japan running news

Back in 2010 JRN spotted 17-year-old high school student Minami Yamanouchi at a local 14 km road race in northern Ibaraki, where she beat the high school boys' course record by more than four minutes. At the time we wrote, "If Yamanouchi keeps running post-high school and lands at the right team, university or pro, we may have been lucky to see the first appearance of a future great." Now 25 and coached by former half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato at the Kyocera corporate team, in the last few weeks Yamanouchi has really come into her own.

Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) took the top Japanese spot at 4th overall in the 5000 m at the April 28 Oda Memorial Meet in Hiroshima, one of the top-level track meets in Japan. A former amateur runner, she only joined the corporate leagues last August. Seeing her progress in less than a year of serious training, her coach Atsushi Sato, the 6th placer in the 2009 World Championships marathon, called her "exceptional.&qu…

Japan's outdoor season rolled on April 28 with the 52nd Oda Memorial Meet, one of the events used in selection for Japan's national team for this summer's Jakarta Asian Games. Rosemary Monica Wanjiru (Starts) topped the day's results with a 15:08.61 meet record in the Women's Grand Prix 5000 m, easily leaving senior teammate Grace Kimanzi and veteran Ann Karindi (Toyota Jidoshokki) behind to take the top spot.

#織田記念
グランプリ 女子5000m

山ノ内みなみさん(京セラ)15:21.31 pic.twitter.com/TW3Muk8tbB — Tさんrunner (@Runner_2653) April 29, 2018
Dropping a massive PB for 4th, Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) was the first Japanese women in 15:21.31. Longtime readers might remember Yamanouchi as a 17-year-old high schooler from Fukushima casually breaking high school boys' records and running sub-3 marathons for fun. Now 24, she has landed at the Kyocera corporate team under the tutelage of former men's half marathon national record holder and fellow Fukushima native Atsushi Sato. Clearly …

by Brett Larner

Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) bettered her own world leading marks to break the Oda Memorial Meet women's 5000 m meet record Saturday in Hiroshima.  With an early lead from Ethiopian Shuru Bulo (Team Toto), Wanjiru took over in the second half of the race to win in 15:11.48, two seconds under both the old meet record and her previous world leading mark from the Kanaguri Memorial Meet earlier this month.  Bulo also cleared the old meet record, 2nd in 15:12.13.  Tomoka Kimura (Team Universal Entertainment) was 3rd in 15:27.68, coming up short of the London World Championships qualifying standard.  Already the fifth-fastest Japanese high school ever, Shuri Ogasawara (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) confirmed that position was a 15:31.46 to beat top university placer Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) by almost 10 seconds.  Sekiya led the qualifiers for the Japanese team for August's Taipei World University Games.

In the men's 5000 m, Rio Olympics 10000 m s…

by Brett Larner

Japan-based Kenyans Rosemary Wanjiru (Team Starts) and Paul Kamais (Team Chugoku Denryoku) scored tight wins to take the Grand Prix 5000 m titles at the 50th Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet at Hiroshima's Edion Stadium on Saturday.  Wanjiru, a graduate of Aomori Yamada H.S., led start to finish in the women's race, taking it out at 15:20 pace and closing in 2:58 to beat teammate Grace Kimanzi by just over a second.  Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), already the fastest Japanese woman so far this year for 10000 m, delivered the fastest 5000 m, 15:37.21, to take the top Japanese spot in 5th.

Kamais, a brand-new graduate of Hiroshima's local National High School Boys Ekiden course record-setter Sera H.S., alternated the lead with two-time World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) throughout the men's race before closing in 2:33 for the win.  Shuho Dairokuno (Team Asahi Kasei) was the top Japanese finisher in 13:31.56 for 5th, …

http://www.sankei.com/sports/news/150330/spo1503300043-n1.html

translated by Brett Larner

Having run a wind-assisted 9.87 in the men's 100 m at the Texas Relays track meet in the United States, Yoshihide Kiryu (1st yr, Toyo Univ.) arrived back in Japan at Narita International Airport on Mar. 30, saying, "Next time I'll do it officially."  At the airport Kiryu was surrounded by throngs of reporters and other people on the scene, laughing as he said, "Things were pretty normal in the States, so I'm surprised to see so much buzz now that I'm back in Japan."

This season Kiryu has moved the position of his left and right feet in the starting blocks 10 cm further apart, leading to a smoother first step or two.  Of the race where he beat London Olympics 5th placer Ryan Bailey (U.S.A.) Kiryu said, "I'm feeling more familiar with what it's like overseas and picked up a little confidence that I'm not going to lose to foreign athletes."

Ki…

by Brett Larner
videos by okukon

With the Tuesday national holiday making it something of a perforated long weekend it was a busy one on the Japanese track circuit with a national record and a handful of world-leading performances.

Decathlon national record holder Keisuke Ushiro (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) topped the list with a new national record at the decathlon National Championships on the 26th and 27th in Wakayama.  On track to break his old record by more than 100 points at the end of the first day, Ushiro continued strong the second day.  With a solid 1500 m announcers predicted 8300 could be in range, but with just a 4:45:53 Ushiro came in with a breakable new record of 8143 that put him 4th in the world so far this season and left him the potential for more.



Shortly after Ushiro's record, relative unknown Bernard Kimani (Kenya/Team Yakult) brought the first world-leading mark of the weekend with a 13:18.92 to win the Nittai University Time Trials 5000 m A-heat, a quick heat tha…

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20130429-OYT1T00340.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner
video by okuon



On day two of the Oda Memorial Meet, April 29 at Hiroshima's Edion Stadium, men's 100 m youth world record holder and Rakunan High School senior Yoshihide Kiryu of Kyoto ran a world-leading 10.01 with a legal wind of + 0.9 m/s in the heats of the men's 100 m, the second-fastest time ever by a Japanese man, tying the world junior record, and setting a new high school national record.  The Japanese national record of 10.00 was set by Koji Ito in 1998.

Update: Kiryu won the final in 10.03 with a +2.7 m/s wind. Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) took 2nd in 10.04.  Click here for complete results.

2012 Oda Memorial Track & Field Meet
Big Arch Stadium, Hiroshima, Apr. 28-29, 2012
click here for complete results

Women's Grand Prix 5000 m
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 15:19.27
2. Beatrice Wainaina Murugi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:38.71
3. Toshika Tamura (Matsuyama Univ.) - 15:49.11
4. Ayame Takagi (Meijo Univ.) - 15:54.80
5. Yoko Aizu (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 15:57.38
6. Azusa Kurusu (Juntendo Univ.) - 16:07.19
7. Yuka Ando (Team Mizuno) - 16:10.19
8. Sayuri Sendo (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 16:10.85
9. Michi Numata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 16:18.85
10. Mika Tanimizu (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 16:22.46

Men's Grand Prix 5000 m
1. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 13:36.29
2. Jeremiah Karemi (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.) - 13:40.64
3. Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:42.27
4. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 13:46.02
5. Yasuhito Ikeda (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 13:46.58
6. Yasuhiro Tago (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 13:47.28
7. Naoki Okam…

by Brett Larner
As track season rolled on with the Oda Memorial Meet in Hiroshima and the Nobeoka Spring Time Trials Meet in Nobeoka on April 29, the biggest news came in the Oda women's 5000 m. Kenyan ace Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko), the 2001 World Junior Championships gold medalist over 3000 m, set her third PB of the month with a new clocking of 15:13.09, a meet record. Just behind her and also under the hold meet record, Hitomi Niiya, the 2007 Tokyo Marathon winner at age 18, came in with a 6-second PB of 15:17.84, 0.02 seconds faster than national record holder Kayoko Fukushi's best time of 2010 and the leading time by a Japanese woman thus far in the build-up to August's World Championships. What made Niiya's run big news was that she appeared running for Chiba Prefecture rather than for her sponsor since graduating from high school, 2008 national champion Team Toyota Jidoshokki.
Late last month Toyota Jidoshokki announced that it was leaving its base in Chib…

by Brett Larner
Entry lists are up for the 2011 Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet on Apr. 29 in Hiroshima, one of the big meets on the spring Japanese calendar. This year's meet features an extra round of distance events with separate 5000 m qualifier heats for the World University Games 5000 m teams alongside the regular open 5000 m heats.
The university men's 5000 m may be the most exciting race of the day, with 2011 Hakone Ekiden champion Waseda University fielding big guns Shota Hiraga, Suguru Osako, Yuki Yagi and Yo Yazawa and rival Meiji University its ace Tetsuya Yoroizaka along with star first-year recruits Yuki Arimura and Genki Yagisawa. #1-ranked first-year Kazuto Nishiike will be debuting for Hosei University, while 2010 Kanto Regional 5000 m champion Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.) will tune up to defend his title at May's Kanto Regionals.
Like Waseda, Ritsumeikan University will be putting all its best people into the university women's 5000 m, including …

http://www.iuau.jp/ev2011/11univer/26univ110322.pdf
translated by Brett Larner
Due to the major earthquake disaster to strike northeastern Japan this year, the selection races for the 2011 World University Games men's and women's half marathon national teams were cancelled*. The following is an amendment to the information for selection published on the Inter-University Athletic Union of Japan website on Jan. 21, 2011 specifying the new selection criteria.
The IUAU will consider the following in selection the World University Games team:
1. Those who have already broken the time standards established by the IUAU. 2. Apart from the men's and women's 5000 m and 10000 m, there are no specific selection races. Athletes' performances will be evaluated based on their times and marks. Athletes in the 5000 m and 10000 m must run in the meets specified below. 3. For the half marathon, the top two men and women in the 10000 m at the selection meet specified below will be named …

http://www.47news.jp/CN/201005/CN2010050301000339.html

translated by Brett Larner

At the May 3 Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet, a selection race for the Japanese national team for November's Asian Games, 200 m national record holder (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) won in a time of 22.89, breaking her own national record. It was the first time a Japanese woman has run 22. Fukushima's previous national record was 23.00, dating back to last June's National Track and Field Championships.

Five days ago the 21 year old Fukushima broke her own national record in the 100 m, clocking 11.21 at the Apr. 29 Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet with one of the best starts of her career.

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/p-sp-tp0-20100430-624039.html

translated by Brett Larner

At the 44th Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet at Hiroshima's Big Arch Stadium on Apr. 29, sprinter Chisato Fukushima (21, Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) broke her own national record by 0.03 seconds, running 11.21 for her third-straight record. With a strong spring ahead of her, Fukushima's sights are set on breaking the record again and becoming the first Japanese woman to break 11. "Today was only about 70 or 80%," she said after the race. "I'm getting closer to a 10 one step at a time."

It was a convincing victory. After finishing 1st in her heat Fukushima immediately opened a 5 m lead on rival Momoko Takahashi (Heisei Kokusai Univ.) in the final and held that margin all the way to the end. When the electric display showed her time the 12000 people in attendance erupted into cheers and applause. "I was surprised too," Fukushima laughed. "That was …

by Brett Larner

In high winds, Kenyan Bitan Karoki (Team S&B) took his first win in his new team colors as he ran 13:48.17 in the men's 5000 m at the 44th Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet on Apr. 29. Last month Karoki graduated from Sera High School to take a place with the elite Team S&B. Interestingly, the runner-up in the Oda Memorial 5000 m was his succesor at Sera, Kenyan Charles Durango, who clocked 13:58.15. Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) finished 3rd in 14:04.70 over Kenyan Samuel Ganga (Team Mazda).

The women's 5000 m was a closer-pitched battle, turning into a three-way sprint finish. Ethiopian Betelhem Moges (Team Denso) came out on top in 15:38.70, with Kenyans Felista Wanjugu (Team Universal Entertainment) and Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Team Uniqlo) just a step behind. Just behind, Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) outleaned Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) for 4th.

2010 Oda Memorial Track & Field Meet - Top Finishers
click event for complete …