Skip to main content

20-Year-Old Genki Yagisawa Breaks Through to Sub-13:30 at Nittai Time Trials

by Brett Larner
photos by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu
videos by Ekiden News



The 232nd edition of 2013 Hakone Ekiden champion Nittai University's regular time trial meet series was the biggest on record.  After a Saturday dedicated to distances ranging from 800 m to 10000 m, Sunday dawned early for 45 heats of 5000 m, 42 for men and 3 for women, the first starting at 7:30 a.m. and the last at 9:20 p.m.  Mass-producing quality, the 5000 m heats averaged 42 runners each with the two largest having 48 finishers.  Late in the day the heats were beginning every 15 minutes like clockwork.  Performances were equally deep, with the women's 5000 m A-heat seeing the most women ever under 16:30, 38, and the men's 5000 m A-heat with 30 under 14:05 falling just short of the record of 33.

The performance of the weekend went to 20-year-old Meiji University junior Genki Yagisawa, a former high school star who has so far struggled to live up to expectations on the university ekiden circuit.  Running in the 5000 m A-heat Yagisawa scored a massive 27-second PB of 13:28.79 for 2nd behind a PB run from Sendai Ikuei H.S. ace Hiram Ngatia (Kenya) and ahead of the likes of 2010 World XC junior silver medalist Clement Langat (Kenya/Team Subaru), his time making him only the second Japanese 20-year-old to ever go sub-13:30.  For comparison, current #1 under-23 American Chris Derrick's best at the same age was one second slower, 13:29.74, with only four American 20-year-olds including Alberto Salazar ever clocking better times.

Meiji runners as a whole had an outstanding night, three others clocking sub-14 PBs between the A and B-heats led by sophomore Yuki Muta's 13:47.58 win in the B-heat. Meiji has shown early-season strength in past years only to fade by the time of January's Hakone main event, but with this many men breaking through to the next level they could be a challenger for the win in Japan's biggest sports event.

Hakone rivals Aoyama Gakuin University, Chuo Gakuin University, Hosei University, Nihon University and Tokai University also scored big with multiple runners running new sub-14 or sub-29 bests.  Tokai's results were the most noteworthy, three of its runners going sub-29 for the first time.  Tokai has long relied on one or two aces to carry the team's weight, a strategy that has rarely pulled it through.  In 2011 Hayashi Morozumi, who guided Saku Chosei H.S. to become one of Japan's best teams and cultivated most of Japan's top current young men including Akinobu Murasawa (Team Nissin Shokuhin), Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.), Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Yuichiro Ueno (DeNA RC), took over as Tokai's head coach. The team struggled for its first two years under his leadership, but the breakthrough en masse at this weekend's Nittai meet could be the first sign that his methods are starting to take effect.

Along with Ngatia, Yagisawa and the Meiji performances, other noteworthy runs on the men's side included:

  • A 27:48.55 PB win by the Honda corporate team's new Kenyan William Malel, the team's replacement for 2011 world 10000 m champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia).
  • A 13:36.79 breakthrough PB by Aritaka Kajiwara of the minor Press Kogyo team. Kajiwara is a graduate of the equally-minor Shoin University and ran the Hakone Ekiden on the Kanto Region Select Team, receiving the tasuki from future great Yuki Kawauchi on the Seventh Stage at the 2009 Hakone.
  • A 13:37.93 PB by 2010 Youth Olympics 3000 m 4th-placer Kazuto Nishiike (Hosei Univ.).
  • 18-year-old Kenta Ueda of Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S., 2000 m junior high school national record holder and the son of Yamanashi Gakuin University head coach Masahito Ueda, broke 14 for the first time with a best of 13:58.85.



Kenyan Pauline Kamulu (Team Toto) and 2010 National Corporate Women's Ekiden champion Team Tenmaya's next rising star Akari Ota led the way in the record-setting women's 5000 m A-heat, both running 15:30 PB marks with Kamulu getting the win.  All ten of the women in the top ten scored PBs, special mention going to Kureha Seki of 2012 National High School Ekiden champion Ritsumeikan Uji H.S., 7th in a PB of 15:42.36.  38 women cleared 16:30, eclipsing the previous record of 36 set at Nittai last December.  The women's 3000 m was more subdued, with corporate team Shimamura's Yukari Abe running 9:13.29 to win over a virtually all-high school top ten.

The Nittai University Time Trials series continues Oct. 26-27 with its 233rd edition.

232nd Nittai University Time Trials
Nittai University, Yokohama, 9/28~29/13
click here for complete results

Men's 10000 m Heat 12
1. William Malel (Kenya/Team Honda) - 27:48.55 - PB
2. Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Butsuryu) - 28:11.81
3. Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 28:13.34
4. Joseph Onsarigo (Kenya/Nanyu City Hall) - 28:20.57
5. Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:33.66
6. Hiroto Inoue (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 28:39.08 - PB
7. Tomoya Shirayanagi (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 28:41.24
8. Keita Akiba (Team Komori Corp.) - 28:44.30
9. Yuki Hirota (Tokai Univ.) - 28:44.34 - PB
10. Soji Ikeda (Team Yakult) - 28:47.91

Men's 5000 m Heat 42
1. Hiram Ngatia (Kenya/Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 13:26.73 - PB
2. Genki Yagisawa (Meiji Univ.) - 13:28.79 - PB
3. Clement Langat (Kenya/Team Subaru) - 13:31.10
4. Leul Gebreselassie (Ethiopia/Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 13:31.19 - PB
5. Daniel Mwiba (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) - 13:35.45 - PB
6. Aritaka Kajiwara (Team Press Kogyo) - 13:36.79 - PB
7. Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 13:37.46
8. Kazuto Nishiike (Hosei Univ.) - 13:37.93 - PB
9. David Njuguna (Kenya/Team Yakult) - 13:44.21 - PB
10. Cyrus Kingori (Kenya/Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 13:44.41 - PB

Men's 5000 m Heat 41
1. Yuki Muta (Meiji Univ.) - 13:47.58 - PB
2. Kazuya Namera (Team Subaru) - 13:50.65 - PB
3. Takuya Fujikawa (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 13:51.40 - PB
4. Yoshihiro Wakamatsu (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:52.70
5. Ryota Matoba (Team Komori Corp.) - 13:54.22 - PB
6. Shin Kimura (Meiji Univ.) - 13:54.27 - PB
7. Muryo Takase (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:54.35
8. Takamitsu Hashimoto (Team Komori Corp.) - 13:55.25 - PB
9. Shinichiro Tai (Hosei Univ.) - 13:56.35 - PB
10. Yusuke Ogura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 13:56.48 - PB

Women's 5000 m Heat 3
1. Pauline Kamulu (Kenya/Team Toto) - 15:30.46 - PB
2. Akari Ota (Team Tenmaya) - 15:30.82 - PB
3. Rina Yamasaki (Team Panasonic) - 15:40.23 - PB
4. Sayo Nomura (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 15:40.78 - PB
5. Mao Kuroda (Team Wacoal) - 15:41.49 - PB
6. Yuki Hidaka (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 15:41.98 - PB
7. Kureha Seki (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 15:42.36 - PB
8. Yuko Aoki (Canon AC Kyushu) - 15:42.62 - PB
9. Sakiko Matsumi (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 15:44.40 - PB
10. Rika Shintaku (Team Shimamura) - 15:46.50 - PB

Women's 3000 m Heat 8
1. Yukari Abe (Team Shimamura) - 9:13.29
2. Megumi Aoba (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 9:16.53 - PB
3. Kaori Morita (Eda H.S.) - 9:18.31
4. Yui Fukuda (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 9:18.77
5. Kanna Tamaki (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 9:20.52 - PB
6. Kayo Asaba (Team Denso) - 9:21.86
7. Shiori Morita (Eda H.S.) - 9:24.12
8. Kaho Morino (Mishima Kita H.S.) - 9:24.51
9. Yuki Maehata (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 9:24.66 - PB
10. Mako Sakaguchi (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 9:25.41

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

 photos (c) 2013 Kazuyuki Sugimatsu
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey Brett,

I was stunned by the sheer numbers of runners competing, and I was just wondering how many college runners were among the 30 who went under 1405? Is there any comparison to the NCAA season in terms of numbers under 14min - I imagine the NCAA would have more, but it can't be by much?
October 2, 2013 at 10:45 AM
Brett Larner said…
Heat 42, the A-heat, had 13 university men under 14:05, 10 of them under 14:00. There were also 3 high schoolers under 14:00. Of these numbers, 4 were Africans.

Heat 41, the B-heat, had 9 more university men, all Japanese, under 14:05, 6 of them sub-14:00.

It's probably worth noting that the 10000 m A-heat also had 6 university men under 29:00, all Japanese, with one more in the C-heat.

I'll check the database for total numbers of U.S. and Japanese college-aged men sub-14 but I wouldn't be quick to take the bet that there are more in the NCAA. Cf. http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.jp/2012/10/can-us-crack-top-three-2012-izumo.html
October 2, 2013 at 11:46 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

29 Women and 67 Men - Final List of Qualifiers for Oct. 15 MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials

With Sunday's Tartan Ottawa International Marathon the qualifying window for the Oct. 15 MGC Race , Japan's marathon trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics, came to a close. When the JAAF introduced this format for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a total of 15 women and 34 men made the tough standards. This time, with identical standards for women and even tougher ones for men , 29 women and 67 men made it, double the numbers on both sides. At the MGC Race, the top two finishers will earn guaranteed places on the Paris team. The 3rd placer will have a provisional spot, with the 4th and 5th placers named provisional alternates. If anyone runs under TBA time standards at one of the winter 2023-24 domestic marathons they'll have the chance to steal the 3rd spot on the team from the 3rd placer at the MGC Race, keeping those races relevant and the whole lead-up to the Olympics exciting. Among women, all three members of the Tokyo Olympics marathon team, Mao Ichiyama (Shiseido), Ayuko Su
Post a Comment
Read more

Olympic Trials Hopefuls Come Up Empty Handed at Ottawa Marathon

With the deadline for qualification for the Oct. 15 MGC Race Olympic marathon trials coming right up, at Sunday's Tartan Ottawa International Marathon eleven Japanese men took a last shot at joining the 67 men and 29 women to have already qualified. Depending on how fast they had already run inside the qualifying window each of the eleven had an individual qualifying standard to run, ranging from 2:08:00 to 2:11:30. But with the difficulties of doubling after having already raced in February or March, long international travel, and hot conditions in the last half hour of the race, none succeeded in hitting their qualifying mark. Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Soft) and Ryo Osaki (Komori Corp.), who both ran 2:08 earlier this year and needed to run in the 2:11 range to make it, and 2:10 runner Chihiro Ono (GMO) lasted the longest, Takeuchi still on track at 35 km and Osaki and Ono right on the cusp at 30 km. But like winner Yihunilign Adane (Ethiopia), who dropped from 2:06 pace at 30 km t
Post a Comment
Read more

National Track and Field Championships Day 1 Preview and Streaming

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
Post a Comment
Read more