Skip to main content

Yu Mitsuya Named Head Coach of Alma Mater Jinsei Gakuen H.S.

On Sept. 1 Jinsei Gakuen H.S. announced that it has named alumnus and two-time World Championships runner Yu Mitsuya, 32, as the new head coach of its track and field team. According to school officials, Mitsuya will transfer from his current position at the Toyota Kyushu corporation to assume his duties at the school by the end of the year.

Longtime Jinsei Gakuen H.S. head coach Chikara Onishi passed away suddenly in mid-April at age 56. While searching for a replacement who could coach the team with expertise the school consulted with alum Mitsuya, famed in athletics circles for his record of success as an athlete. Mitsuya expressed his interest. Yu Shimoyama, 42, who has served as interim head coach and general manager since Onishi's passing, will continue as team manager.

Mitsuya entered Jinsei Gakuen H.S. in April, 2000, leading the team to the National High School Ekiden all three years. After graduating he joined the Toyota Kyushu corporate team coached by Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita, winning the 2005 National Championships 10000 m at age 20. Three weeks later, paced by his training partner and future Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru he ran 27:41.10, at the time the fastest-ever time by a Japanese man on Japanese soil and still the fastest-ever by a Japanese 20-year-old. He ran the 10000 m at the Helsinki World Championships that year and the 5000 m at the Osaka World Championships in 2007.

Regarding his aspirations as head coach Mitsuya commented, "To start with I want to build the team up solidly into a group of athletes who can run. Our first challenge will be the National High School Ekiden prefectural qualifier in November." Regarding his methodology as coach Mitsuya said, "Using Coach Onishi's principles as a base I aim to develop athletes who can be successful whether they go to university or a corporate team."

source article: http://www.shikoku-np.co.jp/sports/local/20170902000166
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Comments

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

Asian Games Competition Schedule

The daily athletics event schedule for September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . Wednesday, Sept. 23 7:30 - Women's / Men's Half Marathon Race Walk Final Thursday, Sept. 24 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon 100 mH 10:20 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats 10:30 - Men's Triple Jump Heats 10:40 - Women's Heptathlon High Jump 19:05 - Men's High Jump Heats 19:13 - Women's Heptathlon Shot Put 19:33 - Women's 100 m Heats 19:44 - Women's Triple Jump Final 20:08 - Men's 100 m Heats 20:55 - Men's Discus Throw Final 21:00 - Women's Heptathlon 200 m 21:25 - Women's 10000 m Final 22:15 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final Friday, Sept. 25 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon Long Jump 10:30 - Men's 400 m Heats 11:25 - Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw 19:05 - Women's Shot Put Final 19:13 - Women's 100 m Semifinal 19:33 - Men's 100 m Semifinal 20:03 - Women's Pole Vault Final 20:11 - Women's Heptathlon 800 m 20:32 - Men's 10000 m Final 20:40 - M...