japan running news

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

After a great season so far that has included a win on the New Year Ekiden First Stage in January and a 1:00:58 PB at the National Corporate Half in February, Shumpei Tomita (Logisteed) added another one with a 1:00:52 CR for the win at the China Airlines Gold Coast Half Marathon . Pacer James Hansen and 2-time winner Brett Robinson went out fast, with Australian 10 km NR holder Sam Clifford and Chuo University student Daichi Fujita closing it up to make a lead quartet that hit 5 km in 14:12. Clifford soon dropped off, and when Hansen stepped off at 10 km in 28:44 it was down to just Robinson and Fujita. Fujita, who came into the race with only a 1:03:57 best, couldn't hang with the more experienced Robinson and faded, although to his credit he hung on for a new PB of 1:02:55 in 12th. Robinson looked like he had a 3rd title down, but by 15 km, hit in 43:33, he'd been run down by the front end of the chase pack, Tomita, veteran Kazuto Kawabata and debuting Australian Ed ...

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...

This year's Osaka International Women's Marathon was a race run with a high level of methodicalness, starting slower than the planned 3:19/km but ramping up until the lead pack was skimming around the 2:20:15-30 projected finish level. After hitting halfway in 1:10:13 with a group of 6, by 25 km only 4 were left up front, sub-2:19 runners Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa , and the debuting Mikuni Yada , and when the last 2 pacers stepped off at 30 km it was Yada who went to the front. Despite never have raced longer than the 10.6 km Third Stage at November's Queens Ekiden where she had helped the Edion team score its first-ever national title, Yada was very, very impressive, fearlessly surging from 12 km and never letting up, even laughing and smiling to fans along the course. When she started sustaining a pace around 3:15/km the projected finish dropped under 2:20 and all the way down to 2:19:28 by 35 km, and even when all 3 of the more experienced ru...

The Tokyo Marathon elite field is out, and it's a pretty good one. On the women's side are the last 3 winners, Sutume Asefa Kebede , Rosemary Wanjiru and Brigid Kosgei , 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase , last year's Dubai winner Tigist Ketema and another 6 women in the 2:17-2:19 range. Top Japanese draw Ai Hosoda hopes to get into the sub-2:20 club after a 2:20:31 PB in Berlin last fall. The men's field has 2024 CR breaker Benson Kipruto and 3rd-placer Vincent Ngetich , 2:02:38 man Derese Geleta , Joshua Cheptegei taking another stab at the distance, and another 8 at the 2:03-2:04 level. 2:05-class Japanese men Yohei Ikeda , Ichitaka Yamashita and Kenya Sonota and Paris Olympics 6th-placer Akira Akasaki will be gunning for the 2:04:56 NR, and there are interesting debuts from 10-mile world best holder Benard Koech and Hakone Ekiden star Aoi Ota from 2024-2025 champ Aoyama Gakuin University . The wheelchair race includes WR holder Catherine Debrunner , ...

23-year-old Yuki Nakamura broke through to the upper levels of Japanese women's marathoning, taking over 6 minutes off her PB to win Australia's Gold Coast Marathon in a course record 2:24:22. Coming into the race with a best of only 2:30:31 from Nagoya in March, the night before the race Nakamura's coaching staff told JRN that her goal was to clear 2:26 and that she'd go with the lead group on 2:24 pace and see what she could do. Helped by a large group of men to break the wind, the pack of five soon shook down to just Nakamura, favorite Visiline Jepkesho of Kenya and 2:26 Ethiopian Sichala Kumeshi . Nakamura looked comfortable and under control, even like she was holding back, through the first 2/3 of the race. A move from Jepkesho before 30 km opened a 10 m gap between the two Africans and Nakamura, but Nakamura worked the small hill just after 31 km to catch back up and even go to the front. From there Nakamura threw in a series of surges, first breaking Kumeshi a...

Australia's Gold Coast Half Marathon and Marathon are big draws for Japanese corporate leaguers these days, especially with a big contingent from this year's National Corporate Half Marathon dominating the entry lists in the half. Two-time winner Sara Hall is top-ranked in the women's half with a 1:07:15 from Houston two years ago and will mostly be racing Leanne Pompeani for the win. Beyond that there's a big group at the 1:10 level including Japan's Rinka Hida , Yukari Nagatomo and Moe Shimizu who should all be in it for 3rd. The men's half is dominated by four Japanese men who broke 1:01 at the National Corporate Half in February, meaning that if the weather is decent then the 1:01:16 CR is likely to fall to Shunsuke Shikama , Koki Kamata , Soshi Suzuki or Daisuke Doi . That's a big if, though, with >50% chance of rain and a headwind in the 2nd half that's forecast to get stronger as the race goes along. The favorite for the win and a shot at...

Australia's Gold Coast Marathon is a big draw for Japanese corporate leaguers these days. Japanese men have won it four of the last five editions, and the last time a Japanese man wasn't in the top two was 2015. Last year Naoki Koyama set a course record 2:07:40, then went on to win the Paris Olympic marathon trials, then 2:06:33 in Osaka this past February. Given that kind of progression, the field this year is packed with 2nd-tier Japanese men hoping to have the same success, ten of them who've run 2:07 to 2:09 in the last two years. Most of the action looks like it'll be down around the 3rd to 5th-ranked runners, with 2:07:53 Kenyan Timothy Kipkorir Kattam looking like the best bet to break the Japanese streak carried this year by Yuta Koyama , 2:07:57 in Osaka last year, and Mizuki Higashi , 2:08:03 in Osaka this year. The best potential for a breakthrough out of the Japanese men is Yota Ifuku , a Waseda University ekiden team member who broke the course record ...

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half...

The 36th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon and 10 km took place July 23 in Shibetsu, Hokkaido. 19-year-old Patrick Kamau (Jobu University) won the men's race in 1:02:27, beating his PB by exactly one minute. Tomoki Ota (Toyota) was the top Japanese finisher at 2nd in 1:02:42, a successful follow-up to his pair of 5000 m PBs earlier this month in the Hokuren Distance Challenge series despite temperatures over 20˚C. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) took 3rd in 1:03:41 with Ota's Toyota teammates Masashi Nonaka and Shunta Uchida going 4-5 in 1:03:41 and 1:04:17. Fumiya Tsuji (Waseda Univ.) was the top collegiate finisher at 6th in 1:04:24. In the women's race, Olympic marathon trials qualifier Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) won in 1:13:18. Wacoal teammates Hina Yanagitani and Yuka Ando took 2nd and 3rd in 1:14:08 and 1:14:12. High schooler Samuel Korabo (Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) won the men's 10 km in 29:06 by 18 seconds over Gilbert Kiprotich (Sunbelx). Natsuki O...

A late update on last weekend's main domestic Japanese road results. At the Niigata Half Marathon , Meiji University 's Shota Morishita dominated with a win by 34 seconds over teammate Hibiki Kikkawa in the men's race, clocking 1:03:26. Ayami Hirano of the Noritz corporate team had an even bigger margin of victory in the women's race, running 1:14:28 and finishing 1:14 up on 2nd-placer Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn Hotels . Complete results . The Matsue Ladies Half Marathon , which doubles as the National University Women's Half Marathon, saw one of the tightest finishes in its history after three-straight years of pandemic-era cancelations. Panasonic 's Yuki Nakamura beat top collegian Hikaru Kitagawa of Osaka Geijutsu University by 2 seconds to win in 1:10:48. A corporate leaguer also took the 10 km division, with Yuna Takahashi from the Shimamura team winning by over 6 minutes in 33:47. Surprisingly, Kitagawa's time of 1:10:50 was the fastest-ev...

Two big events cap the weekend's Japanese schedule. Just a week after the World Cross Country Championships, the National Cross Country Championships happen Sunday in Fukuoka. At the U20 level most of the top talent ran Worlds last week or is entered in the senior races, leaving deep but not especially strong fields in the U20 women's 6 km and U20 men's 8 km races. 2022 National High School Ekiden girls' winner Nagano Higashi H.S. has its two leading runners from its national title-winning team entered, Kanoko Nawa and Mai Kubota . Boys' runner-up Saku Chosei H.S. , one of the first programs to incorporate cross country training as a major part of its regimen, is a notable presence in the U20 men's race with 25 athletes entered including ekiden team members Soma Nagahara , Shumpei Yamaguchi and Kazuma Shino . Boys' national champ Kurashiki H.S. is giving it a miss. The senior women's race is thin on top-tier talent, the biggest names being Chika Ko...

The Osaka Marathon is only 2 1/2 weeks away but it's taken until now for it to announce its elite fields. Last year's Milan Marathon winner Vivian Kiplagat is the clear favorite in the women's race, but beyond her there's a pretty even group of 7 at the 2:23~2:25 level including Ethiopian duo Beyenu Degefa and Helen Bekele , Australian Lisa Weightman , and Otsuka Seiyaku teammates Ikumi Fukura and Rie Kawauchi , Given the current version of Osaka's history as the descendent of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, this field is a pretty good step toward parity. But the men's race is still a lot bigger and higher-level. Ethiopians Hailemaryam Kiros and Abayneh Degu lead a group of 7 internationals at the 2:04~2:06 level. Toshiki Sadakata and Shuho Dairokuno come in just below that as the top-ranked Japanese men in a group of 11 at the 2:07 level. One of the key names in there is Yuma Hattori , winner of Fukuoka in 2018 in 2:07:27 but still strugglin...

Things are in kind of a strange situation this December when it comes to Japanese marathons. When the Fukuoka International Marathon announced it was shutting down after last year's 75th race the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon two weeks later was quick to move to Fukuoka's traditional first-Sunday-of-December date for 2022. When the announcement came of Fukuoka's return it was like a game of musical chairs, with both races trying to cram into the same day. As a result you've got a pretty serious split when it comes to domestic entries. Fukuoka has its traditional small international field to justify its name, veteran Abel Kirui (Kenya) facing off against a trio of 2:06 men, past winners Yemane Tsegaye (Ethiopia) and Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki), Marugame Half winner Brett Robinson (Australia), the debuting sub-60 half marathoner Vincent Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki) and more. The domestic field has three men at 2:08 and six at 2:09, Daiji Kawai (Toenec) leading the way with a ...

Last year the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the first major Japanese race to take a step toward trying to restart the domestic industry, going ahead with its elite race , a limited mass-participation field of 5000, and an accompanying mass-participation half marathon with thousands more. In the fall it announced a massive $250,000 USD payday for 1st place in its 2022 race. Even as other races announce cancelations amid Japan's ongoing omicron wave and the final fate of the Osaka and Tokyo Marathons remains to be seen , Nagoya today announced the elite field for its Mar. 13 race. The international component is very small, but at least there is one, not an easy thing to put together given Japan's still in-place border restrictions even if the government is making noises that it'll relax them a bit come Mar. 1. At the top of the list are Kenyan-born 2020 Tokyo Marathon course record breaker Lonah Chemtai Salpeter running under the Israeli flag, and 2019 world champion Ru...

2nd in 2015 and 3rd last year, Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) finally succeeded in scoring 1st at the Shibetsu Half Marathon , outrunning 2013-14 winner Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) by 6 seconds to win in 1:03:38. Hayakawa pushed it from the early stages of the race, Imai the only one to try to stay with him but ultimately losing touch. 2016 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon winner Melaku Abera (Kurosaki Harima) was 3rd in 1:03:51. 士別ハーフマラソン 日差しが強くなってきました…💦 pic.twitter.com/qRfUei3aRt — はたのまき (@machakin77) July 23, 2017 The women's field was split between two distances, 10 km and half marathon. Kanako Takemoto (Daihatsu) won the 10 km in 34:27 by a margin of almost 10 seconds over an Otsuka Seiyaku trio led by Ayaka Inoue . 2017 National Cross-Country champion and last year's 10 km runner-up Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) took the top spot in the half marathon, outrunning teammate and national record holder Kayoko Fukushi and others to win in 1:14:01. Fukushi finished 4th in 1:15:4...

by Brett Larner Japan's major mid-summer distance series, the Hokuren Distance Challenge kicked off later than usual this week with meets in the towns of Shibetsu and Fukagawa on the northern island of Hokkaido, where distance runners from high school to pro head in the summer to escape the heat and put in mileage for the fall ekiden season. At the series-opening Shibetsu Meet, the biggest news came in the men's 5000 m A-heat.  Last December Fukushima 10th-grader Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) exploded into the news with a 13:58.93, the fastest-ever 5000 m by a Japanese 16-year-old.  Now an 11th-grader but still 16 for another month, in Shibetsu Endo smashed his own record with a 13:50.51 PB to finish just behind 2014 Asian Games marathon silver medalist Kohei Matsumura (Team Mitsubishi HPS), the 9th-best time ever by a Japanese high schooler and 2nd-best by an under-18 Japanese runner.  Hilsawat Mamiyo Nuguse (Ethiopia/Team Yasukawa Denki), a newcomer to the Ja...