japan running news

Running her first race as a 20-year-old two days after her birthday, 2018 World U20 Championships 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki TC) tuned up for the Doha World Championships with a 15:17.28 meet record in the Memorial Francisco Ramon Higueras meet in Andujar, Spain.

Running with support from JRN, Tanaka had an unexpected rematch against this year's 5000 m national champion Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido). With a projected 3000 m split of 9:13 Tanaka kept herself in 3rd place until the pacer dropped out a lap early at 2600 m. When frontrunning Ethiopian-born athletes Beyenu Degefa and Bontu Rebitu immediately slowed down Tanaka went to the front to keep the pace moving, dropping Kimura and others. Over the next three laps she and Degefa exchanged the lead at least three times before Tanaka put the hammer down from 800 m out.

Alone over the last 800 m, Tanaka was under 3:00 for the final 1000 m to take the win in 15:17.28, missing her PB by less than 2 seconds but …

The first round of regional corporate track and field championship meets made up most of the weekend’s track action. Fresh back from going sub-32 at Payton Jordan, Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) was the star of the Kansai Region meet as she repeated her 5000 / 10000 m double from last year with 15:45.58 and 33:00.26 wins. Men’s times were unremarkable, Shohei Morikawa (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) taking the 5000 m in 14:06.58 and Aoyama Gakuin University grad Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) the 10000 m in 29:16.56 in his corporate league debut.

Split between two weekends, the Chugoku Region meet featured only 5000 m this week. Yudai Okamoto (JFE Steel) won the men’s race in 13:59.82, with Miharu Aoki (Tenmaya) claiming the women’s title in 16:19.79.

The Chubu Region meet produced some quality men’s 10000 m times, with two-time defending champ Rodgers Shumo Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo) leading three Kenyan men under 28 minutes in 27:53.73, the fastest of his three wins to date. Daiji Kawai (Toenec) was the to…

http://www.athleticsasia.org/index.php/k2-component/113-japan-emerge-on-top-17th-asian-junior-athletics-2016

Japan's distance medals at the Ho Chi Minh Asian Junior Championships included the women's 1500 m silver, women's 3000 m gold, women's 3000 mSC gold, men's and women's 5000 m gold and silver and men's 10000 m gold.

Final Medal Tally - 17th Asian Junior Athletics Championships
1. Japan - gold: 13     silver: 10     bronze: 4
2. China - gold: 11     silver: 7     bronze: 4
3. India - gold: 7     silver: 4     bronze: 6
4. Malaysia - gold: 3     silver: 3     bronze: 1
5. Taiwan - gold: 2     silver: 3     bronze: 4
6. Thailand - gold: 2     silver: 3     bronze: 4
7. Vietnam - gold: 2     silver: 3     bronze: 2
8. Qatar - gold: 2     silver: 2     bronze: 0
9. Iraq - gold: 1     silver: 2     bronze: 0
10. South Korea - gold: 1     silver: 0     bronze: 2

by Brett Larner
video highlights courtesy of broadcaster NHK

One of the only bright lights for Japanese long distance at last summer's Beijing World Championships, 2015 national corporate 10000 m champion Ayuko Suzuki delivered an incredible anchor run in Kyoto on Sunday, making up more than a minute and a half over 10 km to give Aichi its first-ever National Women's Ekiden title.  The peak of the women's ekiden season, the National Women's Ekiden features teams from each of Japan's 47 prefectures all made up of top local junior high school, high school, university, club and pro runners.

The race got off the track start and onto the roads safely without any falls, but a few km into the 6.0 km First Stage Naoko Koizumi (Niigata), a stage record setter at last month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden, tripped in the front row and went down.  The lead pack went by before Koizumi could get to her feet, but she quickly shot back to the front row in time for the …

by Brett Larner
videos by Ekiden News



Just over a week after breaking into both the all-time Japanese junior and high school girls’ 3000 m top ten with a 9:01.23 best at Saitama’s Heisei Kokusai University Time Trials, 2015 National High School Championships 3000 m runner-up Miho Shimada (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) was back with another big run to cap the 2015 National Sports Festival at Wakayama’s Kimiidera Park Field on Oct. 6.

After a slow 3:10 opening 1000 m Shimada effortlessly pulled away, dueling with Kenyan Monica Margaret (Aomori Yamada H.S.) as she pushed the pace well under 3:00/km.  Shimada's relentless attack was enough for the win in 9:01.87 just off her fresh new best, Margaret dropping nearly 3 seconds behind for 2nd in 9:04.55. National High School Championships 4th-placer Shinobu Koyoshigawa (Sera H.S.) moved up one spot to take 3rd in 9:14.34, while National High School champion Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) could manage only 10th in 9:24.72.



The junior b…

by Brett Larner
videos by naoki620



After a National High School Track and Field Championships packed with new records including two junior and high school national records, three more meet records capped the final day of competition, hot temperatures in the mid-30's notwithstanding. Nao Kanai (Kawasaki Tachibana H.S.) got things started in the boys' 110 m hurdles with a record 13.85, the only boy to go under 14 seconds despite a strong +1.4 m/s tailwind.  Chihiro Nozaki (Rakunan H.S.) followed up in the boys' triple jump with a 15.80 m meet record jump to win by almost 75 cm.  Shinichi Yukinaga (Seiko Gakuen H.S.) rounded out the action in the boys' discus throw with a mark of 55.59 m for the win, like Kanai short of his PB but enough for a new National High School Championships record.



The girls' 3000 m had an unexpected turn of events when favorite Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.), the 2014 Youth Olympics 3000 m gold medalist, losing a sho…

by Brett Larner
videos by naoki620



After taking 2nd in the 100 m and 6th in the 4x100 m, 2015 World Youth Championships double 100 m and 200 m gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) scored his first national title at the 2015 National High School Track and Field Championships in Wakayama, winning the boys' 200 m final.  Facing a strong 1.5 m/s headwind Sani Brown took 1st in 20.82, well ahead of runner-up Jun Yamashita (Fukushima H.S.), 2nd in 21.21.  100 m champion Kenta Oshima (Tokyo H.S.) was only 5th in 21.44.  With an even stronger 3.4 m/s in the girls' 200 m, Oshima's teammate and fellow 100 m champion Iyoba Edoba was likewise unable to pick up a double, Tomomi Kawamura (Morioka Daiichi H.S.) taking 1st in 24.57 with Edoba 3rd in 24.71.



The showdown of the day came in the girls' 800 m, where 1500 m champion Chika Mukai (Shigakukan H.S.) faced 400 m and 400 m hurdles winner and record-setter Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.).  Ishizuka…

by Brett Larner

The second day of the 2014 National High School Track and Field Championships brought even hotter temperatures than the first, 36 degrees at the time of the girls' and boys' mid-afternoon 1500 m finals.  The girls' race started with a mishap as #1-ranked Japanese runner Karin Yasumoto (Suma Gakuen H.S.) was tripped in the first 50 m as the field crowded together, landing flat on her face and ultimately ending up second-to-last.  #1-seeded Kenyan Monica Margaret (Aomori Yamada H.S.) shot to the front and opened a lead of over 50 m by halfway, with the two slowest qualifiers for the final, Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) and Azusa Sumi (Toyokawa H.S.) breaking from the chase pack early in pursuit.

By 800 m Margaret had started come back, and both Kuraoka and Sumi went by her with 200 m to go.  Kuraoka continued her momentum and dropped Sumi on the curve to take the win in 4:20.82.  Behind her the pack caught Margaret and made contact with Sumi in the home…

by Brett Larner
videos by Ekiden News and tuyoshi55244



Japan's outdoor track season got underway on Saturday with the rainy 23rd edition of Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet.  Teammates James Mwangi and Edward Waweru of the NTN corporate team got the season off to a good start with a 1-2 finish in Heat 4 of the men's 5000 m, Mwangi leading the way with a 13:25.56 a full ten seconds ahead of Waweru.  Japan-based Kenyans and Ethiopians took 11 of the top 13 places, with the only Japanese runners to get into the middle of things both running PBs to get there.  Second-year Keisuke Nakatani of three-time defending National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University ran a sizable best of 13:48.99 for 8th, a time that ranks him 2nd on the Komazawa squad behind only World Half Marathon Championships team member Kenta Murayama.  Sub-28 and sub-1:02 as a collegiate, Yuta Shitara made a good debut in the Honda uniform by knocking 2 seconds off his best for 9th in 13:49.98.



Two-ti…