japan running news

With the 31:50.00 standard for the 2019 Doha World Championships 10000 m announced earlier this week following the IAAF's about-face on its new world rankings system, Japan wasted no time in getting its people under the mark.

In cold conditions for the mid-afternoon Corporate Women's Time Trials meet at Yamaguchi's Ishin Me-Life Stadium the women's 10000 m A-heat went out strong and steady, 15:45 through halfway before the lead group began to splinter. Just two weeks after a season-worst performance at the National Corporate Women's Ekiden the Atsushi Sato-coached Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) roared back into form with a 31:16.48 meet record for the win, outkicking Kenyan Grace Kimanzi (Starts) to land at #2 in the world so far this year and #8 on the all-time Japanese list. Yamanouchi and Kimanzi were the only two to clear 31:20, but all told six women made it under the 31:50 Doha standard, making the race the year's deepest worldwide.

Having fully recovered f…

After an unexpected breakthrough last year to win its first national title in 12 years, Meijo University took full advantage of its new recruits to win the Morinomiyako Ekiden, the Japanese University Women's Ekiden Championships, for the second year in a row Sunday in Sendai.

First-year Yuna Wada, who set up Nozomi Tanaka for the gold medal in this year's U20 World Championships 3000 m, took it out hard for Meijo, winning the 6.4 km First Stage by two seconds over Naruha Sato of last year's 3rd-placer Ritsumeikan University. After a rocky start 2017 runner-up Daito Bunka University's Yuka Suzuki made up a 42-second deficit on the 5.6 km Second Stage, turning it into a 15-second lead over Ritsumeikan with Meijo dropping to 3rd.

Star Meijo first-year Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu got it back under control, just missing the CR on the 6.8 km Third Stage as she put Meijo back into the lad for good. DBU, Ritsumeikan and darkhorse TokyoNogyo University battled to close the gap, …

With skies hanging heavy in the hours before the impending arrival of Typhoon #24, Tokyo Nogyo University won the 24th Kanto Region University Women's Ekiden to lead the qualifiers for the Oct. 28 Morinomiyako Ekiden university women's national championships.

Always in the top two, Tokyo Nogyo didn't take a definitive lead until the 3.9 Fourth Stage, when 1st-year Yuki Shibahara scored the team's only stage win of the day to overtake 2017 Morinomiyako runner-up Daito Bunka University. From there to the finish it opened a 1:16 lead over Daito Bunka, easily winning in 1:39:05. Daito Bunka's lead over 2017 winner Toyo University was almost as big, finishing in 1:40:21 to Toyo's 1:41:17.

Including teams which earned seeded spots at last year's national championships the top eight teams qualified for this year's nationals. 7th-placer Takushoku University, whose men's team progressively features Ethiopian Workneh Derese as captain, qualified for National…

Japan's biggest university meet kicked off Thursday at a new home in the wildlands of suburban Kanagawa. Day 1 of the 97th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships started off hot, humid and sunny, shifting toward cool and windy as the afternoon wore on. Not ideal for the day's main final, the women's and men's 10000 m.

The women's 10000 m was probably the best race of the day. #1-ranked Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.), the only woman in the race with a PB under 32:30, predictably took control early, challenged mid-race by the talented Rino Goshima (Chuo Univ.) but effortlessly dropping her after 7000 m. An unexpected challenge to Sekiya's second-straight Kanto 10000 m title came from unknown mid-33 runner Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.). As the other competition dropped away Ueda stayed locked to Sekiya looking fresh and ready to go. But in the back straight on the final lap Sekiya inched away, opening a 5-second lead to win in 33:29.53. Ueda shav…

Japan dominated the 2018 World University Cross Country Championships Saturday in St. Gallen, Switzerland, taking the overall gold, women's team gold, men's team silver and one individual silver.

That silver came courtesy of Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.), who finished 5 seconds behind winner Caterina Granz (Germany) in the women's 10 km to lead four Japanese women into the top six for team gold. 2017 World University Games half marathon gold medalist Yuki Munehisa (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) was 6th overall, Japan's 4th scoring team member.

【#世界大学クロカン】
女子レース速報
加世田選手(名城大)銀メダル獲得🎉
女子団体 金メダル獲得🎊

2位　加世田梨花(名城大)
4位　五島莉乃(中央大)
5位　関谷夏希(大東文化大)
6位　棟久由貴(東京農業大)
13位 棚池穂乃香(京都産業大)
15位 岡田佳子(松山大)#青春に駆けろpic.twitter.com/sLXoBWMUZR — 日本学生陸上競技連合 (@iuauj) April 7, 2018
The men came up empty-handed for individual medals, Sota Watanabe (Toyo Univ.) taking the top Japanese spot at 4th overall with teammate Yohei Urano (Koku Gakuin Univ.) close behind in 6th. South Africa scored two individual medals to ta…

Ten-time national champion Ritsumeikan University added an eleventh National University Women's Invitational Ekiden Championships title to its resume, winning the Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden title for the fifth-straight year since the National Championships' 2013 move to the Mt. Fuji course.

プライベートで観戦した富士山女子駅伝。
7区の3km地点では富士山をバックに走る選手の後ろ姿を撮ることができました。
頂上に向かって走っている感じがして良いなと思いました。 pic.twitter.com/oOMzD3cdxr — 馬場遼 (@bmbryo126) December 30, 2017
Running on a hilly course under perfect blue skies and the watchful eye of Mt. Fuji looming above, Ritsumeikan got off to a slow start as third-year Ena Kagayama was only 13th on the 4.1 km opening stage. Ritsumeikan's next two runners Naruha Sato and Ayano Tanaka picked up the slack with new course records on their stages to put Ritsumeikan up where it feels most comfortable in 1st.

On the race's longest stage, the 10.5 km Fifth Stage, the team's lead fell as close as 13 seconds over Daito Bunka University, one of the two teams…

Credited as being only 17 years old, Ethiopian Yeneblo Biyazen (Yachiyo Kogyo) made a big splash in his 10000 m debut, running an under-18 world-leading 27:32.51 to lead 12 men under 28 minutes at Hosei University's Hachioji Long Distance Meet. Biyazen and compatriot teammate Abiyot Abinet ran together throughout the race before Biyazen dropped an incredible kick over the last lap. Abinet couldn't match it, running a PB 27:37.62 to outlast Kenyan Muthoni Muiru (Soka Univ.) for 2nd. Muiru's 27:38.05 PB run ranked him at all-time #3 among sutdent athletes at Japanese universities.

With an overall slow opening pace,  half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda), decked out in Nike's Vaporfly 4%, did his share of the heavy lifting up front but was never on for a shot at the 27:29.69 national record set in Hachioji two years ago. Riding the ebbs and flows of the race before losing touch with the lead trio over the last lap he snipped one second off his PB to t…

3rd last year, Meijo University returned to the top with its first national title since 2005 at today's National University Women's Ekiden Championships in Sendai.

Missing its star pair Anju Takamizawa and Riho Takamizawa (no relation), defending champion Matsuyama University was never in the race, 25th of 26 teams on the 6.4 km First Stage and eventually working its way up to 13th. 6 seconds out of 1st, Meijo took over the lead on the 5.6 km Second Stage and held it almost the entire rest of the way.

With a record of ten wins and four 2nd-place finishes in the last 14 years, last year's runner-up Ritsumeikan University went into 1st on the 4.8 km Fourth Stage thanks to a stage best run by Ayano Tanaka, setting up a duel between course record holder Kotona Ota (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and #1-ranked first-year Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) on the day's longest stage, the 9.2 km Fifth Stage. Kaseda caught Ota within the first 3 km, but while it looked like the younger Kaseda mig…

For the second Universiade in a row Japan pulled off a near-sweep of the half marathon medals, taking all three men's individual medals, women's gold and bronze and both team golds. Komazawa University's Kei Katanishi and Naoki Kudo went 1-2, leaving national university half marathon champion Kengo Suzuki over 30 seconds behind to hold off Uganda's John Kateregga for bronze. Wataru Tochigi took 6th to make it 4 Japanese men in the top 6, the only misstep coming from Takato Suzuki of national champion Aoyama Gakuin University who finished only 12th after scratching in the 10000 m.

Not so for women's gold medalist Yuki Munehisa. Munehisa had led most of the women's 10000 m only to get dropped in the last kilometer and wind up outside the medals in 4th. In the half marathon she was bound and determined not to end up the same way again, doing all the heavy lifting to drop Turkey's Esma Aydemir with teammate Saki Fukui in a supporting role. Munehisa finally pul…

Ai Hosoda became the first Japanese medalist of the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade, winning bronze in the women's 10000 m to wrap the first day of athletics competition.

【#台北ユニバーシアード】
女子10000m
細田あいが銅メダル🥉
（写真：奥井隆史） #陸上#ユニバーシアードpic.twitter.com/tq9XLAU99r — スポーツナビ・陸上編集部 (@sn_gorin) August 24, 2017
Leading the field with a sub-32 best, 19-year-old Yuki Munehisa led the first 9000 m on the race before being overtaken by Daria Maslova (Kyrgyszstan),  Sanjivani Jadhav (India) and Hosoda. On the last lap Maslova kicked away to gold in 33:19.27 less than 3 seconds ahead of Jadhav, with Hosoda 6 seconds behind for bronze. Munehisa fell to 4th, with third team member Natsuki Sekiya, a favorite to medal in the 5000 m, off her game at 12th in 35:21.19.

【#ユニバーシアード】
多田修平(関西学院大)
3組1着 0.0 10.29
スタートから1位をキープし、安定したレース展開でした！
準決勝進出です！！#青春に駆けろpic.twitter.com/I5UBAidmIE — 日本学生陸上競技連合 (@iuauj) August 23, 2017
With the rest of the day devoted to qualifying rounds Hosoda's medal was the day's only …

Following protests outside the main stadium that interrupted its opening ceremonies Saturday night, the athletics component of the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade is set to start Wedenesday. As always Japan is sending a solid crew of its A-list collegiate talent to the World University Games, with a team of 24 men and 14 women set to compete over the six day run of athletics.

Getting things off to a quick start, London World Championships men's 4x100 m bronze medallist Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin University) is set to run the first men's 100 m on the first day on competition. Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo University), Ryo Kajiki (Josai University), Ryoma Yamamoto (Juntendo Univ.) and Marina Saito (Kokushikan University) will also double back from representing Japan in London to compete in Taipei, Kitagawa in the men's 400 m, Kajiki in the men's 400 m hurdles, Yamamoto in the men's triple jump and Saito in the women's javelin throw. London men's 20 km race wal…

The IUAU has announced a 38-member team for the Aug. 23-28 Summer Universiade in Taiwan, with 24 men and 14 women representing 26 universities. Rio Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) leads the team in men's long distance, with newly sub-10.10 Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) an expected favorite in men's sprints. Javelin throw and heptathlon collegiate record holders Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon University) and Meg Hemphill (Chuo University) lead the women's team. The complete team roster:
Men Sprints Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin University)
Yusuke Tanaka (Nihon Wellness University)
Jun Yamashita (Tsukuba University)
Sho Kitagawa (Juntendo University)
Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo University)
Shusei Nomoto (Waseda University)
Taio Kanai (Hosei University)
Ryo Kajiki (Josai University)
Long Distance Wataru Tochigi (Juntendo University)
Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo University)
Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin University)
Kengo Suzuki (Kanagawa University)
Naoki Kudo (Komazawa Univ…

5/28
ハーフマラソン 2部

36着 親﨑達朗(駿河台大学) 1:08:37#関東インカレpic.twitter.com/oQiGYbmYnH — ミウツー (@miu2_tsc) May 29, 2017
Japan's best meet of the season wrapped up Sunday at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium. Day four of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships with the men's half marathon, its two divisions running with a staggered start over a circuit course starting and ending inside the stadium. D1 runner-up in the 10000 m Dominic Nyairo (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) took a second-straight title in the D1 race, bettering his winning time from last year by almost two minutes to win in 1:03:22. Back from setting a D2 10000 m meet record of 28:00.66 on Thursday, Simon Kariuki (Nihon Yakka Univ.) set another D2 meet record as he outran Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University's Yuta Shimoda to win in 1:02:38.

#関東インカレ 男子5000m

パトリック ワンブィ(日大)13:43.97 pic.twitter.com/xmJ0Y6xrIm — Tさんrunner (@Runner_2653) May 29, 2017
Like the 10000m and half marathon, in both divisions Africans…

by Brett Larner

【#世界陸上 🇬🇧 #TBS 8月開幕】
《 #関東インカレ ２日目・桐生祥秀》
期待された桐生のスイッチは入らず。しかし、今季の走りのレベルは「９秒８台レベル」と土江コーチ
続きはhttps://t.co/Yye7JlUp3n#桐生祥秀#TBS#世界陸上pic.twitter.com/3f4yeOjkXq — TBSテレビ陸上 ８月は世界陸上ロンドン (@tbsrikujou) May 26, 2017
Day two of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships saw one of the the country's greats, Rio Olympics men's 4x100 m silver medalist Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.), lining up in the meet's 100 m for the final time of his college career. Heading into the semi-finals with the fastest time in the heats, Kiryu easily topped the semis with a 10.15 +1.8 m/s to take the top spot among the qualifiers for the final. There he ran 10.24 -0.5 m/s to add one last Kanto 100 m title to his collection. Anchoring Toyo's 4x100 m team he brought them home in 4th in 39.56, leaving just one more event, the 200 m, before he wraps up his final appearance at Japan's best meet.

#関東インカレ 橋岡優輝 6回目 8m04 +0.1
跳んだ直後の雄叫び、記録が分かり喜びを爆発させる様子、スタンドの盛り上がりが凄かった 😆 pic.twitter…