japan running news

Japan's National Track and Field Championships and U20 National Track and Field Championships, doubling as its trials for the Paris Olympics team, got rolling Thursday at Niigata's Denka Big Swan Stadium. Highlights below, complete results here . Finals Men's 3000 m SC Final One of the favorites, Seiya Sunada fell on the barrier coming into the home straight on the second lap and ultimately finished 2nd to last. Yutaro Niinae took over after a 2:52 first 1000 m and led the rest of the way, pushing the pace until by the bell it was just him, Chuo University 's 19-year-old Daichi Shibata and mile NR holder Ryoma Aoki . All three were still together in the last 100 m, but Aoki had the gear to win it in 8:24.21, his first time under 8:30 since last October. Shibata was next in 8:24.68, a PB by 18 seconds, and Niinae 3rd in 8:25.45, a 3-second PB. Already 27th of 36 in the Paris quota, Aoki is pretty much a lock to make the Paris Olympics along with NR holder Ryuji Miura...

The 107th National Track and Field Championships and 39th U20 National Championships wrapped up Sunday in Osaka with a new national record and a meet record on the books. Running into a -0.9 m/s headwind, Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) pushed the second half of the men's 100 mH final to shave 0.2 off the NR with a 13.04 for the win. Izumiya was already at #2 in the world this season with his previous SB of 13.07, but his new NR inched him closer to current world leader Grant Holloway 's 13.01. Nine years after setting the Japanese men's NR, Sho Kawamoto (Suzuki) unexpectedly turned in a 1:46.18 MR to win the 800 m. Kawamoto was pushed over the last 200 m by Junya Matsumoto (FAJ), whose 1:46.52 PB for 2nd was enough to move him up to all-time Japanese #10. The absence of NR holder Ryota Yamagata and relay team regulars Yoshihide Kiryu , Shuhei Tada and Aska Cambridge from Nationals has raised a lot questions about the Japanese men's 4x100 relay team's chanc...

  The 107th National Track and Field Championships and 39th U20 National Championships wrap up Sunday at Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai. Streaming runs on two feeds from 10:30 a.m. to 16:30 local time, with the last block from 16:30 to 18:45 on NHK TV nationwide and ad-free. Live results will be here .   Finals 10:30 - U20 Women's Shot Put 12:20 - U20 Men's High Jump 12:25 - U20 Women's Long Jump 12:30 - U20 Men's Shot Put 13:35 - U20 Women's 400 mH 13:50 - U20 Women's 800 m 14:00 - U20 Men's 800 m 14:20 - U20 Men's 110 mH 14:30 - U20 Women's 200 m 14:40 - U20 Men's 400 m 14:40 - Women's Shot Put 15:20 - U20 Men's 100 m 15:25 - Men's High Jump 15:30 - U20 Women's 3000 m 15:55 - U20 Men's 3000 m 16:00 - Women's Long Jump 16:32 - Women's 400 mH 16:45 - Women's 800 m 16:55 - Men's Shot Put 17:00 - Men's 800 m 17:15 - Women's 200 m 17:30 - Men's 400 m 17:45 - Men's 110 mH 18:05 - Women's 5000...

Mariko Morimoto (Uchida Kensetsu) brought the performance of the day in the women's triple jump on the third day of the 107th National Track and Field Championships and 39th U20 National Championships Saturday at Osaka's Yanmar Nagai Stadium. On her fifth attempt Morimoto jumped 14.16 m +0.7 m/s, a massive PB that broke the 1999-era national record by 12 cm. It was enough to move her up to 10th in the world this year, a welcome surprise to fans and federation officials in the lead-up to August's Budapest World Championships. The women's 100 mH final was the race of the day, a four-way photo finish between NR holder Mako Fukube (NKK), WC quota occupants Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko) and Yumi Tanaka (Fujitsu), and previous NR holder Asuka Terada (Japan Create Group), non-ranked as she makes another comeback this season. Terada and Aoki both clocked 12.95, Tanaka 12.96 and Fukube 12.99, and after a long review Terada was named the winner. In a way it was the most complicate...

  Heavy rain in Osaka on Friday meant most field events at the 107th National Track and Field Championships and 39th U20 National Championships got bumped to Saturday morning, meaning a packed program. So let's get to it. Streaming starts at 9:50 on the general feed above and field-dedicated field below and goes until 16:30, after which it'll be on NHK TV. Live results are here . Meet schedule and top entries in each event are below. Marks listed are athletes' best performance inside the National qualifying window. One of the main stories today is absences. The men's 110 mH heats field is solid but missing Budapest World Championships entry standard holder Rachid Muratake . The men's 400 mH final is missing Kazuki Kurokawa . Absent from the men's 100 m heats are three of its biggest names, NR holder Ryota Yamagata , former NR holder Yoshihide Kiryu  and relay team leadoff runner Shuhei Tada . Men's long jump NR holder Shotaro Shiroyama  and Yuki Hashioka  a...

Heavy rain in Osaka on the leading edge of a passing typhoon meant most of the field events on the day 2 program at the 107th National Track and Field Championships and 39th U20 National Championships got bumped to the morning of day 3, but on the track men's 1500 m NR holder Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec) dropped a meet record to win the best race of the day. One of five men on the start list with bests under 3:40, Kawamura held off a surprise challenge from Yusuke Takahashi (Hokkaido Univ. Grad School) and #2-ranked Keisuke Morita (Subaru) to take the national title in 3:38.45, breaking the ancient 1991-era National Championships meet record by 0.39. It was a close enough finish that both Takahashi and Morita made it under the MR too, Takahashi in a PB 3:38.69 and Morita in 3:38.75. 4th-placer Masato Saiki (Fujisannomeisui) went under 3:40 for the first time in 3:39.58. Just about the only ones to underperform were the two World Championships quota-ranked athletes in the field, Ry...

The  107th National Track and Field Championships and 39th U20 National Championships continue Friday through Sunday at Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai. With the Bangkok Asian Championships in July, Budapest World Championships in August and Hangzhou Asian Games in September this will be the main national team selection event for all three. Streaming will be on the main channel above from 10:30 a.m. local time until things starting getting good at 18:30, and on a separate feed for field events at the same time. After that it will be on NHK BS1 from 18:30 to 19:30, then NHK's main channel from 19:30 to 20:42. Live results can be found here . Heavy-duty rain ahead of an approaching typhoon is likely to be a factor. Six finals have athletes with a realistic chance of making the World Championships team. Of those, NR holders Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) in the women's javelin throw and Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) in the men's 3000 mSC have the World standard and are pretty much...

As expected the senior men's 5000 m was the race of the day at the start of Japan's 107th National Track and Field Championships and 39th U20 National Championships . 10 mile WB holder Benard Koech (Kyudenko) held the pace steady at exactly 2:40/km through 3000 m, too much for NR holder Suguru Osako (GMO) who dropped out shortly after that. The pace slowed to 2:46 for the 4th km, prompting steeplechase Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) to launch a long surge, 2:33 for the last 1000 m and 60' for the last lap, that carried him to the win in 13:19.85. Indoor 5000 m NR holder Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) and Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) closed in the final 200 m but were too far back, two-time national champ Endo taking 2nd in 13:20.84 and Shimizu 3rd in a PB 13:21.18. U20 NR holder Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) started conservatively and spent most of the race moving up through the field. Out of range when Endo and Shimizu went, Sato showed the influence of workouts he learned ...

The 107th National Track and Field Championships and 39th U20 National Championships happen the next four days at Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai. With the Bangkok Asian Championships in July, Budapest World Championships in August and Hangzhou Asian Games in September this will be the main national team selection event for all three. Streaming will be on the main channel above from 10:30 a.m. local time until things starting getting good at 18:00, and on a separate feed for field events at the same time. After that you need to be a subscriber to NHK BS1 to catch the TV broadcast of the main events.  Live results can be found here . Five events on the Thursday program have people in the World Championships quota, and out of those the men's 5000 m is going to be the race of the day. Everyone is there - NR holder Suguru Osako (Nike), indoor NR holder Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko), U20 NR holder Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.), H.S. NR holder Hiroto Yoshioka (Juntendo Univ.), Olympian...