japan running news

Suguru Osakoage: 28
sponsor: Nike Oregon Project
graduated from: Saku Chosei H.S., Waseda University

best time inside MGC window:
2:05:50, 3rd, 2018 Chicago Marathon – NR

PB: 2:05:50, 3rd, 2018 Chicago Marathon – NR

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:08.40 (NR, 2015) 10000 m: 27:38.31 (2013) half marathon: 1:01:13 (2017)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
DNF, 2019 Tokyo Marathon
3rd, 2018 Chicago Marathon, 2:05:50 – NR
3rd, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:07:19

other major results:
1st, 2019 Hot Trot Half Marathon, 1:02:23 – CR
3rd, 2019 HDC Abashiri 10000 m, 27:57.41
2nd, 2019 Payton Jordan Invitational 5000 m, 13:40.48
24th, 2018 Valencia World Half Marathon Championships, 1:01:56
1st, 2018 National Cross Country Championships 10 km, 29:53
1st, 2017 National Championships 10000 m, 28:35.47
3rd, 2017 Boston Marathon, 2:10:28
6th, 2017 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:13 – PB
12th, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics 5000 m Heat 2, 13:31.45
17th, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics 10000 …

Running again in her hometown on the second day of the Osaka Track and Field Championships at Yanmar Stadium Nagai, 2014 Youth Olympics girls' 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu (19, Osaka T&F Assoc.) took the first step toward a comeback. Closing the gap to the runner ahead of her on the second lap, Takamatsu finished with effort to spare in 2:14.51 for 2nd. "I was able to run the way I'd envisioned," she said afterward. "I had some anxiety since it was pretty much my first real race in a year but I was able to give it my best."

After graduating from Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. in the spring last year Takamatsu moved to Oregon, U.S.A. to take part in the "Nike Oregon Project" elite long distance group created by Nike. With a dream of winning gold in the 5000 m or 10000 m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and high hopes in her heart, she crossed the ocean.

But in the U.S. she was hit by the cold hand of reality. "I was DFL every ti…

by Brett Larner

大迫傑 Suguru Osako @sugurusako 途中棄権 DNF 5Km @OregonPJT#早稲田大学 Waseda #陸上競技#PTF15 2015年6月14日 pic.twitter.com/AKxW7yHw0S — TrackAndFieldPhoto (@TaFphoto) June 15, 2015
Former Waseda University star Suguru Osako's string of bad luck in his snakebitten move away from the corporate leagues to embattled coach Alberto Salazar's Nike Oregon Project continued with a DNF in Sunday's Portland Track Festival 5000 m.  After setting three national records while training under Salazar with quasi-NOP status for the last couple of years Osako's full NOP debut was shot down with the cancellation of the 5000 m at May's Hoka One One Middle Distance Classic due to dangerous weather conditions.  His belated debut came two weeks later at the Prefontaine Classic, where he missed the 2015 World Championships 10000 m qualifying standard of 27:45.00 by just 0.24 seconds.  Just days later the NOP was hit by doping allegations against Salazar and athlete Galen Rupp.

Osako and Rupp…

Initial ProPublica and BBC articles:

https://www.propublica.org/article/former-team-members-accuse-coach-alberto-salazar-of-breaking-drug-rules

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-32877702

Responses from Salazar and Rupp:

http://www.oregonlive.com/trackandfield/index.ssf/2015/06/alberto_salazar_and_galen_rupp.html

Former Waseda University and Team Nissin Shokuhin runner Suguru Osako has set multiple Japanese national records while working with Salazar in recent years.  He made his formal Nike Oregon Project debut at last weekend's Prefontaine Classic.

http://sports.nissin.com/rikujo/weblog/sp/2015/03/post-52.html

translated by Brett Larner

At this time we would like to announce that Suguru Osako, who has had great success as a member of the Nissin Shokuhin Group corporate team, will resign his position with the team on Mar. 31, 2015.  We extend our thanks to all the fans who have generously given their warmest support.  All of us at Nissin Shokuhin will continue to cheer Osako on as he leaves to take on the world in pursuit of his life's dream.

Osako's comments: "During the last year in which I've been based in the United States while competing I've become confident that I can race the way I see myself racing, and I've decided that it is time to start over based in Oregon, U.S.A. as a professional athlete.  And for everyone at the Nissin Shokuhin Group who supported me this year and who are willingly letting me go, I will give it all to produce the results."

by Brett Larner
video courtesy of USATF.TV

Suguru Osako (Team Nissin Shokuhin) continued to break ground as the only top-level Japanese man to base himself abroad, scoring the third national record of his tenure at the Nike Oregon Project in the Paavo Nurvi 5000 m at Saturday's NYRR Millrose Games.  Running in an exclusively Nike-sponsored field he stayed relatively steadily throughout the race, starting near the front and slipping slightly toward the read before coming back to challenge for the win.

Just 0.40 separated winner Lopez Lomong (Nike BTC), runner-up Ryan Hill (Nike BTC) and Osako, but with no official national record on the book Osako's 13:28.00 was more than enough to give him a legitimate mark to add to his outdoor 3000 m and indoor 2 mile national records.  Osako easily beat training partner Cam Levins (Nike OP), raising hopes among home ground fans that Osako will take down the longstanding outdoor 5000 m and 10000 m national records of 13:13.20 and 27:35.09 in …

by Brett Larner
click photo for video c/o USATF.TV

Quasi-Nike Oregon Project member Suguru Osako ran the 2 mile at the 2015 Armory Track Invitational alongside training partners Cam Levins and Galen Rupp.  After moving to Oregon to train with the NOP and head coach Alberto Salazar while remaining tied to the Nissin Shokuhin corporate team, early last fall Osako set the outdoor 3000 m national record of 7:40.09 and all-time #2 Japanese mark of 8:28.30 for 2 miles outdoor.  Biding his time mid-pack at the Armory, Osako kicked hard to take 2nd behind Levins in 8:16.47, a new national record more than 8 seconds faster than fellow Waseda University alumnus Kensuke Takezawa's outdoor 2 mile NR of 8:24.69.  More records are sure to follow.

Armory Track Invitational Men's 2 Mile
New York, 1/31/15
click here for complete results

1. Cam Levins (Canada/Nike Oregon Project) - 8:15.38
2. Suguru Osako (Japan/Nissin Shokuhin) - 8:16.47 - NR
3. Ben Blankenship (USA/Nike OTC) - 8:16.53
4. Galen R…

by Brett Larner
Toyo photos by Mika Tokairin

A day after winning its second-straight Hakone Ekiden title, Toyo University had a busy Monday morning. The entire team and coaching staff appeared on the nationally-broadcast Sukkiri morning talk show, equivalent to Good Morning America, which devoted today's episode to interviewing team members and asking for their comments on clips from Saturday and Sunday's race. Sukkiri brought in marathon legend Toshihiko Seko for additional expert commentary and questioning.

Following the TV appearance, a good deal of which focused on second-year Ryuji Kashiwabara's record-setting Fifth Stage run, the team went straight to Toyo sponsor Nike's flagship store in the heart of the Harajuku/Omotesando fashion district for a lunchtime in-store appearance.

Nike had done up the large display windows along Omotesando, Tokyo's most fashionable street, with Hakone uniforms from the four teams it sponsors and oversized lettering which read "…