friday, June 10 in the wildlands of Kumagaya, Saitama. The major selection event for this summer's World Championships team, on their first day this year's Nationals feature primarily heats for the sprints and middle distances along with the finals for a half dozen field events and, what will likely be two of the highlights of the meet, the men's and women's 10000 m.
The men's 10000 m should be one of the most competitive in Japanese history, on paper at the very least. 10 men in the field have broken 28 minutes, 9 of them with valid World Championships B-standard marks. With the unfortunate withdrawal of defending national champion Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) and the fastest Japanese man of 2010, Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei) the favorite is Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta), strong all year with PB marks at 5000 m, 10000 m …

by Brett Larner
Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) takes the men's Grand Prix 10000 m in a world-leading 27:23.85. Click event headers in results below for complete video of other events.

In the wake of a spate of road race cancellations following last month's disasters, the 10000 m was the focus of this year's Hyogo Relay Carnival, Apr. 23-24 at Kobe's Universiade Memorial Stadium. In addition to the regularly-programmed men's and women's Grand Prix 10000 m and the men's Asics Challenge 10000 m, effectively the meet's B-heat, this year's race featured an additional 10000 m for university men looking to qualify for the 10000 m at this summer's World University Games and a separate men's and women's 10000 m qualifier for the World University Games half marathon.
With a shortage of quality 10000 m races worldwide the focus in the Grand Prix and Asics Challenge 10000 m events for both Japanese runners and Japan-resident Africans was…

by Brett Larner
Entry lists are up for the 2011 Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet on Apr. 29 in Hiroshima, one of the big meets on the spring Japanese calendar. This year's meet features an extra round of distance events with separate 5000 m qualifier heats for the World University Games 5000 m teams alongside the regular open 5000 m heats.
The university men's 5000 m may be the most exciting race of the day, with 2011 Hakone Ekiden champion Waseda University fielding big guns Shota Hiraga, Suguru Osako, Yuki Yagi and Yo Yazawa and rival Meiji University its ace Tetsuya Yoroizaka along with star first-year recruits Yuki Arimura and Genki Yagisawa. #1-ranked first-year Kazuto Nishiike will be debuting for Hosei University, while 2010 Kanto Regional 5000 m champion Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.) will tune up to defend his title at May's Kanto Regionals.
Like Waseda, Ritsumeikan University will be putting all its best people into the university women's 5000 m, including …