japan running news

The JOC announced the full lineups for the men's and women's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games . Being hosted in Japan the Asian Games are a pretty big deal, and it's pretty close to the maximum of 2 athletes per event. The men's and women's triple jump, the women's 400 m and the women's discus throw only have 1 athlete on the Japanese team, and it's a big FU to the shot putters apparently as nobody was named to either the men's or women's teams even though people ranked lower in the World Athletics Asian rankings than top JPN shot putters Daichi Morishita and Chiharu Saka did make the team in other events. But, let's focus on what it is, not what it isn't. Going off this week's Asian rankings 8 men and 5 women are ranked #1 in their event, with a total of 19 men and 14 women ranked in the top 3. Factor in a limit of 2 per nationality and the relays and Japan's chances of scoring a great medal haul are looking good. M...

Entry lists are out for next week's National Track and Field Championships in Nagoya, the main selection event for Japan's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games and Copenhagen World Road Running Championships. Top entries in each event with best time in 2025-26. Asterisks indicate 2025 national champions. Men Men's 100 m *Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 9.99 Sorato Shimizu (Seiryu H.S.) - 10.00 Yuhi Mori (Watanabe Pipe) - 10.00 Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.06 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.08 Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) - 10.08 Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.10 Ryota Suzuki (Suzuki) - 10.11 Naoki Inoue (Osaka Gas) - 10.12 Rikuto Higuchi (Suzuki) - 10.12 Men's 200 m Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.45 Aoto Suzuki (Sumitomo Denko) - 20.49 Kota Uematsu (Chuo Univ.) - 20.50 Yuji Michael Orisa (GK Line) - 20.51 Soshi Mizukubo (Miyazaki T&F) - 20.51 Mitsuhiro Numata (Legalis) - 20.58 Seisho Sasaki (Iwate Univ.) - 20.60 Sota Miwa (Koizumi) - 20.61 Naoki Uemoto (Lega...

  In its only event on the final day of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships , Japan fielded the same men's 4x100 m lineup it did in the heats, Yuki Koike , Hiroki Yanagita , Yoshihide Kiryu and Towa Uzawa . The specter of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics final, where Japan had a rare missed exchange while being a medal favorite, hung over the team's return to the final on home ground, and there was the extra pressure of knowing the emperor was in attendance in the stadium watching. Japan had the 5th-best time in the heats, and given the less than A-team lineup this time it would have taken something special to better that and add one last medal to Japan's count. Multiple delays due to heavy rain kept them waiting, but once it went off it played out pretty much according to expectations. Well, the U.S.A. did manage to get the baton around this time, so not exactly every expectation, but given that they did they of course dropped a world-leading 37.29 for gold. Canada was next ...

This will be easy. Japan closes out its home soil World Athletics Championships with one last race, and one of its traditionally strong ones, the men's 4x100 m relay. 21:20 - Men's 4x100 m Relay Final Prognosis : This is the entry pool: Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Toray) - 9.96 (+0.5) -  4th, Heat 7, Nationals Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 9.99 (+1.5) -  1st, Nationals Yuhi Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.00 (+1.3) -  7th, Nationals Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) - 10.00 (+0.3) -  DQ, Nationals Sorato Shimizu (Seiryo H.S.) - 10.00 (+1.7) -  4th, SF3, Nationals Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.08 (+0.3) -  5th, Nationals Naoki Inoue (Waseda Univ.) - 10.12 (+0.4) -  4th, Nationals Naoki Okami (Aomori Pref. Gov't) 10.17 (+0.9) -  2nd, Nationals Towa Uzawa (JAL) - 20.11 (+0.9) -  1st, Nationals In the individual 100 m Sani Brown confirmed that he wasn't anywhere close to peak form, and he was left off the 4x100 m team in the relay heats. The lineup th...

Both heats of the women's 5000 m saw the expected sight of Japanese athletes trying to fronton their way to the final. In Heat 1 both Yuma Yamamoto and Nozomi Tanaka went out hot on sub-15 pace. Yamamoto eventually faded to 18th of 20 finishers in 15:36.29, but NR holder Tanaka managed to ride the momentum to 5th in 14:47.14 to make the cut of 8 qualifiers. After a good run in the 10000 m Ririka Hironaka tried to frontrun Heat 2 solo on sub-15 pace, but while she a lead of 7 seconds at 2000 m and all 8 qualifiers ran between 14:56 and 14:57 Hironaka dropped to 13th in 15:10.68. 1.88 m was what it took to make the women's high jump final, but even though Nagisa Takahashi hit that mark her missed attempts ranked her 11th in qualification group A and 22nd overall, not enough to make the list of 16 qualifiers. The NR holder while still in high school and the only Japanese woman to have broken 2 minutes, Rin Kubo took 7th in Heat 3 of the 800 m in 2:02.84 in her first major int...

A couple of unexpected qualifiers add to the numbers of Japanese athletes in action on day 6 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships . 19:05 - Women's 5000 m Heats Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 14:31.88 -  1st, Nationals Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:12.97 -  7th, Nationals Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 15:05.69 -  2nd, Nationals Prognosis : NR holder Tanaka should make it through to the final, but the decline in her last kick this season and evident in the 1500 m heats decreases her chances in a slower race. Yamamoto is in the same heat as Tanaka and doesn't have a realistic chance, but Hironaka could get through in the second heat after a great run in the 10000 m. 19:15 - Women's High Jump Qualification Nagisa Takahashi (Senko) - 1.92 m -  2nd, Nationals Prognosis : Takahashi was a host country addition to the field and is ranked near its bottom, so it would probably take at least a PB for her to make the final. 19:55 -  Women's 800 m Heats Rin Kubo ...

Only 7 Japanese athletes were in action across 3 events on the fifth day of the Tokyo World Championships . In the men's javelin throw qualification round, all 3 on the squad, Yuta Sakiyama , Roderick Genki Dean and Gen Naganuma , failed to make it to the final. Sakiyama was the best of them at 77.61 m for 15th in group A, Dean throwing 77.01 m for 16th in the same group and Naganuma 74.70 m for 17th in group B, putting him at 36th out of 37 competitors overall. Japan's hopes now rest on the women's javelin team. There was better luck in the women's 200 m heats, where Abigail Fuuka Ido , running on a host country slot, unexpectedly qualified for the semifinals with a 22.98 (+0.0) for 5th in Heat 5. That was enough to give her a time qualifying spot, and not the last one. Towa Uzawa came in ranked much higher in the men's 200 m field than Ido was in the women's, and he matched her performance in the heats with a 20.39 (+0.0) for 3rd in Heat 6 to move on to the ...

It's a pretty light day of competition for Japan on day 5 of its home soil World Athletics Championships , with only 7 people in action. 19:10 / 20:45 - Men's Javelin Throw Qualification Yuta Sakiyama (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 87.16 m -  1st, Nationals Roderick Genki Dean (Mizuno) - 84.66 m -  2nd, Nationals Gen Naganuma (Suzuki) - 80.58 m -  3rd, Nationals Prognosis : Sakiyama and Dean are high enough up the rankings that both should make the final. Naganuma just squeezed onto the team thanks to roll-downs and will likely not advance. 19:30 - Women's 200 m Heats Abigail Fuuka Ido (Toho Ginko) - 22.79 (+1.0) -  1st, Nationals Prognosis : The new NR holder, Ido was an addition to the team thanks to Japan's host country slots. Her NR of 22.79 is far from the slowest season best in the field, but it would take some really good luck for her to advance. 20:15 - Men's 200 m Heats Towa Uzawa (JAL) - 20.11 (+0.9) -  1st, Nationals Soshi Mizukubo (Miyazaki T&F Assoc.)...

Like the Fuji Hokuroku World Trial meet 2 weeks ago, this weekend's Athlete Night Games in Fukui had a string of high-level performances that had a big impact on the lineup for Japan's home team at next month's Tokyo World Championships. Capping the meet was a stellar 12.92 (+0.6) NR in the men's 110 mH by Rachid Muratake (JAL), 2nd-fastest in the world this year, 11th-fastest in history, and the first sub-13 clocking by a Japanese man. Already on the Tokyo team thanks to a 5th-place finish in the Paris Olympics and a 13.08 (+1.4) best well under the 13.27 Tokyo standard, Muratake's performance here elevates him onto the short list of potential Japanese medal contenders. 3rd at Nationals, Muratake's former Juntendo University teammate Tatsuki Abe was 2nd in a PB of 13.12 that put him at all-time Japanese #4. Unfortunately for him, Nationals top 2 Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) and Shusei Nomoto (Ehime T&F Assoc.) both have the standard too, so Abe...

With less than 3 weeks to go until the Aug. 24 deadline to qualify for September's Tokyo World Championships let's take a look at what kind of team Japan might have. In terms of potential medalists there are 6 solid candidates, all the usual suspects. World and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi leads the women's javelin throw. Ranked 5th, Nanako Fujii has an outside chance in the women's 20 km race walk. On the men's side, Ryuji Miura looks to be a contender in the 3000 mSC where he's ranked 3rd. Toshikazu Yamanishi and Satoshi Maruo are ranked 1-2 in the 20 km race walk, with Masatora Kawano at 3rd in the 35 km race walk. After that it's the always-strong men's 4x100 m, ranked 2nd, although the big question is who is going to be on the team. In the marathon, you want to feel like Fukuoka CR breaker Yuya Yoshida has a chance. The women's javelin, marathon and race walks look like the only events where Japan is likely to field full squads of 3...

The Asian Athletics Championships wrapped up Saturday in Gumi, South Korea with a string of record-setting performances. At the top of the list was the men's 200 m final , where Towa Uzawa ran a championships record and PB 20.21 (+0.8) to win gold, putting him at all-time Japanese #4 and all-time Asian #6. Saudi Abdul Abdu I Atafi and India's Animesh Kujur took silver and bronze in 20.31 and 20.32, with veteran Shota Iizuka 4th in a season best 20.66 that put him one step closer to a 14-straight year under 20.50. NR holder Rin Kubo turned in one of the fastest performances of her career so far in the women's 800 m final , just losing out to China's Wu Hongjiao . Wu delivered a meet record 2:00.08 for gold, Kubo just behind her in 2:00.42 for silver and India's Pooja Pooja a few strides back in 2:01.89 for bronze. Ayano Shiomi was 5th in 2:03.59. Yuta Sakiyama came up with a PB 83.75 m throw on his final attempt in the men's javelin , good enough for all-...

  Another busy weekend in Japan and for Japanese athletes racing abroad. On the roads, the biggest thing at home was ASICS' Tokyo:Speed:Race  Wavelight-paced promo event for its new road shoe lineup. After setting a 59:27 NR at the Marugame Half in February, Tomoki Ota (Toyota) added another low-hanging NR fruit to his resume with a 13:30 for 10th in the 5 km. Harbert Kibet (Uganda) took the win in 13:00. Jemal Mekonen (Ethiopia) won the men's 10 km in 27:10, where Kyosuke Hanao (Toyota Kyushu) was the top Japanese man in 28:23, technically also a new NR, but come on. Triathlete Hayden Wilde (New Zealand) was 7th in an excellent 27:39, only to crash on his bike in Tokyo the next day and suffering multiple broken bones and a punctured lung. Marathon NR holder Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) had a mini comeback in the women's 5 km, finishing 13th in 15:48 as the top Japanese finisher. Caroline Nyaga (Kenya) won in a stellar 14:19, with the top 5 all breaking 15 minutes. Joy Chep...

Former Juntendo University teammates and co-NR holders  Rachid Muratake and Shunsuke Izumiya had the chance to make history in the first track event of the evening session on day 7 of athletics at the Paris Olympics . No Japanese man had ever made it to the final of an Olympic 110 m hurdles before, and with the top 2 finishers in each semifinal plus the next 2 fastest going on to the final both lined up in their SF with the 2nd-fastest season best time in their race. Muratake was up first, but with a 13.26 (+0.1) for 4th in SF1 his chances of getting through didn't look good. Senegal's Louis Francois Mendy kept Muratake's hopes alive when he ran only 13.34 (-0.1) for 3rd in SF2, leaving it to SF3 and Izumiya. Izumiya was sluggish through the early and middle phases of the race but came back with a brilliant last 20 m to take 3rd. When his time of 13.32 (+0.6) came up it meant Muratake was in as Japan's first Olympic finalist, but Izumiya himself was just short of k...

Monday a relatively busy day in Paris Olympics athletics for the Japanese national team. Things started off slowly with all three men in the 400 mH heats finishing near the bottom of the field of 39 starters, Daiki Ogawa running 50.21 for 33rd, Kaito Tsutsue 50.50 for 35th and the high potential Ken Toyoda last among the 37 finishers in 53.62 after a mid-race injury. All three head to the repechage round, but in Toyoda's case he'll likely be a DNS. All three Japanese men in the 400 m repechage round, Joseph Nakajima , Fuga Sato and Kentaro Sato , gave it a miss in order to focus on the 4x400 m relay where their chances of making the final are higher. In the men's 3000 mSC heats, national record holder Ryuji Miura made it through to the final, running close to his season best with an 8:12.41 for 4th in Heat 2. Ryoma Aoki was one of the casualties of the slow pace in Heat 3, finishing 8th in 8:29.03 and missing out on advancing. In the men's 200 m heats 21-year-old...

Great conditions on the second day of Japan's National Track and Field Championships , U20 National Championships and Paris Olympics trials helped athletes set new National Championship meet records in the women's pole vault, men's 400 mH, men's and women's 1500 m, and men's 5000 m, with three of the five record setters and guaranteeing themselves places on the Paris Olympics team. Complete results here . Women's Pole Vault Final National record holder Misaki Morota cleared her minimum goal, the win in 4.31 m to score enough points to move from 33rd to 32nd in the 32-deep Paris Olympic quota. Morota took two attempts to get over 4.30 m, but on her first try at a Japanese National Championships meet record 4.41 m she got it done. That gave her enough points to move to 30th, but it would take clearing 4.50, 2 cm higher than Morota's NR, to move to 29th. That proved to be out of range, leaving Morota in good position but still waiting to see the outcome of...