japan running news

by Brett Larner video by naoki620 Hurdler Genta Masuno (Kokusai Budo Univ.) became the third Japanese medalist in athletics at the Gwangju World University Games , taking bronze in the men's 110 mH final.  After a decently quick start Masuno lost ground to eventual gold and silver medalists Greggmar Swift (Barbados) and Konstantin Shabanov (Russia), but with a solid kick after the final hurdle he was strong enough to hang on to 3rd as he made the podium in 13.69 by a margin of just 0.03 seconds. No such luck in the day's distance final, the women's 5000 m, where favorites Natsuki Omori (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and Rina Koeda (Daito Bunka Univ.) sat through a slow first 4000 m that saw almost the entire field wait it out for a sprint finish over the last 1000 m.  Kristina Maki (Czech Republic) had the gear to find gold, running 2:55.32 for the final km, with the top 8 all finishing within less than 7 seconds of her.  Omori and Koeda were on the losing end of the gr...

by Brett Larner Daisuke Matsunaga (Toyo Univ.) became the first Japanese athletics medalist of the 2015 Gwangju World University Games on day two of competition, winning bronze in the men's 20 km in 1:22:06 after falling just over 30 seconds off a close race between eventual gold medalist Dane Bird-Smith (Australia) and Benjamin Thorne (Canada). 12 hours later, Keisuke Nakatani (Komazawa Univ.) repeated the feat in the final track final of the day, winning bronze in the men's 10000 m in 29:19.30 four seconds back from gold medalist Igor Maximov (Russia) and just losing out to Nicolae-Alexandru Soare (Romania) for silver.  After winning the 5000 m and 10000 m at May's Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships and running a 28:31.84 best for 10000 m and winning the 3000 mSC national title in June, Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) had a rare off day, finishing 9th in just 29:52.91. Sprinter Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.) made it to the women...

by Brett Larner Despite a conservative early leading pace from Rina Koeda (Daito Bunka Univ.), Japanese women came up empty-handed in the first final of the 2015 Gwangju World University Games , the women's 10000 m.  Russian Alla Kuliatina took over from Koeda after 2000 m and led virtually unchallenged the rest of the race including a stunning 2:51.30 split from 7000 m to 8000 m that blew the race apart.  Kuliatina took the Games' first gold in 32:52.27, compatriot Gulshat Fazlitdinova just beating out China's Yingying Zhang for silver in 32:56.60.  Koeda stayed true to her opening pace, running 33:47.21 for 5th, with Sakie Arai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) taking 9th in 34:24.92. In other events, both Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo Univ.) and Kentaro Sato (Josai Univ.) advance through the men's 400 m heats, Kitagawa winning his in 47.34.  Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.), Tatsuro Suwa (Chuo Univ.) and Yuki Koike (Keio Univ.) likewise made it through the opening heat...

by Brett Larner The IUAU has announced the Japanese men's and women's rosters for July's Universiade , the World University Games, in Gwangju, South Korea.  2012 London Olympian Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.), 2014 World Junior Championships men's 400 m silver medalist Nobuya Kato (Waseda Univ.) and 200 m 4th-placer Yuki Koike (Keio Univ.) feature prominently in the sprints, with 2014 Youth Olympics men's high jump silver medalist Yuji Hiramatsu (Tsukuba Univ.) leading the field contingent.  The strong men's distance squad is led by 2015 National University Half Marathon champion Tadashi Isshiki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and 2015 Kanto Regionals D2 double 5000 m and 10000 m champion Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), while 2015 National University Half Marathon champion Ayumi Uehara (Matsuyama Univ.) and 2015 Kanto Regional double 5000 m and 10000 m champion Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) front the women's distance group. 28th Universiade ...

by Brett Larner video by naoki620 Senior Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) brought the biggest news of the second day of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium, winning his fourth-straight D1 Kanto 1500 m title in a national collegiate record 3:35.69.  Omwamba simply outclassed the field, runner-up Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) more than 5 seconds back in 3:41.13 and top Japanese finisher Mitsutaka Tomita (Tokai Univ.) 3rd in 3:47.20.  The fastest time by a Japanese runner actually came in the D2 1500 m final, where Hiroya Inoue (Jobu Univ.) took 0.1 off marathon great Daniel Njenga 's meet record with his 3:45.47 win. Alongside Omwamba, Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) likewise pulled off a successful title defense in the women's 10000 m, winning for the second year in a row in 33:32.94 by almost 4 seconds over teammate Fuyuka Kimura .  Another Daito Bunka runner, Rina Koeda , won the women's 1500 m i...

by Brett Larner videos by Ekiden News and Tomoyuki Maruyama Honda's William Malel led the results from the weekend's two big Japanese meets, Kobe's Hyogo Relay Carnival and Yokohama's Nittai University Time Trials, frontrunning to a world-leading 27:42.99 in the Hyogo Grand Prix Men's 10000 m.  Malel and James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) ran together on low-27 pace for the first half of the race, while former Komazawa University star Kenta Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei) ran at the front of a chase pack hoping to hit the 27:45.00 standard for the Beijing World Championships.  The pace in both groups slowed in the second half, and when Mwangi lost touch Murayama was quick to run him down for 2nd in 28:09.28.  Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University's Tadashi Isshiki , winner of last month's record-setting National University Half Marathon, was the top collegiate runner in 28:37.82. With Isshiki already leading the World University Games half mara...