japan running news

by Brett Larner Despite going through the heats and final of the 1500 m and the qualifying heats for the 3000 m, Kenyans Rosemary Wanjiru  (Aomori Yamada H.S.) and Mary Waithera  (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) saved the best for last, braving temperatures over 30 degrees to smash their PBs and go 1-2 in the 3000 m final on the last day of the 2012 Japanese National H.S. Track & Field Championships, Aug. 2 and Niigata's Big Swan Stadium.  The winner of both Heat 1 and the 1500 m final, Waithera pushed the pace from the start but was unable to top Heat 3 winner Wanjiru, who lopped a stunning 16 seconds off her best to finish in a high-quality 8:51.97 for the win.  Unable to match Wanjiru, Waithera still took 6 seconds off her personal best as she finished a half second back in 8:52.59.  Heat 2 winner and Japanese favorite Miyuki Uehara  (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) was 3 seconds off her best but strong enough to hold off rival Sakiko Naito  (Funabashi Civic H.S.) f...

by Brett Larner   High school track continued along the road to next month's National Championships with a nationwide round of regional championships this weekend.  Thirty-three girls across the country broke the 9:30 mark over 3000 m, with the fastest time of the weekend going to Kenyan Mary Waithira  (Sendai Ikuei H.S.), who set an impressive meet record of 9:00.85 at the Tohoku Regionals meet over Kenyan rival Rosemary Wanjiru  (Aomori Yamada H.S.), who ran 9:07.44.  The fastest performance by a Japanese girl came at the South Kanto Regionals meet, where Maki Izumida  (Hakuoh Joshi H.S.) won in 9:17.74.  All but three regions featured winning times under 9:30. Boys' performances were less noteworthy, but in the Tokai Region 5000 m Kenyan Jeremiah Karemi  (Toyokawa H.S.) set a meet record of 13:52.51.   Charles Ndungu (Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) also set a meet record in the Hokkaido Region 5000 m, running 13:57.81.  Both boys' a...

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by Brett Larner Japan picked up its second medal of the 2011 IAAF World Youth Championships July 9 in Lille France, when hurdler Takahiro Matsumoto  ran a PB of 51.26 to win bronze in the boys' 400 mH.  Teammate Aya Takizawa  came close to equalling Matsumoto in the girls' 400 mH, where she ran a PB of 58.80 to finish 4th. In the sprints, Akiyuki Hashimoto  advanced to the boys' 200 m final with a 21.20 for 2nd in his semi, while the Japanese boys' sprint medley team won their heat easily to advance to the final where they should be in contention for a medal.   Masumi   Aoki ran a PB of 24.64 in the girls' 200 m but finished only 6th and did not advance. In other strong performances on the second-to-last day of competition, Shiho Takeda  ran a PB of 4:20.62 to finish 8th in the girls' 1500 m and Ryo Miyata  threw a PB of 63.29 in the boys' javelin semifinal but did not advance after finishing only 13th in his group. 2011 World Youth Champi...

by Brett Larner The Japanese team at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France by and large performed well on the first day of competition, with 15 of the 21 athletes competing in heats and qualification rounds advancing to the next stage.  Particularly strong were hurdler  Shota Madokoro , who won his heat of the boys' 400 mH in a PB of 53.46 and sprinters Anna Doi , Kazuma Oseto  and Kazuma Tsukamoto , all of whom won their 100 m heats.  Hurdlers Takahiro Matsumoto  and Ikumi Iida  also clocked new PBs to advance in their events. In the only final of the day to feature Japanese athletes, top high school runners Katsuki Suga  and Tomoka Kimura  turned in strong performances but were unable to break into the medals.  Kimura dictated the early pace, leading the race through a quick 2:58.83 first kilometer before team tactics led to a slow 3:07 second km.  In the blazing 2:51 final kilometer both Japanese runners lost touch a...

by Brett Larner click here to watch the IAAF World Youth Championships live online The IAAF World Youth Championships get underway tomorrow, July 6, in Lille, France. As is to be expected, Japan's best medal chances among its team of 37 come in the sprints and long distances. Kazuma Oseto (Ogura Higashi H.S.) comes to the boys' 100 m as the #1 seed, his PB of 10.39 leading the field. His teammates Kazuya Tsukamoto (Heisei H.S.) and Tatsuro Suwa (Yotsukaichi Kogyo H.S.) are also in the top eight on the entry list by PB, making the chances of at least one medal very good. All three runners are also on the list for the sprint medley relay, where the Japanese team is ranked 4th by a slim margin behind South Africa. Akiyuki Hashimoto (Sensatsu Seishukan H.S.) is ranked 3rd in the men's 200 m with a best of 20.91, Oseto and Suwa entered to double with marks not far off Hashimoto's. In the girls' 100 m Anna Doi (Saitama Sakae H.S.) is ranked 3rd by PB, 11.6...

by Brett Larner Click photo for video highlights. Thanks in part to outstanding performances from the identical twin Akamatsu sisters on the final two stages, Kojokan H.S. took its second-ever national title at the 2010 National High School Girls Ekiden , holding off two-time defending champion Toyokawa H.S. by 16 seconds after battling the strong Suma Gakuen H.S . throughout the ekiden. Kojokan's Katsuki Suga got the team off to a good start, winning the 6 km First Stage by a margin of 6 seconds. Suma Gakuen's Risa Yokoe caught up on the Second Stage, running a stage best to finish the leg dead even with Kojokan's Miyuki Oka . Suma Gakuen's Third Stage runner Mika Kobayashi likewise turned in a stage best, giving the school an 8 second lead after Kojokan's Manami Takehisa finished only 9th on the stage. Everything turned around on the 3.0 km Fourth Stage. Kojokan's Hiroka Akamatsu , the lesser-known of its star Akamatsu twins, seized back the lead, taking...