japan running news

Only 7 Japanese athlete were in action on the 3rd day of the Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China, but between them they produced Japan's first double gold medal day of the games. Yoshihiro Kusuoka , the top guy at Teikyo University and the only one in the race with a best under 28 minutes, had an easy win in the men's 10000 m in 29:29.34. Silver medalist S.P. Madappagoudra of India ran a PB 29:33.54, with China's Jinzhi Jiang running 29:42.54 for bronze. The fastest man in the race with a best of 44.98 from June's National Championships, Hosei University 's collegiate record holder Shinya Hayashi backed Kusuoka's performance up in the 400 m, running 45.26 to win gold in a race that saw silver and bronze medalists Ngoc Tuong Ta of Vietnam and Zhexuan Shao of hosts China both run PBs. Ami Takahashi picked up silver in the women's 100 mH in 13.31 behind gold medalist Bo An Yi of Taiwan, with teammate Yuka Fukui 5th in 13.68. Takuma Sekin...

Japan's best university track meet happened the last 4 days in Tochigi at the 105th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships . The race of the meet was without a doubt the D1 men's 3000 mSC, where Japanese U20 all-time #2 Tetsu Sasaki (Waseda University) and Sanetada Ono (Tokai Univ.) pushed each other to both break one of the oldest records in Japanese athletics, 10-mile NR holder Masanari Shintaku 's 8:35.2 Kanto Regionals meet record from 1977. Just starting his 2nd year at Waseda, Sasaki got the win and record in 8:24.96, landing just outside the all-time Japanese top 10. Ono took just over a second off his PB to go under Shintaku's old record too in 8:31.41 for 2nd. On the women's side the race of the meet was the D1 women's 5000 m. Undefeated in the 5000 m and 10000 m at Kanto Regionals her first 3 years, Daito Bunka University 4th-year Sarah Wanjiru lost her shot at a perfect scorecard when she got taken down over the last lap in Thursday...

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...

#3-ranked Komazawa University came on strong over the second half of the National University Ekiden to take a record 17th national title, more than any other program in the national championship race's 57-year history. It had its share of dominant single-stage runs, but more than that this year's Komazawa lineup was consistent across the board, the only school to put all 8 of its runners into the top 5 on their stages, all but 2 of them in the top 3. Over the first 2 legs it was never more than 3 seconds out of 1st, moving up into that position by 1 seconds on the 3rd leg with a good run from 4th-year Yudai Kiyama . 3rd-year Kaisei Yasuhara was the weakest link with only the 5th-best time on the 4th leg, dropping Komazawa back to 4th and 35 seconds behind #2-ranked Chuo University 's Daichi Shibata . But on the next leg Komazawa 4th-year Aoi Ito turned it back around with the biggest run at this year's Nationals, running 35:01 for the 12.4 km 5th leg, 17 seconds unde...

Tough conditions at the Oda Memorial Meet Friday, heavy rain in the first half of the meet and strong winds in the second, held back the times, but most of the favorites still rose to the top. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) ran as the top Japanese man throughout the 5000 m A-heat, shrugging off brief challenges from Tokyo Olympian Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) and Takuma Sunaoka (Konica Minolta) in the last 1000 m to kick past Cosmas Mwangi (Chugoku Denryoku) for the win in 13:32.42. The other Tokyo Olympian in the race, Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) was a distant 10th in 13:47.35. Nganga Waweru (Chugoku Denryoku) won the B-heat in 13:57.60 over teammate Taira Omori , 2nd in 13:59.19. Agnes Mukari (Kyocera) took the win in the women's 5000 m A-heat, easily dropping Tabitha Njeri (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) over the last lap to win in 15:22.90 after being part of a Kenyan lead trio the entire way. Mukari, Njeri and eventual 4th-placer N...