japan running news

by Brett Larner

National record holders Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) and Masato Yokota (Team Fujitsu) led the performances by the Japanese contingent at the July 15 Lappeenranta Games in Finland with wins in the women's 3000 m steeplechase and men's 800 m. The veteran Hayakari led start to finish after setting the race off at national record pace. For Yokota it was his second European win in less than a week, both wins clocking just off his national record.

2010 Lappeenranta Games - Top Results
click here for complete results
Men's 3000 m
1. Geoffrey Kipsang (Kenya) - 7:59.57
2. Matti Rasanen (Finland) - 8:02.18
3. Jukka Keskisalo (Finland) - 8:02.23
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6. Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 8:14.92

Women's 3000 mSC
1. Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) - 9:52.10
2. Livia Toth (Hungary) - 9:54.16
3. Valeria Mara (Ukraine) - 9:54.98

Men's 1500 m
1. Kiprono Menjo (Kenya) - 3:38.40
2. Niclas Sandells (Germany) - 3:41.62
3. Mikael Bergdahl (Germany) - 3:42.53
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4. Fumikazu K…

by Brett Larner

The Japanese National University Track and Field Championships are strangely timed, coming at the start of the fall semester after several months of intense mileage training separating the spring track and fall ekiden seasons. It's a time when many of the best university runners are not aiming to peak, focusing instead on the roads, and as a consequence upsets are common. Last year Kenyan Daniel Gitau (Nihon Univ.) staged a rare coup over the far superior Mekubo Mogusu (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) over both 5000 m and 10000 m, while unknown first-year Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ.) stole the women's 10000 m.

This year's Nationals took place Sept. 4-6 at Tokyo's National Stadium. Among the meet's highlights:

Gitau, the undisputed top man in Japanese university distance running following Mogusu's graduation this year, easily retained his titles in the 5000 m and 10000 m, running 13:41.77 and 28:34.71. The bigger story in the 10000 m was perhaps Tokai U…

by Brett Larner

By most criteria the Japanese federation's stated goals in the 2009 Berlin World Championships were modest and clear-cut: one medal, six top-eight finishes and a 25% season best performance rate among the team as a whole, with the medal and two of the top-eight performances coming from the team's strongest component, the marathon squads. Despite no-shows and disappointment from many of the biggest Japanese stars including hammer thrower Koji Murofushi, 400 m runner Yuzo Kanemaru and marathoners Yoko Shibui and Yukiko Akaba the team came just within achieving all of Rikuren's aims. Below is a quick evaluation of the Japanese performances relative to the stated goals.

Marathon
Goal: one medal, two top-eight finishes
Actual: one medal, two top-eight finishes
With three potential medalists in its initial lineup the women's marathon squad was by far the strongest on the Japanese team. Yoko Shibui's withdrawal with a stress fracture and Yukiko Akaba's s…

Click here to enter JRN's World Championships marathon prediction contest for a chance to win a 2009 Japanese national team singlet.

by Brett Larner

Japan made little impact on the second day of competition at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin as its sprinters came up flat. Click event in summaries below for complete results.

-Beijing Olympics men's 4x100m relay bronze medalist Naoki Tsukahara had vowed to become the first Japanese sprinter to break 10.0 seconds in the open men's 100 m and to make the final at the World Championships. Despite making the semi final comfortably, Tsukahara had an off run as he finished last in his semi final heat in only 10.25.

-Women's 100 m national record holder Chisato Fukushima became the first Japanese woman to advance to the quarter final in a world-level championships 100 m but just missed out on making the semi final by 0.03 seconds. 2009 national champion Momoko Takahashi did not advance past the first round of heats.

-Men's…

Click here to enter JRN's World Championships marathon prediction contest for a chance to win a 2009 Japanese national team singlet.

by Brett Larner

Although she only made the Japanese 10000 m squad by default after winning the 5000 m at June's National Championships, Beijing Olympics marathoner Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) turned in the run of her life on the first day of the 2009 World Championships in the women's 10000 m. Nakamura ran a PB of 31:14.39 to finish 7th, making her the all-time 4th-fastest Japanese woman over the distance and Japan's best World Championships 10000 m finish in ten years. Nakamura beat all-time #2 Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) who was 9th in 31:23.49, a SB in a season plagued by plantar fasciitis and other injury woes. The diminuitive Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze), who unexpectedly beat both Nakamura and Fukushi at Nationals to make the Berlin team, finished last by a minute in 33:41.17.

After finishing 13th in last summer's Beijing Olympic…

by Brett Larner

2009 World University Games men's 400 m gold medalist Yuzo Kanemaru of Hosei University brought the Japanese men's 4x400 m relay time home to bronze on the final day of competition at this year's games. Five-time national champion Kanemaru came from behind on the anchor leg to hold off Belgium by 0.15 seconds to take the medal after passable runs from teammates Hideyuki Hirose, Yusuke Ishitsuka and Kazuaki Yoshida. Australia won with a commanding 3-second lead over silver medalist Poland.

Another national champion, 800 m specialist Masato Yokota, came up empty handed in a tight race. Winner Sajad Moradi of Iran clocked 1:48.02 with only 0.02 seconds separating the next three runners. Yokota was the unlucky fourth man. While Kanemaru will go on to run in August's World Championships, Yokota's season is now effectively over.

Komazawa University's Tsuyoshi Ugachi was likewise out of luck in the slow and tactical men's 5000 m. Ugachi led the field …

by Brett Larner

2009 World University Games women's 10000 m gold medalist Kasumi Nishihara of Bukkyo University came back for more on the last day of women's distance competition, outrunning Ritsumeikan University rival Kazue Kojima to take silver in the 5000 m on July 11. Russian Natalia Medvedeva led through the first kilometer before eventual winner Sara Moreira of Portugal took over, running away to a 15:32.78 victory. Nishihara was a distant 2nd in 15:46.95, outkicking Medvedeva who took the bronze in 15:49.60.

Kojima, who was undefeated in domestic university competition coming into her senior year, was never a factor as she finished only 7th in a weak 16:03.45. With Nishihara having broken Kojima's 5000 m PB earlier in the season it looks as through the pair are set for a great series of duels over their final year of university competition.

In other track events, men's 800 m national champion Masato Yokota advance to the finals, as did the men's 4x400 m relay …

by Brett Larner

Yuzo Kanemaru wins the men's 400 m at the 2009 World University Games. Click photo for larger version.

What's in a name? Five-time 400 m national champion Yuzo Kanemaru (Hosei Univ.) scored his first world-level title at the 2009 World University Games on July 9th. Kanemaru, whose name can be translated as 'gold circle,' won his heat in each round before taking the final in 45.68, half a second ahead of Austrian Clemens Zeller and Canadian Daniel Harper. In a post-race interview Kanemaru said, "Winning here was the least of my goals, but I'm still feeling it. I don't need any silver or bronze. To me if it isn't gold it doesn't mean anything. This win opens the door to Worlds." Kanemaru will run the 400 m at next month's World Championships in Berlin and hopes to achieve his goal of a sub-45 clocking this season.

Hurdler Kazuaki Yoshida turned in another solid run in the men's 400 m hurdles, finishing 2nd in the semifinal i…

by Brett Larner

Newly-crowned 100 m national champions Momoko Takahashi (Heisei Kokusai Univ.) and Masashi Eriguchi (Waseda Univ.) missed out on gold but brought home medals on the second day of the 2009 World University Games. Both runners started the day with wins in their semifinals, Eriguchi's 10.28 standing as the fastest time run at this year's Games although well off his 10.07 PB at last month's National Championships. Eriguchi's teammate Shintaro Kimura, the Nationals runner-up, was eliminated in his semifinal. Takahashi ran 11.52 in the women's final to take silver behind Lithuanian Lina Grincikaite's 11.31 gold medal run. Eriguchi took bronze in the men's final in a near-photo finish with winner Rolando Palacios Cruz of Honduras and silver medalist Amr Ibrahim Seoud of Egypt. Takahashi, Eriguchi and Kimura will go on to next month's World Championships in Berlin.

In the day's other track final, the men's 10000 m, medal hopefuls Ryuji Kas…