japan running news

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

The 90th National University Track and Field Championships kicked off Friday at Saitama's Kumagaya Sports Park Field. The biggest result came in the women's 10000 m ,, where favorite Yuka Suzuki  (Daito Bunka Univ.) soloed a 32:04.58 meet record for the win, taking 19 seconds off the previous record set in 2003 by Emi Ikeda . 2nd-placer Rinka Hida  (Ritsumeikan Univ.) was the only other runner under 33 minutes at 32:56.71,  Yui Komatsu  (Matsuyama Univ.) 3rd in 33:01.16. Kenyans swept the top four spots in the men's 10000 m . Pre-race favorite Charles Kamau Wanjiku  (Musashino Univ.) faded mid-race to leave it to come down to a sprint finish between James Bunuka  (Surugadai Univ.) and Philip Muluwa  (Soka Univ.). Bunuka took the win in 27:58.60, less than 6 seconds off the meet record, Muluwa 2nd in 28:00.36 and Wanjiku 3rd in 28:29.48. Sota Ueda (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) unexpectedly took the top Japanese spot at 5th in 28:52.63, beating all his Kanto-...

The sprints, middle distance, hurdles, jumps and throws segment of Japan's 104th National Track and Field Championships kicked off Thursday in Niigata. The best competitions of the opening day were the women's and men's javelin throws. Defending women's champ Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) got off to a slow start, taking until her fourth throw to take over the top spot from Yuka Sato (Nikonikonori), throwing 59.30 m to Sato's opening 59.03. Only throwing 57.45 m on her fifth attempt, on her final throw Sato dropped her biggest throw of the day. When the measurement came up it was 59.32 m, Kitaguchi falling to her hands and knees when she saw it before getting up laughing to congratulation Sato on her national title. In the men's javelin throw, 2019 national champ Ryohei Arai (Suzuki) was relentless, throwing farther with each attempt except for a foul in the fourth round. Back in form this season after years of struggles and having cleared 80 m for the first t...

Thursday saw the first day of the 87th National University Track and Field Championships get underway at Kanagawa's Todoroki Stadium. The most surprising result of the day came in the first heat of the women's 4x100 m relay qualifying round, where both Ritsumeikan University and Aoyama Gakuin University broke the meet record. Ritsumeikan was just 0.02 off the national collegiate record in 44.82 with AGU right behind in 44.89. No other team broke 45 seconds, promising a head-to-head race for the collegiate record and national title in tomorrow's final. In the men's 4x100 m qualifying round national collegiate record holder Chuo University was the only team to break 39 seconds, marking itself as the heavy favorite in the final with a time of 38.90. In early finals action, Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) and Josphat Ledama Kisaisa (Obirin Univ.) won the women's and men's 10000 m, Kaseda in 33:29.20 and Kisaisa in 28:28.48. Mayu Nasu (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi U...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 detailed day-by-day National High School Championships coverage: Day One ・ Day Two ・ Day Three ・ Day Four ・ Day Five Despite sometimes extreme conditions with temperatures in the mid-30s throughout the five days of the 2015 Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships at Wakayama's Kimiidera Field performances were at a high level in most events, with thirteen new records set including two junior national records and two high school national records. By far the star of the show was Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.), who showed outstanding range in everything from 100 m to 800 m.  Including heats and semifinals she ran a total of fourteen races in five different events in five days, sometimes with less than an hour between them, but still produced a 57.06 400 mH junior national record and high school national record, #4 among juniors in the world this year, a 53.30 National High School Championships recor...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 After a National High School Track and Field Championships packed with new records including two junior and high school national records, three more meet records capped the final day of competition, hot temperatures in the mid-30's notwithstanding. Nao Kanai (Kawasaki Tachibana H.S.) got things started in the boys' 110 m hurdles with a record 13.85, the only boy to go under 14 seconds despite a strong +1.4 m/s tailwind.  Chihiro Nozaki (Rakunan H.S.) followed up in the boys' triple jump with a 15.80 m meet record jump to win by almost 75 cm.  Shinichi Yukinaga (Seiko Gakuen H.S.) rounded out the action in the boys' discus throw with a mark of 55.59 m for the win, like Kanai short of his PB but enough for a new National High School Championships record. The girls' 3000 m had an unexpected turn of events when favorite Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.), the 2014 Youth Olympics 3000 m gold medalist,...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 After setting a National High School Track and Field Championships record to win the girls' 400 m on Wednesday and anchoring her school's 4x100 m relay team, Haruko Ishizuka (Keiai Higashi Osaka Prep H.S.) tore it up again on the Championships' third day of competition.  After dominating the 400 m hurdles semifinals and her 800 m heat Ishizuka was sensational in the 400 mH final, kicking hard in the last 100 m to win in 57.06, a new junior national record, high school national record and meet record.  Her Keiai teammate Mizuki Murakami and 3rd-placer Yuri Arashima (Kurashiki Chuo H.S.) both ran PBs under 59 seconds but were nearly 2 second behind.  Incredibly, less than an hour later Ishizuka was back to win her 800 m semifinal in 2:08.65, the slowest of the three semifinal winning times but still credible given the dangerously hot conditions and, of course, the fact that she had just broken a junior national record.  1500 m...