japan running news

Heavy rain through a lot of the day made for tough conditions for the 2nd day of the 95th National University Track and Field Championships in Yokohama, with more forecast for the final day on Monday. In a lot of the sprint and field events that held back the quality of the performances, but even so in 2 events athletes turned in meet record-breaking runs. In the men's 400 m, #3-ranked Kira Hirakawa (Toyo Univ.) and collegiate record holder Shinya Hayashi (Tsukuba Univ.) pushed each other the entire way, Hirakawa dipping for the win in 45.37 and Hayashi 2nd in 45.41. Both were way under the meet record of 45.75 set by Yuki Yamaguchi back in 2004 and tied by Julian Walsh in 2018. The other meet record came in the women's 4x100 m relay final, where MR holders Fukuoka University ran an almost identical lineup to the one that set the collegiate record of 43.91 and the MR of 44.31 last year. Rin Shibato , Mayuko Maeda and Aiha Yamagata returned from that team on the first 2 ...

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...

Yuya Yoshida winning Fukuoka in CR time was a great story, and here's another one. Kana Kobayashi didn't run track or ekidens in junior high, high school, or at Waseda University and just ran for fun, but after a 2:36:54 debut at last year's Osaka International Women's Marathon and a 2:29:44 PB there this year she got an offer from the Otsuka Seiyaku corporate team. After a good championship ekiden season she ran today's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon , and with a 5-minute PB she won in a CR 2:24:59. It was an impressively even effort, 1:12:13 through halfway and breaking competition that included 2:22:29 runner Mao Uesugi and 2:23:05 runner Natsumi Matsushita . Her final margin of victory over Matsushita was almost 3 1/2 minutes, with Uesugi another 4 1/2 minutes further back. It's not quite the top level of the sport in Japan, but it for sure puts Kobayashi near the top of the list of rising talent. The men's race went through halfway on CR pace, with last ye...

Japan's 2020 Olympic marathon selection wrapped up in cold, rainy and windy conditions at simultaneous races at Lake Biwa and in Nagoya . The men at the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon had to break the week-old 2:05:29 national record set by Suguru Osako in Tokyo to replace him on the team, a pretty tough ask in any case but even more so given the conditions. After a starting gun malfunction delayed the start 10 minutes, virtually unheard-of in Japan, the pacers and a lead pack of nearly 50 gave it a go, slow through the first 5 km as they warmed back up but getting onto track for a sub-2:06 before too much time went by. Early casualties as the pace picked up included past winner Samuel Ndungu (Kenya) and Salah-Eddine Bounasr (Morocco), both DNFs. After 20 km it drifted back toward a 2:07 race, but even at that speed most of the Japanese favorites dropped away, leaving a relatively inexperienced domestic crew up against an international quintet when the last pacers stepped off ...

Takumi Komatsu (NTT Nishi Nihon) became the 21st Japanese man to break 62 minutes in the half marathon so far this year with a 1:01:35 for 8th at the U.K.'s Great North Run. Great North Run Half Marathon Newcastle, Great Britian, 9/8/19 complete results Men 1. Mo Farah (Great Britain) - 59:07 2. Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia) - 59:13 3. Abei Nageeye (Netherlands) - 59:55 4. Callum Hawkins (Great Britain) - 1:00:39 5. Bashir Abdi (Belgium) - 1:01:11 ----- 8. Takumi Komatsu (Japan) - 1:01:35 12. Kyohei Hosoya (Japan) - 1:03:39 18. Tsuyoshi Bando (Japan) - 1:05:21 20. Shoma Yamamoto (Japan) - 1:06:40 Women 1. Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) - 1:04:28 2. Magdalyne Masai (Kenya) - 1:07:36 3. Linet Masai (Kenya) - 1:07:44 4. Mary Keitany (Kenya) - 1:07:58 5. Charlotte Purdue (Great Britain) - 1:08:10 text and photos © 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

On a beautiful sunny late summer's day newly Japan-based Kenyan  Amos Kurgat (Chudenko) had no trouble taking down the field to win the senior men's 8 km at the 19th Hiroshima Cross Country Meet . Solo the entire way, Kurgat was the only runner under 24 minutes at 23:43. The only collegiate runner in the top 20, Ryosuke Nara , son of Daito Bunka University head coach Osamu Nara , took 2nd almost a minute back in 24:34 well ahead of his nearest corporate league competitor Shoma Yamamoto . Twins Kenta and Kota Otani (JFE Steel) were 7th and 8th just 5 seconds apart. 19th Hiroshima Cross Country Meet Hiroshima, 8/18/18 Senior Men's 8 km 1. Amos Kurgat (Chudenko) - 23:43 2. Ryosuke Nara (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 24:34 3. Shoma Yamamoto (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 24:53 4. Kyosuke Nishioka (Chudenko) - 24:57 5. Shunya Suo (Mazda) - 25:06 6. Yamato Otsuka (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 25:07 7. Kenta Otani (JFE Steel) - 25:08 8. Kota Otani (JFE Steel) - 25:13 9. Shuji Matsuo (Ch...