Skip to main content

Vote For the JAAF Athletics Awards' MVP of 2018

The JAAF is asking for fan votes on the MVP of Japanese athletics in 2018. Vote here. Fill out the voting form by Friday Japan time as follows:
  1. e-mail address
  2. username
  3. male (男性) or female (女性)
  4. age
  5. If you follow the JAAF, select how.
  6. You have a chance to win prizes. Choose A for tickets to the JAAF Athletics Awards Dec. 17 in Tokyo. Choose B for a JAAF calendar. Choose C for a personalized message if your pick wins.
  7. Choose the athlete you're voting for (see below).
  8. Enter your reason for choosing that athlete.
  9. submit
Worthy contenders among JAAF-nomiated long distance athletes include:
  • Hiroto Inoue: 井上大仁(MHPS) - 2:06:54 at Tokyo Marathon and first Asian Games marathon gold medal by Japanese man in 32 years, neither in Vaporfly 4%.
  • Yuki Kawauchi: 川内優輝(埼玉県庁)- First-ever Japanese winner of an Abbott World Marathon Majors race and first Japanese Boston Marathon winner in 31 years.
  • Nao Kazami: 風見尚(愛三工業)- Men's 100 km world record.
  • Suguru Osako: 大迫傑(Nike)- 2:05:50 national record in VF 4%.
  • Yuta Shitara: 設楽悠太(Honda)- 2:06:11 national record in VF 4%, breaking 16-year-old NR.
  • Nozomi Tanaka: 田中希実(ND 28AC)- World U20 Championships women's 3000 m gold medal, Japan's first-ever.
Vote well and vote often, but vote by this Friday Japan time. Sadly, Hitomi Niiya's jaw-dropping CR comeback run on the anchor stage of the East Japan Women's Ekiden didn't earn her a nomination, but I have the feeling she'll be earning at least a nomination in 2019 and 2020.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon , the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7˚ at the start and rising to 12˚ with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming . One option for  a leaderboard is here , and another here . We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive . Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui , winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga , winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba . But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a c...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...