japan running news

  After a day of heavy rain conditions were pretty close to ideal for the 2nd edition of The Fst in Fukuoka road mile and 5 km, an appetizer event ahead of Sunday's mass participation Fukuoka Marathon. In her Japanese debut Australia's Sarah Billings had an easy win in the women's mile, outclassing Mami Yamaguchi (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ) 4:48 to 4:59. Stewart McSweyn made it an Aussie double with a win in the men's mile in a much closer race, running 4:02 with domestic favorites Masato Saiki (Fujisan no Meisui) and Yusuke Takahashi (Hokkaido Univ.) going 2-3 in 4:04 and 4:08. The women's 5 km was the most competitive of the day, with a tight pack of 5 Japan-based Kenyans that whittled down to just last year's winner Teresiah Muthoni (Daiso), corporate half marathon champ Dolphine Omare (U.S.E.) and 2023 World XC relay gold medalist Mirriam Cherop (Shin Nihon Jusetsu) with a km to go. Muthoni kicked away over the last 200 m to take the win in 15:35, with O...

Battered by the winds of the passing Typhoon #25, Jakarta Asian Games 100 m bronze medalist Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) ended a long season with a national title in the senior men's 100 m on the second day of the Fukui National Sports Festival . A 5.2 m/s headwind meant there was no chance of Yamagata achieving his goal of finally breaking 10 seconds on the same track where Yoshihide Kiryu did it last year, but Yamagata duly dispatched rivals Yuki Koike (ANA) and Takumi Kuki (NTN) to take the win in 10.58. The wind was almost as much of an issue in the senior women's 100 m, where Nodoka Seko (Crane) won in 12.21 (-2.8 m/s), and the junior races. Senior women's discus throw winner Nanaka Kori (Kyushu Kyoritsu  Univ.) doubled back with a win in the shot put, throwing 15.84 m. Junior high schooler Asuka Ishimatsu (Hamanomiya J.H.S.) beat older competition to win the junior women's 1500 m in 4:26.07, while Aaron Clay (Soyo H.S.) took the longest men's event of the...