Koike Runs Japan's Third Sub-10, Niiya Clears Doha 5000 m Standard

Koike Runs Japan's Third Sub-10, Niiya Clears Doha 5000 m Standard - Weekend Track Highlights

Japanese athletes were busy on the track overseas this weekend. At Friday's Stumptown Twilight meet in Portland, indoor mile Asian record holder Nanami Arai (Honda) took 2nd in the men's 1500 m in 3:39.58, his second time this season breaking 3:40. It used to be a rarity to see a Japanese man clear 3:40, something that happened once every couple of years, but so far this season four Japanese men have done it a total of six times. If the distance had even a fraction of the prestige of the Hakone Ekiden, or of that it has in the U.S., there's no doubt there'd be more.

Speaking of distances with prestige, on the first day of London's Muller Anniversary Games Diamond League spectacular Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) became the third Japanese man to join the sub-10 club, running 9.98 (+0.5 m/s) for 4th in the men's 100 m final. Koike also ran 2nd on the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay team, which clocked a season best 37.78 for 2nd despite featuring only two regulars, Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) and Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei). Making his debut on anchor as a late sub for 100 m national record holder Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Univ. of Florida), Kirara Shiraishi (Cerespo) brought the team home safely to join the growing ranks of potential members of the squad's roster for next year's Tokyo Olympics. Koike also returned on Day 2 of London to 20.24 (+0.9 m/s) for 4th in the 200 m, the 2nd-fastest by a Japanese man so far this year and just off his PB.

Having skipped June's National Championships 5000 m to focus on the London Diamond League, Hitomi Niiya (Nike Tokyo TC) switched to Saturday's KBC Nacht van de Atletiek meet in Belgium at the last minute after feeling that she wouldn't be able to reach her goal in London. In Belgium she ran 15:20.03 for 6th, becoming the fourth Japanese woman to clear the Doha World Championships standard and just missing the 15:19.99 year-leading Japanese time held by Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido). Nanaka Kuraoka (Denso) and Mai Shoji (Denso) took 9th and 11th in 15:33.45 and 15:35.54, with 3000 mSC U20 national record holder Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) handling pacing duties in the early going.

One of the four men to have broken 3:40 for 1500 m so far this year, Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) came up agonizingly short of joining Niiya under the Doha 5000 m standard in Belgium, running an all-time Japanese #11 13:22.72 but missing the Doha standard by 0.22. Hazuma Hattori (Toenec) finished last in 13:58.49. Tanaka has shown tremendous range this year, running 3:39.98 for 1500 m, this 13:22.72 for 5000 m, and a 1:01:33 half marathon. All that's left is a solid 10000 m for him to seal up the title of Japan's best non-marathon man.

800 m and 1500 m national champion Ran Urabe (Nike Tokyo TC) followed up a 3rd-place finish a few days ago in the 1500 m at the Meeting to Liege with another 1500 m at KBC Nacht. Unable to regain her form after having caught a cold post-Nationals, Urabe was only 4th in 4:21.01. Runner-up at Nationals, men's 800 m national record holder Sho Kawamoto (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) won the 800 m B-Heat in 1:46.93 after having gone 0.60 faster a few days ago in Barcelona.

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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