japan running news

Following the weekend's National Championships, the JAAF announced the first round of athletes named to its national team for this fall's Doha World Championships. Any athlete who won their event at Nationals and had either won a gold medal at April's Doha Asian Championships or held the Doha qualifying standard was named to the team, with all other athletes, including Doha standard holders who finished 2nd or 3rd at Nationals, having to wait until the final team announcement in mid-September.
Japanese National Team, Doha World Championshipsas of July 1, 2019

Women

100 m Hurdles - Ayako Kimura (Edion) - 13.11
5000 m - Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) - 15:19.99
10000 m - Rina Nabeshima (Japan Post) - 31:28.81
Javelin Throw - Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon Univ.) - 64.36 m
4x400 m Relay -
Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei AC) - 53.42
Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 53.52
Yuna Iwata (Chuo Univ.) - 53.97
Konomi Takeishi (Toho Ginko) -54.27

Men

100 m / 200 m - Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Univ. of Florida) - 9…

The 2019 Japanese National Track and Field Championships got rolling Thursday at Fukuoka's Hakatanomori Field. Men's high jump national record holder Naoto Tobe (JAL) became the first athlete at Nationals to secure a place on the Doha World Championships team, clearing 2.27 m on his first attempt while his three remaining competitors including last year's national champ Takashi Eto (Ajinomoto) all maxed out at 2.24 m. Tobe attempted 2.30 m after securing the win but missed all three attempts.

Naoto Tobe very smooth in winning men’s high jump at Nationals. pic.twitter.com/UbqxexzFNE — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) June 28, 2019
Japan's year leader in the 1500 m Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) outkicked half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) over the last lap to take the men's 5000 m final with a season best 13:41.27. Shitara's fellow 2:06 marathoner Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) led the chase pack behind breakaway leader Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) mid-r…

Japan's National Track and Field Championships kick off this Thursday in Fukuoka. It's the start of an important cycle for Japan, with national representation at this fall's Doha World Championships on the line in the lead-up to next year's Tokyo Olympics. Anyone who has cleared the Doha standard in their event will make the team if they win at Nationals, with other qualifiers and hgh-ranked athletes having to wait until mid-September to learn their fates. Over the next four days JRN will break down the favorites in each event.

In the jumps, not a single athlete in any event on the women's side looks to have a realistic chance of making it to Doha without a big PB in the next couple of months. All four of last year's women's national champions, Haruka Nakano (Nippatsu) in the high jump, Juri Nanbu (Chukyo Univ.) in the pole vault, Ayaka Kora (Tsukuba Univ.) in the long jump and Eri Sakamoto (Nihon Shitsunai TC) in the triple jump, return. Of them only Kora…

On a day that saw three more world-leading marks, three more championships records and nine more national records, Japan saved its best for the last day of the Doha Asian Athletics Championships, bringing home three gold medals, two silvers and four bronze.

Yuki Hashioka brought the Japanese performance of the day, winning gold in the men's long jump with a world lead-tying PB jump of 8.22 m +0.6. Gold also came in the women's 100 m hurdles along with one of the bronzes, with Ayako Kimura and Masumi Aoki going 1 and 3.

The other gold came in the show-stopping men's 4x400 m relay, where Japan led start-to-finish to win  by 0.34 over India. India was later disqualified, elevating China to silver and hosts Qatar to bronze. The Japanese women's 4x400 m team led their race for almost 3/4 of the way, overtaken by India just before the last exchange and caught by Bahrain on the back corner but holding on for a surprise bronze.

Takashi Eto and favorite Naoto Tobe took silver an…

Japan has named a team featuring ten individual medalists from the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games to get an early taste of this year's World Championships  at April's Doha Asian Athletics Championships. Along with its gold medal-winning men's 4x100 m team, standouts include Jakarta gold medalists Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) in the men's 200 m, Seito Yamamoto (Toyota) in the men's pole vault and Keisuke Ushiro (Kokushin Univ. AC) in the decathlon.

The women's long distance roster is strong, led by 2018 World U20 Championships 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka (ND28 AC) in the 5000 m and the resurgent Hitomi Niiya (Nike Tokyo TC) in the 10000 m, while the most interesting name among the men is Jakarta 3000 m steeplechase bronze medalist Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.).
23rd Asian Athletics ChampionshipsJapanese National Team
Doha, Qatar, Apr. 21-24, 2019
complete team listing
underlined athletes are 2018 Asian Games medalists

Women
Sprints
Chisato Fukushima (Seiko) - 100…

Bronze was the color of Japan's luck on the third day of athletics competition at the Jakarta Asian Games, with three Japanese athletes medaling in jumps and hurdles. Takatoshi Abe was a favorite to medal in the men's 400 m hurdles, no match for championships record-breaking Qatari Abderrahman Samba but running a strong 2nd throughout the race. Coming into the home straight Abe had a sizable lead over Taiwan's Chen Chieh and Indian Dharun Ayyasamy, but as he came off the bend he began to tie up. Ayyasamy saw his chance and kicked hard, catching Abe just before the line to take silver and knock Abe back to bronze.

One of Japan's strongest medal contenders, Naoto Tobe had something of an off day in the men's high jump, struggling to clear 2.24 m and tying for bronze with Syrian Majd Eddin Ghzal while winner Yu Wang of China went on to clear 2.30 m. Takashi Eto cleared 2.24 m on his final attempt to move into 6th but passed on the subsequent heights with an apparent …

Following Hiroto Inoue's morning gold medal in the men's marathon, the first evening session of athletics at the Jakarta Asian Games was capped by a surprise bronze in the women's hammer throw by Hitomi Katsuyama. Katsuyama's throw of 62.95 m was 8 meters or more off the Chinese top two Na Luo and Zheng Wang and was nearly overtaken by teammate Akane Watanabe's 62.45 m but was enough for her to go home with hardware in an an event that's usually something of a weakness.

The day's only other final to feature a Japanese athlete, the women's 10000 m was out of the league of lone Japanese entrant Yuka Hori. After a series of delays involving missing numbers, an extra athlete and removal of a rear bib, Hori did much of the leading, dropped by surges twice and taking her time overtaking those ahead both times to end up 7th in  32:42.73. In an exciting race up front Darla Maslova of Kyrgyzstan outkicked Kenyan-born Bahraini Eunice Chumba and Deshun Zheng of C…

Beijing, China, 8/28/15
click here for complete results

Women's 20 km Race Walk
1. Hong Liu (China) - 1:27:45
2. Xiuzhi Lu (China) - 1:27:45
3. Lyudmyla Olyanovska (Ukraine) - 1:28:13
4. Ana Cabecinha (Portugal) - 1:29:29
5. Antonella Palmisano (Italy) - 1:29:34
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25. Kumiko Okada (Japan) - 1:34:56

Men's High Jump Qualification Group A
1. Derek Drouin (Canada) - 2.31 m - Q
2. Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar) - 2.31 m - Q
3. Brandon Starc (Australia) - 2.13 m - PB - Q
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15. Naoto Tobe (Japan) - 2.26 m
16. Takashi Eto (Japan) - 2.22 m

Men's High Jump Qualification Group B
1. Guowei Zhang (China) - 2.31 m - Q
2. Bohdan Bondarenko (Ukraine) - 2.31 m - Q
3. Dimitrios Chondrokoukis (Cyprus) - 2.31 m - Q
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16. Yuji Hiramatsu (Japan) - 2.17 m

Women's Javelin Throw Qualification Group A
1. Britney Borman (U.S.A.) - 64.22 m - Q
2. Christina Obergfull (Germany) - 64.10 m - Q
3. Sunette Vilioen (South Africa) - 63.93 m - Q
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9. Yuki Ebihara (Japan) - 60.30 m - Q

Men's Deca…