The organizers of the Hachioji Long Distance meet traditionally held in late November at Hachioji's Kamiyugi Field announced this week that the meet's 2026 edition has been postponed until March 6, 2027. Explaining the move, organizers said, "Various circumstances make it difficult to meet the conditions necessary to stage the meet, making it difficult to organize it at its usual time." Using pacers and Wavelight technology to help deliver reliably fast 10000 m times, the meet is a favorite for collegiate and corporate league runners. It occupies a solid place in Japanese long distance history, capped by Mebuki Suzuki 's 27:05.92 national record there last year. By moving the meet to Mar. 6, organizers said, "We are preparing to make this a high-profile event, a place where our best domestic athletes can aim for strong performances and a stage for record-breaking attempts in the lead-up to the 2027 Beijing World Championships." This year's 10000 m Na...
Only 5 finals happened on the fifth day of the 2026 National High School Championships , but in the girls' pole vault Kiyora Matsuura (Kumiyama H.S.) turned in the second meet record of the championships so far. Having already cleared 4.10 m to move up to all-time high school #4 in May, Matsuura had her sights on the 4.16 m high school record. With nobody else going higher than 3.90 m Matsuura cleared 4.00 m and 4.05 m on her first attempts, then passed on 4.10 m to go straight to 4.17 m. But it wasn't to be, and her 4.05 m stood as the new MR, at least until her senior year next year. Toma Tabushi (Shiritsu Funabashi H.S.) jumped 15.64 m (+0.2) to win the boys' triple jump, Hikaru Mizuno (Yashiro H.S.) taking the boys' hammer throw with a 64.63 m on his final attempt. On the track, the 200 m titles went to Nao Yamada (Shiritsu Kashiwa H.S.) in the girls' race in 23.91 (-0.8) and Randi Tsukamoto (Hoshigaya H.S.) in 20.95 (-1.2) in the boys' race. National Hi...