japan running news

2017 saw Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) saw him extending his range at both ends of his spectrum with two sub-2:10s, breaking Ethiopian great Abebe Mekonnen 's world record for most career sub-2:12 marathons, and, in his final race of the year, tying American Doug Kurtis ' sub-2:20 world record. Along the way he set at least 10 course records, won 5 marathons, and took the top Japanese spot at 9th in the London World Championships, altogether making for one of the better years he's had so far. Based on the assumption that his performance at the 2016 Fukuoka Marathon, the " Miracle in Fukuoka ," was going to be enough to get him on the London team Kawauchi spent the New Year running on the London course and in preparation for August's World Championshps planned to run one overseas marathon a month starting in April. He tuned up at February's amateur-level Ehime Marathon, where an unexpectedly aggressive debut by local boy Yohei Suzuki (Wased...

For the last few years Ethiopia's Tsegaye Kebede and Japan's Yuki Kawauchi have been in a race to erase serial marathoner great Abebe Mekonnen from the record books. At one point Mekennon held a controlling share of the sub-x marathon world records, the number of times an athlete ran under 2:** in their career. Kebede has been taking Mekonnen's records away from the faster end and Kawauchi from the slower, finally meeting each other at the sub-2:12 level. Kawauchi got there first, tying Mekonnen's record of 22 at May's Prague Marathon. With his 2:09:18 at Sunday's Gold Coast Airport Marathon Kawauchi took away Mekonnen's last record as he marked his 23rd career sub-2:12, the first man in history to run such depth at quality. His Gold Coast performance extended Kawauchi's range to every record from sub-2:12 to sub-2:19. Looking ahead, he is now 8 races away from tying American Doug Kurtis ' record of 76 career sub-2:20 marks. With 6 more marat...

by Brett Larner all statistics c/o the ARRS database corrections and additions welcome The upcoming sub-2 marathon attempt is generating a lot of talk about the very sharp end of men's marathoning, the delivery of the single greatest marathon performance of all time. But there are other ways of thinking about who ranks at the top of the list of all-time greats than just a single run by a single athlete. Who performed the most consistently at a high level, had the greatest depth at quality as a marathoner over their career? Sub-x marathon records, the greatest number of times a single runner has gone under 2:03, under 2:04, under 2:05, are one way to look at that. The table below shows the seven men from four countries who hold the records for every one minute increment from sub-2:03 to sub-2:20. Click to enlarge. Athletes with names in green are still active, while those in red no longer compete. Within the table green indicates a sub-x record, yellow a record which a given a...

by Brett Larner 2017 Tokyo Marathon top elites Wilson Kipsang, Dickson Chumba, Tsegaye Kebede, Amane Bersio, Amane Gobena, Birhane Dibaba, Masato Imai, Kazuhiro Maeda and Yuma Hattori. The Tokyo Marathon celebrates its eleventh edition as a mass-participation race this year on a new course with relocated hills to make it faster for the front end and a scenic finish for the masses.  To try to bring its event records more into line with the rest of the Abbott World Marathon Majors Tokyo has brought in some big guns, none bigger than former world record holder Wilson Kipsang (Kenya).  Fresh from a 2:03:13 PB at September's Berlin Marathon, Kipsang brought Friday's press conference to a boil when he predicted in writing a 2:02:50 world record on the new Tokyo course. Kipsang predicting a 2:02:50 world record. That may be a stretch, but looking at the depth and quality of the competition the 2:05:42 Tokyo record held by Dickson Chumba (Kenya) looks vulnerable, with...

by Brett Larner With his 2:09:54 at Sunday's Ehime Marathon Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) became the fifteenth runner in history to run sub-2:10 eleven times or more in his career.  The achievement puts him in distinguished company, including two marathon world record setters, seven Olympic marathon medalists, seven World Championships marathon medalists, three World Marathon Majors champions and eight winners of the six races now making up the World Marathon Majors. Kawauchi is one of only three non-African athletes to make the list, one of four on the list without either an Olympic or World Championships medal or a win at one of the Big Six, one of four to have not broken 2:07, and, with a PB of 2:08:14, the only one who has not run sub-2:08.  A sub-2:08 PB and a World Championships medal remain the major goals of his career. Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) - 16 times sub-2:10 PB: 2:04:38 2013 World Marathon Majors champion 1st, 2013 London Marathon 1st, 2012 C...

by Brett Larner 2014 Asian Games marathon gold medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) was back in Japan at Sunday's hot Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon , pulling along Atsede Baysa (Ethiopia) and Paskalia Kipkoech (Kenya) through the early kilometers but on her own by 30 seconds before halfway and rolling on unchallenged to a new course and national record of 1:09:37.  Baysa was likewise on her own in 2nd in 1:10:37, while Brianne Nelson (U.S.A.) ran down Kipkoech late in the race for 3rd in 1:12:43.  Yuko Mizuguchi (Team Denso) took top Japanese honors at 5th in 1:13:47. On the men's side, former Team Toyota runner James Rungaru (Kenya) likewise pushed things early in his return to Japan, killing off favorite Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) with an opening 5 km of 14:17 that put him 10 seconds ahead of the chase group including past winner Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC).  Rungaru slowed in the final 5 km but was out of range of the chasers and took the win in 1:02:...

by Brett Larner Course record holder Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC), past champion Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Fukuoka International Marathon course record holder Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) lead the men's field for the 5th edition of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon on May 17, an event that has quickly surpassed the Sendai International Half Marathon as Japan's premier late-spring half marathon.  Former Toyota runner James Rungaru (Kenya) is back and with a 1:00:12 best looks like another contender up front, and Australian 10000 m national record holder Ben St. Lawrence is also in the field.  Japanese entries include sub-1:02 men Kenji Yamamoto (Team Mazda), Kenta Matsumoto (Team Toyota) and Masamichi Shinozaki (Team Hitachi Butsuryu), plus 2014 Asian Games marathon bronze medalist Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't). On the women's side, Asian Games marathon gold medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) returns to Japan after winning March's Nago...

by Brett Larner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) came into 2014 off a legendary year that saw him set 3 world records, running 2:09 marathons 14 days apart, 2:08 marathons 42 days apart and 4 sub-2:10 marathons within one calendar year.  His main goals for 2014 were clear enough: a sub-2:08 and a gold medal at October's Asian Games.  And, not content with 11 marathons last year, this year he turned it up to 13, going sub-2:20 in all of them to surpass American great Doug Kurtis ' best of 12. Italian Giorgio Calcaterra ran 16 sub 2:20 marathons in 2000, but only 6 were sub-2:17.  All 13 of Kawauchi's cleared 2:17, 9 of them faster than Calcaterra's 2000 best of 2:13:15. Kawauchi started off with the race he identified as his best of the year, a solo 2:10:14 course record at the amateur-level Kumamoto-jo Marathon without pacers, competitors or special drinks.  Running by feel he went far faster than planned, an effort that he paid for 2 weeks later at ...

by Brett Larner Former Hakone Ekiden uphill specialist Masato Imai  (Team Toyota Kyushu) had the best results of the day among the three Japanese athletes at the 2013 ING New York City Marathon , running a steady pace to advance to 6th in 2:10:45, the best-ever performance by a Japanese man in New York.  The Koichi Morishita -coached Imai and, appearing with support from JRN, independent Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) stayed in the midst of the men's lead pack running into the wind throughout the first half of the race. When defending champion and eventual winner Geoffrey Mutai (Kenya) led a move at 22 km both Imai and Kawauchi fell off the group along with past New York champions Meb Keflezighi  (U.S.A.) and Martin Lel (Kenya) and 2013 New York City Half Marathon runner-up Daniele Meucci  (Italy). Imai showed characteristic uphill strength heading onto the Queensboro Bridge just before 25 km, remaining within 10 seconds of the lead group after the turn ...

by Brett Larner The ING New York City Marathon has rarely seen top-level Japanese athletes in its field, largely as a consequence November's series of regional qualifying ekidens for the corporate league's men's and women's national championships ekidens in late December and early January.  This year New York scored one of Japan's best along with two more quality corporate runners. A cultural phenomenon in Japan who has won fans worldwide, the independent  Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) comes to New York with support from JRN to make his U.S. and World Marathon Majors debut in his ninth of eleven marathons scheduled for this year.  After a early-spring season that saw him run a 2:12:24 Egyptian all-comers' record, a 2:08:15 course record at the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in a duel with Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki), a 1:29:31 CR at the Kumanichi 30 km, a 2:08:14 PB at the Seoul International Marathon and three other races all within ...

by Brett Larner In his third-straight appearance on a World Championships or Olympic team, Kentaro Nakamoto  (Team Yasukawa Denki) confirmed his position as Japan's best marathoner, building on his 10th-place finish at the 2011 Daegu World Championships and 6th-place finish last summer at the London Olympics with a characteristically steady and relentless race for 5th in 2:10:50 in the Moscow World Championships marathon after spending most of the race in the leading pack with eventual medalists Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda), Lelisa Desisa  (Ethiopia) and Tadese Tola  (Ethiopia) and defending Chicago and London Marathon champion Tsegay Kebede  (Ethiopia). After a slow first 10 km the leading group settled onto a mid-2:10 pace where it stayed for the remainder of the day.  Nakamoto and Yuki Kawauchi  (Saitama Pref. Gov't) were quick to position themselves near the front of the pack, with Kazuhiro Maeda  (Team Kyudenko) and Masakazu Fujiwara  (T...