japan running news

The 41st Kurayoshi Women's Ekiden and 45th Nihonkai Ekiden took place Oct. 4 in Kurayoshi, Tottori, the first big national-level high school ekidens of the season. In the 5-stage, 21.0975 km Kurayoshi race, the Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin girls' A team won for the third year in a row in 1:09:11, its 5th win in event history. Kunei Joshi 3rd-year Mai Fukumoto got them off to a good start with a 3rd-place finish on the 6.0 km First Stage in 19:30. 1500 m national high school champion Waka Murai , also a 3rd-year, ran the fastest time on the 4.0975 km Second Stage, 12:46, to make up the 11-second gap to the leader and move into 1st. From there on out the younger runners on the team excelled. 1st-year Mei Imanishi extended the lead to 31 seconds on the 3.0 km Third Stage, and 2nd-years Kaia Okuno and Kotoko Asahi placed near the top on the 3.0 km Fourth Stage and 5.0 km Fifth Stage to give Kunei Joshi the overall win by 1:10. Kanagawa's Hakuho Joshi H.S. was 2nd in 1:10:21...

The International Testing Agency announced on Oct. 2 that provisional suspensions have been imposed on two athletes, Kazakhstan's Aiana Bolatbekkyzy in track and field, and Tajikistan's Issamjon Sharifov in tennis, after they tested positive for prohibited substances at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi. Bolatbekkyzy, 19, tested positive for the steroid drostanolone in a sample collected during an in-competition test at the Games. A diuretic drug was found in the sample collected from Sharifov, 23. Update:  On Oct. 3 a third athlete, kurash wrestler Yash Kumar Chauhan  of India, was provisionally suspended after an in-competition test detected the steroid metandienone, the metabolic modulator GW1516, and the stimulant mephentermine in his system. source article: https://www.sanspo.com/article/20261002-X4FJLT5MMZKFND6WXPOESAKETQ/ translated by Brett Larner

A team of 8 athletes scheduled to represent Osaka at the JOC U16 Junior Olympics later this month in Mie will not be allowed to compete after officials at the local Osaka Junior High School Athletics Association failed to complete the entry process by the application deadline. According to an OJHSAA spokesperson, a total of 8 boys and girls were to compete in the Junior Olympics from Osaka, but the OJHSAA official responsible for handling team members' entries did not complete the entry process by the Sept. 24 deadline. The OJHSAA subsequently petitioned the JAAF to the accept the entries after the deadline, but the JAAF was reported to have denied the request. The OJHSAA spokesperson told members of the media, "We are looking at this situation to understand the causes and circumstances that led to it, and will take steps to better inform all our divisions so that similar things do not happen again in the future." source article: https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/2026...

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...

Athletics at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games wrapped yesterday with China leading its medal standings at 17 gold medals, 14 silver and 8 bronze. Hosts Japan  were next with 10 gold, 12 silver, 10 bronze, and the mostly African-born Bahrain team 3rd with 9 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze. Thailand's Puripol Boonson was the unofficial MVP of the Games, winning the men's 100 m on Sept. 25 in a MR and NR 9.90 (+0.1), tying the 200m AR on Sept. 27 with a 19.88 (-0.3) MR for his 2nd gold, running a monster men's 4x100 m anchor leg on Sept. 28 to put Thailand into 4th just 0.06 out of the medals, and then powering the Thai team to silver in the mixed 4x100 m relay on Sept. 29. U.A.E.'s Mariam Kareem was another highlight in the women's 400 mH, running 54.31 to set a new U20 AR, NR and MR. Japan's Taiju Goto delivered the Asian Games's other U20 AR, running 47.93 for silver behind Qatari Bassem Hemeida 's 47.82. Not counting the race walks, 13 other meet records wer...

The Asian Games were the main event happening over the last week, but there was other news happening on the roads and track in Japan and overseas. Like the road mile and road 10 km, the road 5 km is still a distance where the NR are pretty soft. The men's NR got a bit of a boost at Sunday's Adizero 5k Tokyo Challenge , where Itta Tameike and Riki Koike both went under the 13:30 NR set in May last year, Tameike getting the new NR in 13:25 and Koike right behind in 13:26. Shadrack Kipkemei took the overall win in 13:15, with Tameike 6th behind 4 other Japan-based Kenyans. The Adidas-sponsored event didn't have an elite women's field, with Natsumi Ishizaki winning the women's race in 18:05. The same day at Waseda University's campus in the western Tokyo suburbs, Raphael Dapash and Naoki Yoshikura raced to the line in the Road of Waseda 5 km , both clocking 13:38 with Dapash officially taking the top spot. Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage specialist Shinsaku Kudo r...

Back in Japan for the first time in 32 years and representing 60% of the world's population, with more athletes competing across all sports than at the Olympics, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games are already underway. Athletics competition starts tomorrow and runs through Tuesday the 29th. Some of the biggest names on the entry list include: Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (SRI) - men's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships gold and 2026 Diamond League champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN) - women's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships and 2024 Paris Olympics gold Birhanu Balew (BRN) - men's 5000 m/10000 m - 2026 Diamond League 5000 m champion Sanghyeok Woo (KOR) - men's high jump - 2025 Tokyo World Championships silver Hayato Katsuki (JPN) - men's marathon race walk - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Abderrahman Samba (QAT) - men's 400 mH - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Jiale Zhang (CHN) - women's hammer throw - 2025 Tokyo W...