japan running news

by Brett Larner
video by ekiden news



This weekend's National University Individual Championships, held annually at Shonan BMW Stadium in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa south of Tokyo are an anomaly on the Japanese collegiate calendar, no relays or team competition, just individual competition from universities across the country, occupying the place where you would expect the equivalent of NCAAs but relatively minor compared to both May's Kanto Regionals and Kansai Regionals meets and September's National University Championships.  Especially in the distance events, top talent rarely competes there.  Not so this year.

Men's 100 m junior national record holder Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) whipped up a storm of excitement when he tied his legal best in the semi-final, running a collegiate national record 10.01 with a +1.8 m/s tailwind.  Kiryu's time broke the existing meet record by 0.18 seconds and met the JAAF's selection standard for the Rio Olympics, giving him some brea…

by Brett Larner

Kenyan newcomer Lazarus Motanya (Obirin Univ.), winner of the D2 1500 m title at last month's Kanto Regional Track and Field Championships, returned this weekend for his first national title, winning the 1500 m at the National University Individual Track and Field Championships in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa on Friday.  Despite having only the 7th-fastest PB in the final, Motanya had no trouble frontrunning his way to the win against the overly cautious Japanese competition in 3:51.72.  Runner-up Tatsuya Shimizu (Toyo Univ.) was almost three seconds back in 3:54.28 with Chiu-Chin Tseng (Taiwan/National Sports University), one of a number of Taiwanese collegiates joining this year's meet, rounding out the podium in 3:54.39.

Motanya was back again on Saturday for the 5000 m but could not match a field that included many of 2012 Izumo Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University's A-squad.  AGU's Tadashi Isshiki, the course record-setter at February's Kanagawa Half M…

by Brett Larner

After coming out on top of the 100 m qualifying heats and anchoring their 4x100 m teams to qualify for the finals yesterday, Japan's teen sprint sensations Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) and Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.) returned for record-setting finals on the second day of the 2014 Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships, May 17 in Kumagaya, Saitama.



Kiryu, ranked #1 in the D1 100 m after a 10.36 (-0.6) opening round on Friday, started Saturday with a 10.25 (+3.6) to lead the semifinals.  Three hours later he was back in more moderate wind for the final, where he dropped a 10.05 (+1.6) meet record to tie Beijing Olympics bronze medalist Shingo Tsuetsugu's national university record.  His time, sixth in the world so far this season, was the closest Kiryu has come to his name-making 10.01 just over a year ago, bringing him one step closer to his career goal of Japan's first sub-10 clocking.

Just over three hours later he was back again to anch…

by Brett Larner

On the second day of the 2011 IAAF World Youth Championships, top-seeded sprinter Kazuma Oseto delivered Japan's first medal of the games, winning silver in the boys' 100 m.  Oseto came to the Championships with the fastest PB in the field, but after a shaky semifinal he was just clipped in the final by Jamaica's O'dail Todd, who ran a PB 10.51 to win gold over Oseto's 10.52. Michael-Meba Zeze of France rounded out the medals with a 10.57 for bronze.  The only other Japanese athlete of the day to make a final, Ai Yamauchi, finished last in the women's javelin throw where Germany's Christin Hussong threw a meet record 59.74 m for gold.

In semi-final, heat and qualification round action, both Yuki Hirota and Yusuke Uchikoshi ran PBs to advance to the boys' 3000 m final on time, each finishing 5th in his heat.  Hurdlers Aya Takizawa, Shota Madokoro, Takahiro Matsumoto and Takumi Takahata likewise ran PBs to make the finals, Matsumoto and Ta…

by Brett Larner

click here to watch the IAAF World Youth Championships live online

The IAAF World Youth Championships get underway tomorrow, July 6, in Lille, France. As is to be expected, Japan's best medal chances among its team of 37 come in the sprints and long distances.
Kazuma Oseto (Ogura Higashi H.S.) comes to the boys' 100 m as the #1 seed, his PB of 10.39 leading the field. His teammates Kazuya Tsukamoto (Heisei H.S.) and Tatsuro Suwa (Yotsukaichi Kogyo H.S.) are also in the top eight on the entry list by PB, making the chances of at least one medal very good. All three runners are also on the list for the sprint medley relay, where the Japanese team is ranked 4th by a slim margin behind South Africa. Akiyuki Hashimoto (Sensatsu Seishukan H.S.) is ranked 3rd in the men's 200 m with a best of 20.91, Oseto and Suwa entered to double with marks not far off Hashimoto's. In the girls' 100 m Anna Doi (Saitama Sakae H.S.) is ranked 3rd by PB, 11.60, Yumi Noba…