japan running news

Miyuki Ueharaage: 23
sponsor: Daiichi Seimei
graduated from: Kagoshima Joshi H.S.

best time inside MGC window:
2:24:19, 9th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon

PB: 2:24:19, 9th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 15:21.40 (2015) 10000 m: 31:38.80 (2016) half marathon: 1:09:13 (2017)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
9th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:24:19 – PB
9th, 2018 Berlin Marathon, 2:25:46

other major results:
6th, 2019 Hakodate Half Marathon, 1:12:07
6th, 2019 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, 1:11:03
21st, 2018 National Corporate Women’s Ekiden Third Stage (10.9 km), 37:17
5th, 2018 National Championships 5000 m, 15:36.33
2nd, 2017 Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, 1:09:13 – PB
24th, 2017 London World Championships 10000 m, 32:31.58
3rd, 2017 National Championships 10000 m, 31:48.81
15th, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics 5000 m final, 15:34.99
2nd, 2016 Bolder Boulder 10 km, 34:16

Just 20 at the time, Uehara became only the second Japanese woman to ever make an Olymp…

Rei Oharaage: 29
sponsor: Tenmaya
graduated from: Kojokan H.S.

best time inside MGC window:
2:25:46, 2nd, 2019 Osaka International Women’s Marathon

PB: 2:23:20, 3rd, 2016 Nagoya Women’s Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 15:39.47 (2016) 10000 m: 31:48.31 (2015) half marathon: 1:09:17 (2015)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
2nd, 2019 Osaka International Women’s Marathon, 2:25:46
10th, 2018 Berlin Marathon, 2:27:29
8th, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:27:44

other major results:
2nd, 2019 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:10:25
4th, 2018 National Corporate Women’s Ekiden Sixth Stage (6.795 km), 21:54
3rd, 2018 Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, 1:10:37
5th, 2017 Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, 1:09:26
1st, 2017 Osaka Half Marathon, 1:10:02
1st, 2016 Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, 1:10:04
3rd, 2016 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:23:20 – PB
2nd, 2015 Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, 1:09:17 – PB
22nd, 2015 Beijing World Championships 10000 m, 32:47.74
3rd, 2015 National Championships 10000 m, 32:…

We're getting into the last few months of qualification for September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials, and for Japanese women's Sunday's Osaka International Women's Marathon represents one of the last chances to make it. One of only eight to have qualified so far, Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) is one of three Japanese women in the field to have broken 2:24, along with 2016 Osaka winner Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) and 2014 Yokohama winner Tomomi Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei). But none of that trio has run that kind of time since early 2016, and for both Fukushi and Tanaka this will be the first marathon since they represented Japan in the marathon in Rio.

That seems to be the overall impression of the domestic field in Osaka this year, it being mostly made up of people at their best two or three years ago but hoping to get it back together well enough to qualify for the trials. They'll have to be under 2:28:00 if among the top three Japanese women excluding Ohara, and unde…

The elite field is out for the Jan. 27 Osaka International Women's Marathon, one of the last chances for Japanese women to qualify for the MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials. Absent are last year's debut winner Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) and anyone else likely to have the same kind of breakthrough, the domestic field instead heavy on people who were running well in 2016 and 2017. Cf. 2016 winner Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal), who will be running her first marathon since the Rio Olympics, and the duo of Tomomi Tanaka (Daichi Seimei) and Rei Ohara (Tenmaya), who went head-to-end until the final meters of the 2016 Nagoya Women's Marathon.

Ohara is already in for the MGC Race, but the rest of the home crowd will have to be under 2:28:00 if among the top three Japanese women and under 2:27:00 if in the next three. Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) has a slightly easier route, only needing to clear 2:28:20 to get in via the two-race sub-2:28:00 average the same way Ohara did in Berlin this year. With…

In its second edition the Niigata Half Marathon continued to grow into an important end-of-season event, with Kazuya Azegami (Teikyo Univ.) leading eight men including teammate Takeshi Tamura under 1:03. Ryunosuke Matsuo (Tokai Univ.) made a move to break away near 15 km, but Azegami fought back to open a 5-second lead by 20 km on the way to the win in 1:02:30. In the women's race, Kanayo Miyata (Yutaka Giken) closed a 35-second gap at halfway to breakaway leader Haruka Wada (Shimamura), overtaking Wada in the final kilometer to win in 1:15:31 to 1:15:33.



At the 39th running of the Matsue Ladies Half Marathon, 2:23:19 marathoner Tomomi Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) returned from a long layoff to take the win in 1:11:39, dropping rival Yuri Nozoe (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) in the final kilometer to win by 6 seconds. Doubling as the National University Women's Half Marathon Championships, 3rd placer Hitomi Mizuguchi (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) scored the national title in 1:12:34 by a margin o…

by Brett Larner

After outperforming their men for over a decade, Japanese women have been on a downward trend for much of the last 8 years even as depth and quality improved dramatically among the men.  In 2016 the trend reversed again, with the men's depth and quality dropping somewhat and the women's fortunes improving.  The good:

Half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi breaking through with an all-time Japanese #7 mark of 2:22:17 in Osaka.
Team bronze at the World Half Marathon Championships.A 12 km national record by Risa Takenaka.An 8 km national record by Tomomi Tanaka.A course record win over solid competition at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon by Misato Horie.Confident frontrunning from Miyuki Uehara to make the 5000 m final at the Rio Olympics.First-time national titles by relatively young, innovative teams Matsuyama University and Japan Post at the National University Women's Ekiden and National Corporate Ekiden.Team gold at the 100 km World Championshi…

by Brett Larner

中国実業団駅伝　優勝　マツダ　アンカーは松岡選手 pic.twitter.com/3UZxCdy3YS — M.Kawaguchi (@rikujolove) November 13, 2016
The fall ekiden season continued with not one or two or three but four top-level races across the country Sunday.  With places at the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships on the line corporate teams in Chugoku and Kansai lined up in their regional championship races.  To the apparent surprise of everyone including anchor Koji Matsuoka, pictured above, the Mazda men broke the Chugoku Region course record to hold off perpetual powerhouse Chugoku Denryoku by 30 seconds for the win. Otsuka Seiyaku claimed the Kansai Region title, outrunning SGH Group by over a minute to take the top spot.

In women's action, Yamada Denki successfully defended its Fukui Super Ladies Ekiden title, taking the lead on the second of six stages and never threatened after that as its third through sixth runners, led by Kasumi Nishihara, won their individual stages.  With thre…

by Brett Larner

After biding her time throughout the race, two-time Nagoya Women's Marathon winner Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) made the move that decided the medal winners in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathon.  Having lost to Mare Dibaba (Ethiopia) in a sprint finish at last year's Beijing World Championships, Kirwa went for a long surge that shook it down to a race between her, Dibaba and London Marathon winner Jemima Sumgong (Kenya).  Kirwa read Dibaba right, getting away from her in the long straight to the finish, but Sumgong read them both better.  4th in Beijing, Sumgong made a last push to score Kenya's first-ever women's marathon gold.  The three medalists came through 26 seconds apart, Sumgong's 2:24:04 the third-fastest winning time in the Olympic women's marathon's nine-race history. Another 17 seconds back, Tirfi Tsegaye (Ethiopia) held off second-half agente provocatrice Volha Mazuronak (Belarus) by one second for 4th, Mazuronak seem…

by Brett Larner

Entry lists for track and field events at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics were publicly released yesterday on the IAAF website.  Start lists are due to be released later this week and are bound to include scratches.  Based on the current entry lists, below are Japanese long distance athletes' ranking in their events by best time within the Olympic qualifying window.  Rankings will be revised based on updated start lists.

Ranked 5th in the women's marathon field of 160, Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) looks like Japan's best chance at a distance medal, with 8th-ranked Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) an outside contender.  Ranked 9th in the women's 10000 m, Ayuko Suzuki (Team Japan Post) is the only other Japanese athlete in the top 10 in their event.  Beating her ranking would give her the best Japanese women's 10000 m Olympic placing in 20 years.  Three other athletes, Hanami Sekine (Team Japan Post) in the women's 10000 m, Mai Ito (Team Otsuka…

http://www.nikkansports.com/olympic/rio2016/athletics/news/1688993.html

translated by Brett Larner

The three women of Japan's Rio de Janeiro Olympics marathon squad held a press conference at their training base at Princeton University in New Jersey on Aug. 3 local time, Aug. 4 Japan time.

Kayoko Fukushi (34, Team Wacoal) arrived at the training base on Aug. 1 after training at altitude in Boulder, Colorado for the last month.  After experiencing pain in the fifth metatarsal on her right foot in June she cancelled plans to run in a tuneup half marathon, but, she said with a weary laugh, "Coach had me running plenty in Boulder.  I put in a truckload of training."

Mai Ito (32, Team Otsuka Seiyaku) said, "I've run 11 marathons so far, and for all of them I prepared seriously.  This time is no different.  I think I'm ready."

Tomomi Tanaka (28, Team Daiichi Seimei), looked relaxed from start to finish as she talked about her race plan, saying, "Everything h…

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/07/15/kiji/K20160715012969550.html
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2016/07/15/kiji/K20160715012969530.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/olympic/rio2016/athletics/news/1679246.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Japan's Rio de Janeiro marathon teams face a tough challenge in the Olympic races, the women's race scheduled for Aug. 14 and the men's race for the final day of the Games, 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 21 Japan time.

For the men, top eight looks like a realistic goal.  Among the three, Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei), Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Suehiro Ishikawa (Team Honda), Sasaki has the fastest PB at 2:08:56.  In comparison, Kenyan Olympic team member Eliud Kipchoge won April's London Marathon in an all-time #2 time of 2:03:05.  The gap in ability between the Africans and the Japanese men is enormous.

Among the women, a three-time Olympian on the track, Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) is one of Japan…

http://www.nyrr.org/races-and-events/2016/nyrr-new-york-mini-10k/race-report/kenyas-jemima-sumgong-wins-45th-nyrr-new-york-mini-10k

As per the results linked above, Japan's Rio Olympics women's marathon team member Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) was 10th in 33:39.

by Brett Larner

The JAAF announced the Japanese women's and men's marathon team lineups for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics at a press conference on Mar. 17 streamed live worldwide.  Surprisingly there were no surprises, no controversial calls, the athletes chosen for the team the most likely based on the complicated selection criteria.

The women's team includes 2016 Osaka Women's winner Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), 2016 Nagoya Women's runner-up Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) and 2015 World Championships 7th-placer Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku).  The men's team is made up of 2015 Fukuoka 3rd-placer Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei), 2015 Lake Biwa runner-up Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) and 4th-placer Suehiro Ishikawa (Team Honda).  No alternates were named in the event, likely given recent history, that any of the team members does not make the starting line, and no one was named to the team from two of the selection races, last year's Sait…

by Brett Larner

Japan's qualification process for the Rio Olympics marathon wrapped up with a bang at yesterday's Nagoya Women's Marathon, with Tomomi Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) getting payback for being left off of last year's Beijing World Championships team in favor of a runner from the Tenmaya corporate team by beating Tenmaya's Rei Ohara by one second in 2:23:19 to take what is almost definitely the last place on the Rio team.  Last week JRN detailed the situation regarding the Rio men's team candidates.  The women's situation looks more clear-cut but it's worth a quick review to see who the most likely names are for Thursday's Olympic team lineup announcement.  Click any race for detailed results.

Beijing World Championships Women's Marathon, Aug. 30
7. Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:29:48
13. Sairi Maeda (Daihatsu) - 2:31:46
14. Risa Shigetomo (Tenmaya) - 2:32:37

Under the JAAF's selection criteria this time around the only chance Japanese…

by Brett Larner

Again this week, what a race.

Defending champion Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) led the largest women-only marathon field in the world through a tense and thrilling race at today's Nagoya Women's Marathon, tailed closely by a large Japanese group that collectively broke through to new ground in the race for the last spot on the Rio Olympics team.

With some erratic pacing in the early kilometers the race soon settled down in the mid-to-high 2:23 range, slow of the JAAF's sub-2:22:30 Olympic standard but still uncharted territory for almost every Japanese woman in the field.  National record holder and Athens gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex), trying one last time to return to the Olympics, was the first to fall off, losing touch with the lead group after 5 km.  The trickle of stragglers continued as the pace held steady around 2:23:30-40 until a core group of 11 remained behind the pacers when they hit halfway in 1:11:45.

Kenyan Monica Jepkoech was the firs…

by Brett Larner

The world's largest women-only marathon, Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon is the end of the Japanese Olympic marathon selection saga, if not the end of the drama.  2015 World Championships marathon bronze medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) is back to defend her title, and will, her last race a 1:08:06 win last month at Japan's Marugame Half in national record time.  Formerly-Japan based Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia) is her only real international competition, but it would take an off day from Kirwa for Moges to really stand a chance.

At the 2014 Asian Games Kirwa beat Japan's Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) for gold.  Kizaki comes to Nagoya with the best time in the last three years among Japanese women, 2:23:34 in Nagoya in 2013, but while Kirwa's star has only risen since then Kizaki's hit a brick wall.  In 2015 she only raced once, placing only 13th on her stage at December's National Corporate Women's Marathon.  There's nothing to go o…

by Brett Larner

With decent performances in Chicago and Frankfurt and a 2:09:21 PB at this year's Tokyo Marathon behind him, Koji Gokaya (Team JR Higashi Nihon) turned in the fastest marathon of the year by a Japanese man outside Japan, running 2:10:58 for 9th at the Berlin Marathon.  Gokaya, sub-2:10 men Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) and Masanori Sakai (Team Kyudenko) and track star Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) ran the entire race inside the third pack just under 2:10 pace, Morita and Sakai tending toward the front of the group and Gokaya and Sato relaxing out back.  A late-race move by Reid Coolsaet in a bid for the Canadian national record pulled Sato along, but after 40 km he faded badly and was easily run down by Gokaya.  Sato, in his third marathon, still managed a sizable PB of 2:12:32 for 14th, while Sakai and Morita dropped to 22nd and 33rd in 2:14:52 and 2:15:57.

In the women's race, 2014 Asian Games team member Eri Hayakawa (Team Toto) started near PB pace in th…

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/olomouc-half-marathon-2015-keitany-kiptis

Yuka Takemoto (Canon AC Kyushu), formerly Yuka Yano, was 9th in the women's race in 1:13:34, while Kenta Matsumoto (Team Toyota) finished 12th in 1:04:42 in the men's race.  Click here for complete results.

Elsewhere, Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) finished 5th in the BAA 10K women's race in 32:56, with Takehiro Deki (Team Chugoku Denryoku) 8th in the men's race in 29:22.

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1456012.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Following a meeting of the JAAF's Development Committee in Tokyo on Apr. 2, Vice Chairman of Development Katsumi Sakai, 55, commented on the controversy surrounding the selection for the women's marathon team for August's Beijing World Championships.  "You absolutely have to go with the lead group from the beginning.  It's not about winning.  It's about trying to run the target time that we determine.  That is the message we have sent," he said of the Federation's exclusion of Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei), winner of November's Yokohama International Women's Marathon in 2:26:57, in favor of Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya), who ran 2:26:39 for 3rd more than 4 minutes behind winner Tetiana Gamera (Ukraine) after going through halfway with Gamera in 1:11:15, and who is coached by Federation Director of Women's Marathoning Development and Tr…

http://www.sankei.com/column/news/150313/clm1503130008-n1.html

translated by Brett Larner

An editorial by prominent sportswriter Tadashi Imamura on the JAAF's decision to exclude Yokohama International Women's Marathon winner Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei), coached by Sachiko Yamashita, 1991 World Championships marathon silver medalist and one of the only female coaches in Japan, in favor of Osaka International Women's Marathon 3rd-placer Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya), coached by Yutaka Taketomi, one of the JAAF executives in charge of the national marathoning program.

It's often said that you can make a plausible argument for anything.  I was reminded of those words when I saw the outcome of the selection process used to select the World Championships marathon teams announced on March 11.  The three women chosen for the team were led by Sairi Maeda who a couple of days ago ran an excellent time of 2:22:48 for 3rd and top Japanese honors at the Nagoya Women's Ma…