japan running news

At the Kinki Region High School Track and Field Championships Saturday in Osaka’s Nagai Stadium, 17-year-old Ryuji Miura of Rakunan H.S. took down one of the oldest records in Japanese athletics, breaking the 30-year-old 3000 m steeplechase high school record by 5 seconds to win in 8:39.49.

Running in heavy rain after clocking the fastest time in the qualifying rounds, Miura went straight to the front in the final and was on his own within 200 m. From the start the record was in reach as he went through 1000 m in 2:49 and 2000 m in 5:43, building up a lead of about 200 m over the rest of the field.

Miura’s final time of 8:39.49 was the fastest in the world this year by an U18 athlete and 6th-best among U20 men, a new Japanese U18 record and all-time #2 for the U20 category. He came short of the outright Japanese high school record of 8:19.21 held by future marathon great Daniel Njenga, but took 5 seconds off the Japanese citizen high school record of 8:44.77 set back in 1989 by futu…

The 2018 National High School Track and Field Championships took place in the midst of a heatwave that saw temperatures in nearby Nagoya go over 40˚C on a nearly daily basis. Track events mostly suffered, but all the same there were two new high school national records and five other meet records, all but one on the field.

The only record on the track came in the girls' 100 m hurdles, where Ayumi Kobayashi (Funabashi H.S.) broke the high school national record with a mark of 13.34 (-0.3 m/s), bettering the 2007-era record by 0.05 seconds. The other new national record was in the boys' discus throw, where Kosei Yamashita (Gifu Shogyo H.S.)  threw 58.02 m  to surpass the previous record by almost a meter and a half.

The only record on the boys' side was a meet record 65.98 m Yuki Taneichi (Hirosaki Jitsugyo H.S.) in the hammer throw, less than a meter and a half off the high school national record. 2nd-placer Daisuke Kumon (Imabari Meitoku) was also under the old meet recor…

The 70th edition of the Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships took place July 29 to Aug. 2 at Yamagata's ND Software Stadium. Consistently strong headwinds throughout the five days meant a shortage of quality times in the sprints, but in the middle and long distances the relatively cool temperatures meant a string of national and meet records.

The highlight of the championships was a pair of duels over 1500 m and 3000 m between Japan-based Kenyan Helen Ekarare (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) and #1-ranked Japanese-born high schooler Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.), daughter of sub-2:30 amateur marathoner Chihiro Tanaka. In the 1500 m Tanaka was the only Japanese girl to go with the Kenyan trio of Ekarare, Marta Mokaya (Oita Tomei H.S.) and Tabitha Kamau (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) in the early going. Ekarare pulled away after 1000 m to win in a high school national record and meet record 4:07.06, ranking her 4th in the world among juniors this year. Tanaka couldn't …

The New Balance Nationals Outdoor was the weekend's big high school meet in the U.S.A., but from Thursday through Monday regions across Japan also held their qualifying meets for the July 29 - Aug. 2 National High School Track and Field Championships in Yamagata. Performances were at a high level across the board, with at least eight meet records nationwide in distance events.

Five girls broke 4:20 in the 1500 m, with Helen Ekarare (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) leading the way with a 4:09.67 meet record to win the Tohoku Region. Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) was the fastest Japanese girl, winning the Kinki Region title in 4:18.32. On the boys' side, four broke 3:50 in the 1500 m, three of them in the Kinki Region meet. Yusuke Takahashi (Hyogo H.S.) took the Kinki title in 3:46.86.



In the girls' 3000 m, five girls including both Ekarare and Tanaka were under 9:05 nationwide. Ekarare and Tanaka both doubled with 3000 m wins, but the fastest time came from Tabitha Kamau (Kamimu…

On June 3 the Kyoto Athletics Association held a ceremony at Kyoto's Nishi Kyogoku Field to unveil a new stone monument commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ekiden. Led by Association chair Setsuko Tanaka, roughly 30 dignitaries took part.

In April this year another monument was erected at Shinjo Ohashi, the starting point of Japan's first-ever ekiden in 1917. To help "spread the good word about the first century of the ekiden to as many people as possible," the Association chose to place a second monument at Nishi Kyogoku Field, the start and finish points for the National High School Ekiden Championships.

The new monument is of the same design, material and size as the one at Sanjo Ohashi, made of granite and measuring 1.8 m tall by 1.2 m wide. While the Sanjo Ohashi monument is engraved with "starting point," the new monument reads "Nishi Kyogoku Field, Kyoto," letting fans get different selfies at each. Tanaka commented "We will be …

by Brett Larner
video by Ekiden News



The 2016 Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships wrapped up yesterday, highlighted by new high school national records in the girls' 4x400 m relay and boys' pole vault and meet records in those events and the boys' 5000 m race walk, boys' 4x400 m relay and boys' octathlon.  18 events saw athletes break into the all-time Japanese junior and high school top ten lists, a sign of the all-around high level of competition this year.

The boys' 5000 mRW was unusually action-packed, with 12 boys breaking the meet record.  Girls' middle and long distance were also strong, with 7 girls under 2:08 in the 800 m, 9 under 4:20 in the 1500 m and 9 under 9:10 in the 3000 m.  In these and other events the top times were even good enough to get into and in some cases top the U.S.A. high school top ten lists for the year. Below is a list of records and all-time top ten Japanese junior and high school marks set at this ye…

by Brett Larner
videos by aoshin0507 and Ekiden News



The 2016 Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships wrapped up with a bang, the last three races delivering some of the best action seen in the meet's five days.  The girls' 3000 m final was out fast from the gun, a 68 second first lap immediately separating most of the field from a six-strong front pack that included Kenyans Helen Ekarare (Sendai Ikuei H.S.), Tabita Njeri Kamau (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.), Monica Margaret (Aomori Yamada H.S.) and Marta Mokaya (Oita Tomei H.S.) and Japanese runners Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) and Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.).  The front group stayed together through 2000 m, splitting 2:56 and 5:59 before Takamatsu, Tanaka and Mokaya slipped off the back.

Ekarare, just 12th in the final last year, drove on to drop Kamau and Margaret for the win in 8:55.06, the 4th-fastest time ever by a foreign runner at a Japanese high school.  Kamau was next in 8:5…

click here for five-channel live streaming of the 69th Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships

by Brett Larner
videos by aoshin0507 and Ekiden News



Sunday's Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships girls' 1500 m saw a breakthrough with three women running all-time Japanese high school top ten marks.  Another middle distance breakthrough came on day four of the championships in the girls' 800 m.  2016 national champion Shoko Fukuda (Matsue Kita H.S.) ran the second-fastest time ever by a Japanese high schooler, 2:04.29, to lead four girls into the all-time high school top ten.  Both Fukuda and Airi Ikezaki (Funairi H.S.), 2nd in 2:04.85, also made the all-time Japanese junior top ten, with 3rd placer Ayaka Kawata (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.) clocking the fastest-ever time by a Japanese high school second-year, 2:05.03 and 4th placer Ayano Shiomi (Kyoto Bunkyo Gakuen H.S.) squeezing into the all-tiime top ten in 2:05.36.  None of the t…

click here for five-channel live streaming of the 69th Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships

by Brett Larner

The highlight of day three of the Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships came in an unexpectedly fast and furious boys' 5000 m race walk.  After a relatively benign first qualifying heat on day two won by Ryutaro Yamamoto (Toyama Shogyo H.S.) in 21:08.49, heat two exploded with action, Hiroto Jusho (Shikama Kogyo H.S.) led the top eight under the old National High School Championships record in 20:49.39.  The bar set high, qualifiers returned a day later for the final, and again the field delivered en masse.  Yamamoto fought off Taiki Naruoka (Iga Hakuho H.S.) and Masatora Kawano (Gotemba Minami H.S.) for the win in a close race, taking 35 seconds off Jusho's short-lived national record with a new mark of 20:14.63.  The top six all beat Jusho's record, with Jusho himself almost equalling it in 20:52.94 but coming only 8th.

A…

click here for five-channel live streaming of the 69th Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships

by Brett Larner
videos by Ekiden News

#岡山インターハイ#okayama2016
男子棒高跳　江島雅紀　5m43　3回目に成功
日本高校新記録 ★ pic.twitter.com/ddslIjs0zf — EKIDEN News (@EKIDEN_News) July 30, 2016
Back in action after his 6th-place finish at last week's World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Masaki Ejima (Eda H.S.) cleared 5.43 m to win the 2016 National High School Track and Field Championships boys' pole vault July 30 at Okayama's City Lights Stadium.  Ejima's mark broke the meet record by 2 cm and his own high school national record set earlier this year by 1 cm.



8th in the Bydgoszcz girls' 3000 m and 2nd in June's National Championships 1500 m, Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) was likewise back in the 1500 m.  In a tight race with teammates Hina Takahashi and Yume Goto, Tanaka tried to frontrun her way to a national title but lost to Takahashi by a slim margin in the ho…

click here for five-channel live streaming of the 69th Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships

69th National High School Track and Field Championships 
Day One Highlights
City Lights Stadium, Okayama, 7/29/16
click here for complete results

Girls' 400 m Final
1. Rin Aoki (Soyo H.S.) - 54.14
2. Minami Hatano (Tokai Prep Boyo H.S.) - 54.21
3. Airi Ikezaki (Funairi H.S.) - 54.64

Boys' 400 m Final
1. Tomohiro Kokubo (Sakuragaoka H.S.) - 46.67
2. Daichi Inoue (Tokyo H.S.) - 46.91
3. Yushi Uike (Saikyo H.S.) - 47.03

Boys' Hammer Throw Final
1. Masanobu Hattori (Amagasaki Municipal H.S.) - 64.57 m
2. Tatsuto Nakagawa (Himeji Kogyo H.S.) - 63.77 m
3. Reo Yamamoto (Kisarazu Sogo H.S.) - 63.24 m

by Brett Larner



After building up through the prefectural and regional qualifying rounds, the high school track and field season hits its peak this weekend with the 69th National High School Track and Field Championships at Okayama's City Light Stadium.  Fresh back from Poland, the entry lists feature much of the Bydgoszcz World U20 Championships team including top-8 placers Naoki Kitadani (Kobe Shiritsu Kagaku Gijutsu H.S.) in the men's 400 m, Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) and Rika Kaseda (Narita H.S.) in the women's 3000 m and Masaki Ejima (Eda H.S.) in the men's pole vault.  A notable absence is sprint sensation Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.), sidelined with injury earlier this season.

Watch live streaming of the National High School Track and Field Championships above.  Click here for alternate cameras.  Complete entry lists, the championships schedule and results are available in Japanese here.  Soka University Associate Professor Bruce Carrick ha…

by Brett Larner
videos by naoki620

detailed day-by-day National High School Championships coverage:
Day One ・ Day Two・ Day Three・ Day Four・ Day Five

Despite sometimes extreme conditions with temperatures in the mid-30s throughout the five days of the 2015 Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships at Wakayama's Kimiidera Field performances were at a high level in most events, with thirteen new records set including two junior national records and two high school national records.



By far the star of the show was Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.), who showed outstanding range in everything from 100 m to 800 m.  Including heats and semifinals she ran a total of fourteen races in five different events in five days, sometimes with less than an hour between them, but still produced a 57.06 400 mH junior national record and high school national record, #4 among juniors in the world this year, a 53.30 National High School Championships record in the 400 m, a s…

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
videos by naoki620



After setting a National High School Track and Field Championships record to win the girls' 400 m on Wednesday and anchoring her school's 4x100 m relay team, Haruko Ishizuka (Keiai Higashi Osaka Prep H.S.) tore it up again on the Championships' third day of competition.  After dominating the 400 m hurdles semifinals and her 800 m heat Ishizuka was sensational in the 400 mH final, kicking hard in the last 100 m to win in 57.06, a new junior national record, high school national record and meet record.  Her Keiai teammate Mizuki Murakami and 3rd-placer Yuri Arashima (Kurashiki Chuo H.S.) both ran PBs under 59 seconds but were nearly 2 second behind.  Incredibly, less than an hour later Ishizuka was back to win her 800 m semifinal in 2:08.65, the slowest of the three semifinal winning times but still credible given the dangerously hot conditions and, of course, the fact that she had just broken a junior national record.  1500 m champion Chika…