japan running news

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...

Four Japanese national record holders were at the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Diamond League meet in Poland Sunday. Men's 110 mH NR holder Rachid Muratake was far off his 12.92 best, running his slowest time of the year in a final, 13.41 (-0.7) for 7th. Yet to get under 8:10 this year, NR holder Ryuji Miura was 9th of 17 finishers in the men's 3000 m SC in 8:11.84. Women's 5000 m NR holder Nozomi Tanaka went sub-15 for the first time this year, running 14:58.35 for 14th in a 14:54.09 race won by Italy's Nadia Battocletti . A late add after back-to-back women's 100 mH NR of 12.62 and 12.60 on Aug. 9 and 15, Hitomi Nakajima made her Diamond League debut with a 12.91 (+0.2) for 7th, her slowest time in a final since March's Maurie Plant Meet in Australia. © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

The JOC announced the full lineups for the men's and women's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games . Being hosted in Japan the Asian Games are a pretty big deal, and it's pretty close to the maximum of 2 athletes per event. The men's and women's triple jump, the women's 400 m and the women's discus throw only have 1 athlete on the Japanese team, and it's a big FU to the shot putters apparently as nobody was named to either the men's or women's teams even though people ranked lower in the World Athletics Asian rankings than top JPN shot putters Daichi Morishita and Chiharu Saka did make the team in other events. But, let's focus on what it is, not what it isn't. Going off this week's Asian rankings 8 men and 5 women are ranked #1 in their event, with a total of 19 men and 14 women ranked in the top 3. Factor in a limit of 2 per nationality and the relays and Japan's chances of scoring a great medal haul are looking good. M...

Kanto Regionals were the big domestic meet this weekend, but there were other important results here and overseas. At the Xiamen Diamond League meet: 110 mH NR holder Rachid Muratake (JAL) was 2nd in 13.13 (+0.5) behind winner Jamal Britt (U.S.A.) in 13.07. The only other Japanese athlete in Xiamen, women's javelin throw NR holder Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) was 7th at 60.08, down from her performance last week at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix Meet in Tokyo and eclipsed by the brilliant all-time #2 71.74 m throw by China's Ziyi Yan . 4 Japanese athletes ran at the Sound Running L.A,.Track Fest meet, 3 of them graduates of Kyoto's Rakunan H.S. like Kanto Regionals D1 men's 5000 m winner Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.). The only non-Rakunan guy there, Hibiki Obara (GMO) ran only 8:33.21 for 9th in the men's 3000 mSC A-heat. Daichi Shibata (Chuo Univ.) was last in the same heat in 8:49.91. Itta Tameike (SG Holdings) had a great run in the men's 5000 m B-heat, breakin...

The Michitaka Kinami Memorial Meet in Osaka was the weekend's main event on the track, and women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota (Art Home) led the way with its biggest result. After struggling with injuries the last couple of years, Morota was back with a 4.50 m national record on her 1st attempt at the height, bettering the 4.48 m NR she set back in 2023 and outdoing 2nd place by 25 cm. Morota packed it in at that point and didn't try for 4.55 m, but as she looked back to peak form expect to see her try to take the record further this season. Other highlights from Kinami: Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) and Morgan Mitchell (Australia) both broke the meet record in the women's 400 m, Matsumoto getting the win in 52.24 and Mitchell 2nd in 52.27. Jaylah Hancock-Cameron (Australia) outran Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) for the win in the women's 800 m 2:01.85 to 2:04.09, while NR holder Rin Kubo (Sekisui Kagaku) struggled in the start of her corporate league ...

The Tokyo World Athletics Championships have come and gone, and Japan pretty much performed as expected from an organizational standpoint. Things were smooth, efficient and polite, the Tokyo Olympics stadium was packed at every session, and things like all the teams being housed in one hotel and the warmup track being driving distance from the main stadium that would have caused major logistical problems most other places went without many hitches. Even where cost-cutting measures were evident, like the absence of the light shows for walk-ons in the premier track events, nobody really seemed to care. The atmosphere might not have been as much fun as Budapest two years ago, but it was still miles ahead of other recent World Championships. Budapest was a record-setting team performance for Japanese athletes , with one gold medal, one bronze, and a total of 11 top-8 placings. Although there was a lot of disappointment for the home crowd this time, the actual team results in Tokyo were al...

Day 4 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships had a relatively small number of Japanese athletes in action, but it was highlighted by another great run in the men's 400 m from new NR holder Yuki Joseph Nakajima . 800 m NR holder Ko Ochiai , who made Worlds on a host country slot, bowed out in the first round with a 1:46.78 for 7th in Heat 5, putting him at 45th of 63 finishers overall. Neither member of the women's triple jump squad advanced either, Maoko Takashima 13th in qualification group A at 13.86 m (-0.3) and Mariko Morimoto 17th in group B and last overall at 13.10 m (+0.5). Ryoichi Akamatsu added to Japan's top 8 placing count, taking 8th in the men's high jump final at 2.24 m. Yuto Seko was 10th, clearing only 2.20 m after having hit the 2.33 m qualifying standard in late August. Olympic champ Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won a great duel against Korean Sanghyeok Woo , 2.36 m to 2.34 m. Czech Jan Stefela won bronze at 2.31 m. In the men's 110 m hur...

With Kana Kobayashi the top-placing Japanese woman in the Tokyo World Athletics Championships marathon yesterday at 7th, hopes were high that the men would come through with a medal in the event they care the most about. But alas. Yuya Yoshida was clearly nowhere near his Fukuoka CR-breaking form and was off the back of the lead pack by halfway, ultimately finishing 34th in 2:16:58. Paris Olympics marathon trials winner Naoki Koyama lasted longer but could still only manage a 2:13:42 for 23rd. The surprise was debut marathon NR holder Ryota Kondo , who ran 2:10:53 for 11th in only the second marathon of his career. It's back to the drawing board, but with the JAAF having revised the qualifying standards for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials to prioritize time even more over competitive performance ability, there's not much reason to be optimistic that Japanese marathoners are going to be relevant in championship races anytime in the foreseeable future. Anyway, Tanzanian Alp...

Day 3 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships kicks off with what will probably be the most-viewed event on domestic TV. A quick look at Japanese athletes competing throughout the day: 7:30 - Men's Marathon Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 2:05:16 -  1st, Fukuoka Int'l 2024 Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:05:39 -  2nd, Osaka 2025 Naoki Koyama (Honda) - 2:06:33 -  3rd, Osaka 2024 Prognosis : If we had to pick one Japanese athlete we'd most like to see win a medal it's Yoshida, someone who's risen from benchwarmer in college to Fukuoka CR holder. He's been almost invisible this year so it's hard to know where he's at, but if his second half is anything like it was in Fukuoka then he's a contender. Kondo is a wildcard, with a 2:05:39 debut and narrow miss on the win in Osaka this year, but in snow and cold far removed from what Tokyo will be like Monday. Koyama seemed almost no-miss up through his PB in Osaka last year but has struggled since then and controv...

The JAAF has announced a team of 30 women and 39 men not including relay pools for the Tokyo World Athletics Championships with less than 2 weeks to go til competition kicks off. The only real chances for medals on the women's team are in the javelin throw and women's 20 km race walk. Defending world and Olympic champ Haruka Kitaguchi is ranked #1 in the javelin, but with uncharacteristically weak performances in her last two Diamond League appearances there are a lot of questions about whether she's going to be ready. Nanako Fujii is ranked 4th in the 20 km race walk and could break into the medals. Potential top 10 finishers on the women's team include NR holder Nozomi Tanaka in the 5000 m, Ririka Hironaka in the 10000 m, Momone Ueda in the javelin throw, and the entire marathon squad of Sayaka Sato , Yuka Ando and Kana Kobayashi , assuming the marathons actually go ahead given the currently scorching conditions in Tokyo that show no sign of ending. The relay...

Just a few days left now before the Aug. 24 deadline for qualification for the Tokyo World Championships and the Japanese athletes on the cusp of making the home team are scrambling to find points to make the cut. The Athlete Night Games meet this past weekend had a big impact, especially in the two toughest squads to make outside the road events, the men's high jump and men's 100 m. 2.27m man Yuto Seko improbably jumped the 2.33m Tokyo standard, knocking last week's big mover Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex RC) off the team. Asian champion Hiroki Yanagita hit the 100 m standard with a 10.00 (+0.3) PB but will almost definitely still be left off the team in favor of Abdul Hakim Sani Brown , 9.96 last summer but not under 10.31 so far this year. Hurdlers Rachid Muratake , Tatsuki Abe (Juntendo Univ.) and Mako Fukube (NKK) all hit their standards, and Towa Uzawa (JAL) and Hibiki Tsuha (Otsuka Seiyaku) both did well enough in the men's 200 m and men's long ju...

Like the Fuji Hokuroku World Trial meet 2 weeks ago, this weekend's Athlete Night Games in Fukui had a string of high-level performances that had a big impact on the lineup for Japan's home team at next month's Tokyo World Championships. Capping the meet was a stellar 12.92 (+0.6) NR in the men's 110 mH by Rachid Muratake (JAL), 2nd-fastest in the world this year, 11th-fastest in history, and the first sub-13 clocking by a Japanese man. Already on the Tokyo team thanks to a 5th-place finish in the Paris Olympics and a 13.08 (+1.4) best well under the 13.27 Tokyo standard, Muratake's performance here elevates him onto the short list of potential Japanese medal contenders. 3rd at Nationals, Muratake's former Juntendo University teammate Tatsuki Abe was 2nd in a PB of 13.12 that put him at all-time Japanese #4. Unfortunately for him, Nationals top 2 Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) and Shusei Nomoto (Ehime T&F Assoc.) both have the standard too, so Abe...

With less than 3 weeks to go until the Aug. 24 deadline to qualify for September's Tokyo World Championships let's take a look at what kind of team Japan might have. In terms of potential medalists there are 6 solid candidates, all the usual suspects. World and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi leads the women's javelin throw. Ranked 5th, Nanako Fujii has an outside chance in the women's 20 km race walk. On the men's side, Ryuji Miura looks to be a contender in the 3000 mSC where he's ranked 3rd. Toshikazu Yamanishi and Satoshi Maruo are ranked 1-2 in the 20 km race walk, with Masatora Kawano at 3rd in the 35 km race walk. After that it's the always-strong men's 4x100 m, ranked 2nd, although the big question is who is going to be on the team. In the marathon, you want to feel like Fukuoka CR breaker Yuya Yoshida has a chance. The women's javelin, marathon and race walks look like the only events where Japan is likely to field full squads of 3...