japan running news

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2011/03/31/kiji/K20110331000537600.html
translated by Brett Larner
Rikuren announced its list of athletes receiving special financial support in the 2011-2012 season on Mar. 31. Joining the ranks of the country's federation-supported athletes for the first time, Tokyo Marathon 3rd place finisher and amateur runner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama T&F Assoc.) was officially granted B-class support.*
Female marathoners Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) and Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and male sprinters Shinji Takahira (Team Fujitsu) and Naoki Tsukahara (Team Fujitsu) were downgraded from A-class to B-class. Only three athletes were categorized at the highest level, S-class; field athletes Koji Murofushi (Team Mizuno) and Yukifumi Murakami (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and marathoner Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei).
*Translator's note: B-class athletes receive an annual stipend of 1,500,000 yen, roughly $18,000 USD at current exchange rates.

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/100810/spg1008101851000-n1.htm

translated by Brett Larner

Rikuren announced on Aug. 10 that it is sending a team of 17 to compete in a new IAAF regional competition called the Continental Cup to be held Sept. 4-5 in Croatia. Athletes to be sent include national record holders Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC), Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC), Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) and Beijing Olympics 4x100 m relay bronze medalists Naoki Tsukahara and Shinji Takahira (both Team Fujitsu). The Continental Cup replaces the IAAF World Cup last held in 2006.

For a complete listing of the Japanese team click here.

by Brett Larner

Having moved up to the A-list Team Fujitsu this year, women's race walker Mayumi Kawasaki captured the biggest headlines at the 2009 National Jitsugyodan Track and Field Championships with a national record in the 10000 m walk. Breaking her own national record from 2008 by over 30 seconds, Kawasaki set a mark of 43:21.90 to take the title in the event's first appearance at the Championships.

Another four meet records were set in other events. Kawasaki's male teammates at Fujitsu ran a meet record 39.55 to win the men's 4x100 m relay. Team members Naoki Tsukahara, Shinji Takahira and Yoshihiro Horigome also won the individual titles in the 100 m, 200 m and 400 m, while Takahira and Horigome were also on Fujitsu's winning team in the 4x400 m relay along with the 4x100 m team's fourth man, Yohei Miyazawa.

Women's 400 m national record holder Asami Tanno (Team Natureal) took nearly a second off the nine year old meet record to win in 52.61, then re…

by Brett Larner

The big overseas names cleaned up at the Super Track and Field Meet in Kawasaki on Sept. 23, 2009. Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, Gary Kikaya, Dwight Thomas, Perdita Felicien, Felix Sanchez, Tatiana Lebedeva, Teemu Wirkkala, Reese Hoffa and others all consigned the hosts' national champions to the runner-up spot or lower. Only women's 400 m national champion Asami Tanno (Team Natureal) and pole vaulter Takafumi Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) took the top spots in their events, while pole vault national champion Daichi Sawano (Team Nishi) and high jump national champion Naoyuki Daigo (Team Fujitsu) struggled with apparent injuries and could not clear the bar even once. Some highlights:



Tyson Gay ran a relatively desultory 10.13 to win the 100 m, running even with national champion Masashi Eriguchi (Waseda Univ.) and Beijing Olympics 4x100 m relay bronze medalist Naoki Tsukahara (Team Fujitsu) until accelerating in the final stage just enough to ensure the win. Eriguchi appeared …

Broadcaster TBS will present the 2009 Super Track and Field Meet in Kawasaki, featuring Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, Felix Sanchez and a host of Japan's top track and field athletes, from 2:53 to 4:43 p.m. on Sept. 23, Japan time. International viewers should be able to watch the meet live online for free by clicking here. JRN will be onhand and will be uploading its own video coverage shortly afterward.

by Brett Larner

On Sept. 8 the organizers of the Super Track and Field Meet in Kawasaki 2009 released the entry lists for this year's meet to be held on Sept. 23. As in past years the meet has succeeded in signing a handful of marquee names to face off against the best domestic athletes. Topping the bill without a doubt are American sprinters Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix, along with hurdlers Felix Sanchez (Dominican Republic) and Perdita Felicien (Canada), shot putter Reese Hoffa (U.S.A.), and long jumper Tatiana Lebedeva (Russia).

The Japanese field includes most of this year's national champions and several World Championships and Olympic medalists and national record holders, among them Yukifumi Murakami (javelin), Masashi Eriguchi (100 m), Naoki Tsukahara (100 m), Chisato Fukushima (100 m), Momoko Takahashi (100 m), Yuzo Kanemaru (400 m), Kenji Narisako (400 mH), Daiichi Sawano (pole vault), Asami Tanno (400 m), Asuka Terada (100 mH), Satomi Kubokura (400 mH), Kumiko Imura (l…

by Brett Larner

2009 women's 5000 m national champion Yurika Nakamura may not be as talented as the top Kenyans and Ethiopians or even some of her countrywomen, but her performance in the 5000 m final at the 2009 World Championships marks her as the star of the Japanese team with only the medal hopefuls in the women's marathon and men's javelin left to outshine her efforts. In the 10000 m and the 5000 m heats Nakamura took the early lead to keep the races from going out too slowly, ran negative splits, and was rewarded with credible PBs. In the 5000 m final it was the same story. At 1000 m she was in the lead in 3:06.02. When the real racing began she was left behind, ultimately finishing 12th of 15, but she improved her PB from the heats by 8 seconds as she clocked a very decent 15:13.01. Three races in eight days, three PBs. With her stated goal for this year being to improve her track speed before taking another shot at the marathon Nakamura looks well on the way to some…

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

In the absence of distance running events, men's javelin thrower Yukifumi Murakami turned in the best Japanese performance of the day at the Berlin World Championships. Murakami threw a PB of 83.10 to win his qualification group and was ranked second overall after the completion of the round. A javelin medal in the final would be completely unexpected but more than welcome to the Japanese national team, which with the exception of women's 5000 m and 10000 m runner Yurika Nakamura has thus far underperformed.

The day's other strong Japanese performance came unsurprisingly in the men's 4x100 m relay, in which Japan won a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics. With only two members of the Beijing team still active, this year's squad featured new blood Masashi Eriguchi and Kenji Fujimitsu teaming up with medalists Naoki Ts…

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

Kenyan Felista Wanjugu (Team Aruze) sprinted away from three of the cream of Japan's current crop of long distance women to win the women's 5000 m on the third day of the 2009 Japanese National Track and Field Championships, with Beijing Olympics marathoner Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) a close 2nd and picking up her first World Championships berth. The other big results of the day came in the men's 100 m, where Beijing Olympics 4x100 m relay bronze medalist Naoki Tsukahara (Team Fujitsu) casually dropped a PB of 10.09 in the first heat. Even bigger news was the unheralded Masashi Eriguchi (Waseda Univ.), who ran a PB by 0.20 to win the fifth heat in a World Championships A-standard 10.14.



Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya), the only Japanese woman to finish the Beijing Olympics marathon, gained partial redemption for a poor showing in Thursday's 10000 m by being in the lucky position of being able to outkick two superior but injured runners, national record…

by Brett Larner

Japan wouldn't exactly make anyone's list of sprinting powerhouses, but in the last few years it has been on an upswing which led to its men's 4x100 m relay team winning the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics last summer, Japan's first Olympic track medal in 80 years and the first ever for its men. The success has led to major popularity for sprinting and momentum for its younger athletes.

One member of the 4x100 m team, defending national champion Naoki Tsukahara (Team Fujitsu), was the only athlete of non-African ancestry to make the Beijing semifinal in the men's 100 m. After Beijing he reportedly joined a Jamaican training group to work on his form and technique, and he has been full of confidence ever since. His stated goals for this year are to make the final in Berlin and to become the first Japanese runner to break 10.0. Although Tsukahara is qualified in the 200 m, he will only run the 100 m at Nationals and it's likely his PB of 10.13 …

http://www.iaaf.org/GP09/news/kind=100/newsid=50494.html

Click here for a direct link to complete results.

One point not mentioned in the IAAF article is the strong showing by Japan's men's 4 x 100 m team. Running with only two members of its bronze medal-winning team from the Beijing Olympics, Naoki Tsukahara (Team Fujitsu) and Shinji Takahira (Team Fujitsu), the team won in 38.33, 0.3 seconds off the national record and a time which would have been 5th in the final in Beijing. The team's now-retired anchor from Beijing, Nobuharu Asahara, was one of the television announcers for the Osaka Grand Prix and was surprised and delighted at such an early-season showing. He said that with several months of work ahead on ironing out its exchanges he is confident the team will be a factor in Berlin.

http://www.iaaf.org/GP09/news/kind=100/newsid=50474.html

by Brett Larner

Aspiring marathoner Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) bounced back from her failed attempt to win March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon by running a 5-second PB to beat Beijing Olympics marathoner Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya), Kenyans Felista Wanjugu (Team Aruze) and Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi) and several other top Japanese women in the competitive 5000 m at the Apr. 29 Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet. Niiya clocked a strong 15:23.27, the second-best time in the world so far this year, to break her nearly four-year old PB of 15:28.70. Nakamura came in in 15:23.99 with the two Kenyans another second back; all three were less than 3 seconds off their best times. A moderate gap separated the lead quartet from the rest of the field. Niiya's win signals that she has moved on from this spring's big disappointment and is ready to retarget this summer's World Championships on the track.

In another of the Oda Memorial Meet's highlights, wo…

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2009041900184

translated and edited by Brett Larner

2009 World Championships women's marathon team member Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido) ran the 3000 m at the weekend's Japan Invitational Track and Field Meet, winning the distance for the first time. Asked about her time of 9:18, Fujinaga laughed, "I'm still not fast enough." Fujinaga won March's Nagoya International Women's Marathon, her debut at the full marathon. This weekend's 3000 m was her first race since then. Leading up to the World Championships marathon Fujinaga plans to run in the Hyogo Relay Carnival next weekend, followed by the 10000 m at next month's National Track and Field Championships. "Berlin is going to be fast," she told reporters. "To be honest I think I'm fifth on [The Japanese women's marathon] team, so I have to work on my speed before then."

In other domestic weekend track action:

-Naoyuki Daigo (Team Fuj…

by Brett Larner
event videos listed at bottom

The 36 year old anchor of Japan's Beijing Olympics bronze medal-winning men's 4 x 100 m relay team, Nobuharu Asahara (Team Osaka Gas), was the main attraction at the 2008 Seiko Super Track and Field Meet in Kawasaki, a near sellout crowd filling Kawasaki's Todoroki Stadium to witness Asahara's final run before his retirement. Despite the cancellation of several stars including men's 110 m hurdles world record holder Dayron Robles, Japanese fans were treated to a bonus in the unpublicized surprise guest appearance by Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt, who came out to greet fans during the opening ceremonies.

Usain Bolt and the Japanese Olympic men's 4 x 100 m team.

In the field events, women's long jump national record holder Kumiko Ikeda (Team Suzuki) fouled on her first three jumps before finally getting on the scoreboard. She ultimately finished 2nd behind Russian Tatiana Lebedeva, a two-time Olympic medalist and de…

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080922-00000031-jijp-spo.view-000

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Japan's Olympic bronze medal-winning 4 x 100 m team reunited at the Seiko Super Track and Field Meet in Kawasaki pre-meet press conference on Sept. 22. The four athletes, all of whom will compete in the meet, struck a group baton pass pose for photographers. From left to right are Nobuharu Asahara (Team Osaka Gas), Shinji Takahira (Team Fujitsu), Shingo Suetsugu (Team Mizuno) and Naoki Tsukahara (Team Fujitsu). The meet will be the 36 year-old Asahara's final race before his retirement.