japan running news

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 ...

by Brett Larner Click photo for video highlights. 2011 Hakone Ekiden champion Waseda University's star sophomore Suguru Osako , the Asian junior area record holder for the half marathon, won his first world title on the second day of the 2011 World University Games as he ran a season-best 28:42.83 to take the men's 10000 m.  Russian Sergey Rybin  took the race out at a blistering speed, clocking 2:44.13 for the first 1000 m and going through halfway in 13:53.21.  The pace burned most of the competition before Rybin began to slow.  By 8000 m Rybin was running slower than 3:00 / km, and, staggering after being passed by Osako on the last lap, he dropped out with less than 200 m to go.  The 20-year-old Osako, who ran most of the race with 26-year-old South African  Stephen Mokoka , executed a long kick over the last 400 m to win by more than ten seconds.  Mokoka took silver, with 26-year-old Moroccan Ahmed Tamri  picking up bronze in 29...