The always-strong U20 Women's squad and sometimes-strong U20 Men's squad are solid, each featuring the top six from its race at Nationals led by junior national champions Ririka Hironaka (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) and Jun Kasai (Kansai Soka H.S.).
The Senior Men's team is one of the better in recent years, with only Nationals 2nd-placer Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) and 6th-placer Shota Onizuka (Tokai Univ.) giving the team a miss. In their places will run 7th-place Kosei Yamaguchi (Asian Kogyo), a steeplechase specialist, and Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota), the fastest man on the team with a track 10000 m PB of 28:29.23.
But the Senior Women's lineup is thin. Six of the top eight placers at Nationals were already on the Japanese national team for April's Doha Asian Championships, and of them only national champion Nozomi Tanaka (ND28 AC) and 8th-place Yui Yabuta (Otsuka Seiyaku) are opting to double. 6th and 7th-placers Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.) and Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) will fill the others' spots to give the women the bare number for team scoring.
For Tanaka, the 3000 m gold medalist at last summer's World U120 Championships it will be her longest race to date and international debut in a senior race. It will also have personal significance. Ten years ago when she was 9 years old, her mother Chihiro Tanaka won the 2009 Copenhagen Marathon with support from JRN. Nozomi grew up with the image of the far-off land of Denmark in her mind and the goal of someday running there. Now a national champion at age 19 she'll get her chance in one month as the leader of the senior women's national team.
JRN will be on-site in Aarhus for the World Cross-Country Championships. Look for more coverage closer to race date.
Aarhus World Cross Country Championships
Japanese National TeamAarhus, Denmark, 3/31/19
complete team listing
Senior Men's 10 km
Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 28:29.23 (10000 m)
Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 28:31.06 (10000 m)
Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) - 28:34.19 (10000 m)
Yohei Komatsu (Tokai Univ.) - 28:35.63 (10000 m)
Yuta Bando (Hosei Univ.) - 28:44.87 (10000 m)
Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda Univ.) - 29:07.07 (10000 m)
Senior Women's 10 km
Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) - 32:51.98 (10000 m)
Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.) - 33:34.70 (10000 m)
Nozomi Tanaka (ND28 AC) - 15:15.80 (5000 m)
Yui Yabuta (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 16:22.54 (5000 m)
U20 Men's 8 km
Jun Kasai (Kansai Soka H.S.)
Issei Sato (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.)
Ryuto Igawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.)
Tetta Shiratori (Saitama Sakae H.S.)
Mebuki Suzuki (Saku Chosei H.S.)
Taiga Nakanishi (Kanazawa Ryukoku H.S.)
U20 Women's 6 km
Ririka Hironaka (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.)
Ayuka Kazama (Narita H.S.)
Chika Kosakai (Narita H.S.)
Miku Sakai (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.)
Hikari Onishi (Suma Gakuen H.S.)
Hazuki Doi (Suma Gakuen H.S.)
© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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