japan running news

https://www.kenyanathlete.com/2018/10/could-japan-be-shaping-herself-to-be.html?spref=tw

Just over seven months since Yuta Shitara broke Toshinari Takaoka's longstanding 2:06:16 national record from the 2002 Chicago Marathon with a 2:06:11 in Tokyo in February, U.S.-based Suguru Osako brought the record back home to Chicago with a 3rd-place finish in 2:05:50.

Running the same pattern as in his first two marathons, Osako sat back in the lead men's pack, never exerting himself as it whittled down to the core members. Just past the turn into Chinatown near 35 km his Nike Oregon Project teammate and 2017 Chicago winner Galen Rupp fell off the front group to leave Osako in contention with former NOP member Mo Farah, 2:04 Ethiopian Mosinet Gemerew, former Asahi Kasei runner Kenneth Kipkemoi and 2017 world champion Geoffrey Kirui.

As in Boston and Fukuoka last year, when the real move came, this time in the form of a surge by Farah and Gemerew, Osako was left behind to battle it out for 3rd. While Farah kicked away for the win by 13 seconds in a European record 2:05:11,…

Motivated in part by the legacy of Toshinari Takaoka's longstanding former national record of 2:06:16 at its 2002 race, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon has long been a draw for top-level Japanese athletes male and female. Few men have made much of an impact in Chicago, with none making the top five in the last 14 years and only two, Hiroaki Sano and Koji Kobayashi, breaking 2:11 in the same time period. But they still keep coming, and this year's crew of five looks to have the best chance of bettering the results of the last decade and a half.

【#シカゴ・マラソン】
10月7日（日）号砲🔥#川内優輝 選手（埼玉県庁）、#大迫傑 選手（Nike）、#木滑良 選手（MHPS）、#鈴木洋平 選手（愛三工業）、#藤本拓 選手（トヨタ自動車）の大会前コメントです🇯🇵🎤🙋‍♂️
▼こちらから▼https://t.co/En6uRnqTNj#JAAF#陸上#ChicagoMarathon#MGCpic.twitter.com/VyjFpTjzdI — JAAF（日本陸上競技連盟） (@jaaf_official) October 6, 2018
Taku Fujimoto(Toyota)

PB: 2:15:30 (15th, Lake Biwa Marathon, 2018)
Major recent results:
7:59.30 - PB (6th, Hokuren Distance Challenge Fukagawa meet 3000 m, 2018)

Fujimoto got a flash …

Having both gone under the old 5000 m Japanese national record in the same race in Belgium in 2015, Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) and Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) met up again in Redmond, Washington at the September 3rd Labor Day Half Marathon.

Osako, who set the current NR of 13:08.40 in the race in Heusden, ran Redmond as part of his buildup for next month's Chicago Marathon, soloing a 1:01:01 PB to win. Yoroizaka, 13:12.63 in Heusden, finished behind Osako again. Well behind, as in 2nd in 1:04:17 just 8 seconds ahead of top American Gregory Leak.

A PB by 12 seconds, Osako's solo run was the fastest half marathon so far this year by a Japanese man and moved him up to all-time Japanese #9 on a record-legal course. In terms of time and ranking it brought his half marathon up closer to the 2:07:19 he ran in Fukuoka last December, a mark which currently puts him at #7 all-time in Japan. The question is whether it was only bringing his half marathon performance up or whe…

A Bank of America Chicago Marathon press release.

The Bank of America Chicago Marathon announced today that several international running stars are joining the 41st annual Bank of America Chicago Marathon elite athlete competition. Past champions Abel Kirui (KEN) and Dickson Chumba (KEN) lead the charge on the men’s side, and 2017 runner-up Brigid Kosgei (KEN) and two-time podium finisher Birhane Dibaba (ETH) stand out among the women. They will join previously announced global sensations Mo Farah (GBR), Yuki Kawauchi (JPN) and Suguru Osako (JPN).

Note: The previously-announcedChihiro Miyawaki (Japan) is no longer listed in the men's field.
41st Bank of America Chicago Marathon Elite Field HighlightsChicago, U.S.A., 10/7/18
times listed are best in last three years except where noted
complete elite fields

Women
Roza Dereje Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:19:17 (Dubai 2018)
Birhane Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:19:51 (Tokyo 2018)
Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) - 2:20:13 (London 2018)
Jordan Hasay (U.S.A.) - 2:20…

Distance action at the senior level was split between three main meets this weekend. One contingent of Japanese women and men headed to Europe for a mini tour of the circuit, starting things off Saturday at Belgium's Kortrijkse Guildensporenmeeting. One of Japan's top current half marathoners, Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) ran a season best 15:36.11 for 4th in the women's 5000 m to lead the five Japanese women in the race. National XC runner-up Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) led the Japanese men in the 3000 m SC in 8:37.81. The popular Hazuma Hattori (Toenec) was the fastest Japanese man in the 1500 m at 3:45.17, with Nokoka Hosaka (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) delivering the fastest Japanese women's time at 4:25.40.

Also Saturday back home in Hokkaido, the Hokuren Distance Challenge series wrapped up with the Shibetsu meet. Women's 5000 m A-heat winner Yuka Hori (Panasonic) was just off Ichiyama's Belgian time in 15:37.51 just ahead of Honami Maeda (Tenmaya), who continued a gr…

A Bank of America Chicago Marathon press release

The Bank of America Chicago Marathon announced today that reigning Boston Marathon champion and “citizen runner” Yuki Kawauchi and 2016 Olympian and Nike Oregon Project runner Suguru Osako will join the elite competition as they both seek to become the first Chicago Marathon champion from Japan since Toshihiko Seko took the crown in 1986.

"I'm really happy to have the chance to race in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and the Abbott World Marathon Majors," Kawauchi said. "I'm looking forward to running the same race where Toshinari Takaoka set the former national record and so many other great Japanese athletes have run well. My results in the other American Abbott World Marathon Majors races, Boston and New York, were pretty good, and I'll do everything I can to line up in Chicago ready to produce good results there too."

“Yuki and Suguru are exciting additions to our elite field,” said Executive Rac…

On May 30 long-distance runner Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) announced on his Twitter feed that he is withdrawing from a shot at a third-straight 10000 m national title at next month's Yamaguchi National Championships. His management company said that he is not injured and instead wants to focus on "preparing for what comes next."

At last December's Fukuoka International Marathon Osako, 27, ran 2:07:19, what was at the time the 5th-fastest time ever by a Japanese man, to finish 3rd overall. He won February's National Cross-Country Championships and ran the World Half Marathon Championships in March. Osako skipped a spring marathon in order to try to break the 10000 m national record earlier this month at the Payton Jordan Invitational, but he dropped out of that race near the 6000 m mark.

source article:
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20180530/ath18053020220001-n1.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Always a big draw on the springtime Japanese schedule, this year's Payton Jordan Invitational at California's Stanford University produced year-leading Japanese women's 5000 m and 10000 m marks.

In the 5000 m, 2018 National Corporate Road 10 km Championships winner Yui Fukuda (Toyota Jidoshokki) ran 15:20.08 for 8th overall to replace Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) on top the 5000 m list. In the 10000 m, Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) returned from placing as the top Japanese woman at March's World Half Marathon Championships to finish 5th overall in 31:57.91, the first Japanese woman to break 32 minutes so far this year.

On the men's side, after a solid run at December's Fukuoka International Marathon the U.S.-based Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) passed on a springtime marathon in favor of a shot at the Japanese national record in the 10000 m. At Stanford Osako came up short, dropping out just after 6000 m. In the 1500 m, Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) continued a stint i…

Weekend Japanese track action kicked off at the Bryan Clay Invitational at California's Azusa Pacific University. Passing on a spring marathon in favor of a shot at the 10000 m national record this season, 5000 m national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) ran 13:29.11 for 3rd in the 5000 m, the best time so far this year by a Japanese man.

Bigger news came in the men's 1500 m, where Shoma Funatsu (Chuo Univ.) capped a residency in Oregon with a 3:38.65 to move up to all-time Japanese #5 and collegiate #2. Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) also ran 3:41.51, with U.S.-based Yusuke Uchikoshi (Boise State Univ.) going 3:44.50, Funatsu's Chuo teammate Kazuyoshi Tamogami 3:45.84, another U.S. transplant Yasunari Kusu (AMAC) 3:46.98 and Hirotaka Nakatani (Uchida Chiryoin AC) 3:49.28.

At the nearby Mt. SAC RelaysYui Fukuda (Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 1500 m in 4:16.64. Mai Shoji (Denso) was slightly off her season best in the 5000 m in 15:56.99, while her teamm…

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo.

Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “If M…

The withdrawal of Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki), Japan's best championship marathoner of the modern era, from the Boston Marathon field with a stress fracture is a blow to what would have been the best Japanese contingent in Boston in decades.

Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) leads the way, arriving in Boston off wins in his last four marathons:
2:10:03, Hofu Yomiuri Marathon, 12/17/172:18:59 CR, Marshfield New Year's Day Marathon, 1/1/182:11:46 CR, Kitakyushu Marathon, 2/18/182:14:12, Wan Jin Shi Marathon, 3/18/18 Kawauchi hopes to at least equal Suguru Osako's top 3 placing in last year's Boston, his optimism growing as the weather forecast gets worse.
Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) runs for what was once Japan's most successful corporate team in the marathon, his best of 2:12:31 coming 6 years ago at Lake Biwa and his fastest recent time a 2:13:33 in Tokyo last year. Okamoto earned a place in Boston by winning February's tough and hilly Ome 30 km …

2018 Valencia World Half Marathon ChampionshipsValencia, Spain, 3/24/18
click here for complete results and splits

Women
1. Netsanet Gudeta Kebede (Ethiopia) - 1:06:11 - women-onlyWR
2. Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) - 1:06:54
3. Pauline Kaweke Kamulu (Kenya) - 1:06:56 - PB
4. Eunice Chebichii Chumba (Bahrain) - 1:07:17
5. Zeineba Yimer (Ethiopia) - 1:06:07 - PB
-----
17. Kaori Morita (Japan) - 1:10:46
19. Mao Ichiyama (Japan) - 1:11:02
35. Honami Maeda (Japan) - 1:12:09
70. Yuka Hori (Japan) - 1:15:24

Men
1. Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor (Kenya) - 1:00:02
2. Abraham Naibei Cheroben (Bahrain) - 1:00:22
3. Aron Kifle (Eritrea) - 1:00:31 - PB
4. Jemal Yimer (Ethiopia) - 1:00:33
5. Getaneh Molla (Ethiopia) - 1:00:47
-----
24. Suguru Osako (Japan) - 1:01:56
46. Kenta Murayama (Japan) - 1:03:07
71. Hayato Sonoda (Japan) - 1:04:12
82. Daisuke Uekado (Japan) - 1:04:48
108. Kota Murayama (Japan) - 1:06:49

On Mar. 6 the JAAF announced the Japanese women's and men's teams for the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships scheduled for Mar. 24 in Valencia, Spain. The women's team has few surprises, made up of the top two Japanese women from December's Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) and Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal), the top Japanese women at February's Marugame Half and National Corporate Half Marathon, Kaori Morita (Panasonic) and Yuka Hori (Panasonic), and high-potential marathoner Honami Maeda (Tenmaya), winner of August's Hokkaido Marathon and 2nd at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2:23:46.

Maeda's inclusion is clearly geared to give one of the people the JAAF views as potential 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon team material some international championships racing experience, and that decision making process is even more clearly at work in the men's team selection. #1-ranked man Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei), holde…

On Mar. 4 it was learned that Hiroto Inoue (25, MHPS), 4th place in last week's Tokyo Marathon in an all-time Japanese #4 time of 2:06:54, intends to run for Japan at August's Jakarta Asian Games. Following the final selection race for the Asian Games team, yesterday's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, MHPS head coach Jun Kuroki revealed, "Inoue plans to take part."

Suguru Osako (NOP), the top Japanese man in Fukuoka, and national record breaker Yuta Shitara (Honda) have both passed on the Asian Games national team. The weather conditions in sub-equatorial Jakarta are expected to be severe, but with just as tough conditions expected for the Tokyo Olympics and its MGC Race trials event the Asian Games represent an excellent test run opportunity. Coach Kuroki also commented, "The only question mark so far has been in our preparations for last August's London World Championships."

Kuroki and Inoue plan to work on measures to deal with the heat prior to the …

Since Yuta Shitara's national record-breaking 2:06:11 yesterday at the Tokyo Marathon I've been getting a lot of questions about the 100 million yen bonus he received for doing it. The bonus comes via Project Exceed, an initiative launched in 2015 by the National Corporate Federation to try to produce new men's and women's marathon national records ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Under the plan, any Japanese citizen, whether a registered corporate league athlete or not, who broke the men's national record of 2:06:16 or the women's record of 2:19:12 on a record-legal course would receive 100 million yen, roughly 760,000 Euro or $937,000 USD at today's exchange rate. The athlete's coach or team would also receive a separate 50 million yen (380,000 Euro or $468,000 USD) bonus for their role in having made the record happen. If more than one athlete broke the record in the same race, the other athletes breaking the record would receive 10 million yen (76…

Top-ranked high schoolers Ririka Hironaka (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) and Yuhi Nakaya (Saku Chosei H.S.) won the junior titles at Saturday's National Cross-Country Championships in Fukuoka's Umi no Nakamichi Kaihin Park.

With some of her main competition including Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) on a training camp in Australia, Hironaka's primary challenge in the U20 Women's 6 km came from Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) who pushed her throughout the race but couldn't keep up in the later stages. Hironaka won in 19:50 by a margin of 8 seconds over Takamatsu, the pair the only ones to break 20 minutes.

Nakaya, star runner of 2017 National High School Ekiden champ Saku Chosei H.S. with accomplishments including a 13:47.22 best for 5000 m last October, outclassed the field to win the U20 Men's 8 km in 24:05 by 12 seconds over Takuro Miura (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.). His Saku Chosei teammates Sakito Matsuzaki and Keita Honma took 3rd and 5th f…

JRN's 2018 Japanese track and road distance running rankings. Overall rankings are calculated using runners' times and placings in races over 5000 m, 10000 m, half-marathon and marathon and the strength of these performances relative to others in the top ten in each category. Click any image to enlarge.


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