japan running news

Taku Fujimotoage: 30
sponsor: Toyota
graduated from: Takamizu H.S., Kokushikan University

best time inside MGC window:
2:07:57, 8th, 2018 Chicago Marathon

PB: 2:07:57, 8th, 2018 Chicago Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:38.68 (2010) 10000 m: 28:08.30 (2018) half marathon: 1:01:31 (2015)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
DNS 2019 Hamburg Marathon
8th, 2018 Chicago Marathon, 2:07:57
15th, 2018 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:15:30

other major results:
6th, 2019 Gold Coast Half Marathon, 1:03:44
15th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:06:15
2nd, 2018 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, 45:57
1st, 2018 Chubu-Hokuriku Corporate Ekiden First Stage (12.0 km), 34:58
4th, 2017 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:01:53
8th, 2016 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:51
8th, 2015 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:01:31 – PB
3rd, 2012 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:03:08
1st, 2011 Kanto Region University T&F Championships 5000 m, 13:49.69
1st, 2010 Kanto Re…

The World Championships in athletics were first held in Helsinki, Finland in 1983. Up until the 1991 Tokyo World Championships they were held once every four years, but beginning with the 1993 Stuttgart World Championships they switched to an every other year format. London this year was the 16th edition. To date 68 men with Hakone Ekiden experience have competed in the World Championships, with three of them winning medals in the marathon.

In Tokyo in 1991 Hiromi Taniguchi became the first Japanese World Championships gold medalist, raising the excitement level at the games.  As a student at Nittai University Taniguchi had won the Hakone Ekiden's downhill Sixth Stage three years in a row from 1981 to 1983. As a fourth-year in 1983 he set a new stage record of 57:47. Course changes have rendered his record an historical artifact, but Taniguchi is still considered Hakone's greatest downhill runner.

At the 1999 Seville World Championships and 2005 Helsinki World Championships, …

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110812-OHT1T00304.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Marathoner Yuki Kawauchi at the pre-Daegu press conference. Click photo to enlarge.

37 members of the Japanese national team for this month's World Track and Field Championships in Daegu, Korea assembled at a Tokyo hotel over the weekend for the official sendoff press conference.  Among them was the now-famous amateur runner Yuki Kawauchi (24, Saitama Prefecture) who will run the men's marathon on Sept. 4, and team captains Yukifumi Murakami (31, Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) from the men's javelin and women's 400 m hurdler Satomi Kubokura (29, Niigata Albirex AC).  Kawauchi revealed that he is aiming for a top-eight finish and that after months of limiting his consumption of coffee, his favorite drink, he plans to celebrate post-race with a fresh hot cup.

Wearing the Rising Sun on his chest for the time, Kawauchi's spirits were high as he appeared at the press conference …