japan running news

Japanese athletes were busy on the track overseas this weekend. At Friday's Stumptown Twilight meet in Portland, indoor mile Asian record holder Nanami Arai (Honda) took 2nd in the men's 1500 m in 3:39.58, his second time this season breaking 3:40. It used to be a rarity to see a Japanese man clear 3:40, something that happened once every couple of years, but so far this season four Japanese men have done it a total of six times. If the distance had even a fraction of the prestige of the Hakone Ekiden, or of that it has in the U.S., there's no doubt there'd be more.

Speaking of distances with prestige, on the first day of London's Muller Anniversary Games Diamond League spectacular Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) became the third Japanese man to join the sub-10 club, running 9.98 (+0.5 m/s) for 4th in the men's 100 m final. Koike also ran 2nd on the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay team, which clocked a season best 37.78 for 2nd despite featuring only two regulars…

The second meet in the 2019 Hokuren Distance Challenge series took place July 9 in Fukagawa, Hokkaido. Masaki Toda (Sunbelx) ran an all-time Japanese #2 mark of 3:37.90 to win the men's 1500 m A-heat, a solid performance to follow up his 1500 m national title at last month's National Championships. But, missing the Japanese national record for 1500 m by just 0.48 seconds he couldn't help being disappointed, saying, "I was optimistic about how close I could get. I guess this is just the limit of my ability right now."

After former New Year Ekiden national champion Nissin Shokuhin scaled back its team this season Toda moved to the up-and-coming Sunbelx corporate team. In the middle of this twist of fate Toda has found his way. "I've been thinking a lot about how to change myself," he said. "It looks like I'm finally on the right path."

Translator's note: A few hours after Toda's run, National Championships 3rd-placer Nanami Arai …