Skip to main content

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Daichi Kamino

Daichi Kamino

age: 26
sponsor: Cell Source
graduated from: Chukyo H.S., Aoyama Gakuin University

best time inside MGC window:
2:10:18, 18th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon

PB: 2:10:18, 18th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:56.05 (2018) 10000 m: 28:17.54 (2016) half marathon: 1:01:04 (2017)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
8th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon, 2:11:05
29th, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:19:28
DNF, 2018 Berlin Marathon
18th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:10:18
13th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:12:50

other major results:
3rd, 2019 Shibetsu Half Marathon, 1:03:46
7th, 2019 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:03:05
7th, 2018 Ageo City Half Marathon, 1:02:19
17th, 2018 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:02:35
2nd, 2018 New Year Ekiden Seventh Stage (15.5 km), 48:38
3rd, 2017 Ome 30 km Road Race, 1:31:33
5th, 2017 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:04 – PB
2nd, 2016 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, 46:38
2nd, 2016 Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage (23.2 km), 1:19:17
9th, 2015 Maugame Half Marathon, 1:01:21
1st, 2015 Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage (23.2 km), 1:16:15 – CR

Kamino is one of the biggest Hakone Ekiden stars in the field, his reputation largely built on one record-breaking run on the uphill Fifth Stage in 2015 for four-time winner Aoyama Gakuin University. After graduating he joined the Konica Minolta corporate team, where his biggest result was a 1:01:04 at the 2017 Marugame Half Marathon to beat future marathon national record holders and MGC Race rivals Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) and Yuta Shitara (Honda).

But after two seasons Kamino quit to go the independent sponsor route. In his marathon debut in Fukuoka later that year he ran only 2:12:50, following that up with a 2:10:18 in Tokyo 2018. Spending blocks of time training in Kenya and Ethiopia didn’t seem to help as he was a DNF in Berlin and ran only 2:19:28 in Fukuoka. In Tokyo this year he needed to run 2:11:42 or better to qualify for the MGC Race on the two-race sub-2:11 option, which he cleared with a 2:11:05.

Kamino is back in Kenya training for the MGC Race, but for all the potential he showed in Hakone and the half marathon he hasn’t really demonstrated the aptitude for marathon yet that he’ll need in order to be a factor. He has said that he plans to quit running after the Tokyo Olympics, and in interviews he has seemed to suggest that he prefers the fame and celebrity side of being an athlete to the actual running. Just making the MGC Race was a pretty big accomplishment, but without some kind of major step up it’s hard to see Kamino going any further than that.

Next profile: Sairi Maeda (Daihatsu).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...
2 comments
Read more

Kuwata Runs Fastest-Ever Half Marathon by Japanese Man Outside Japan at United Airlines NYC Half

When the NYRR changed the United Airlines NYC Half course back in 2018 to more or less its current Boston-style hilly one-way version it seemed like it had been repurposed from a fast course to something more tactical. That went out the window last year with new course records of 59:09 and 1:07:04 from Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi , and this year's results backed that up. Hellen Obiri ground Lokedi down and took over 30 seconds off her CR, winning in 1:06:33 with Lokedi only 6 seconds off what she ran in 2025 but a distant 2nd in 1:07:10. British road 10 km NR holder Megan Keith rolled up hard late in the race to finish 3rd in 1:07:13 less than 10 seconds off old CR too. The men's race saw a big group of 18 attack the hilly first half on sub-59 pace, American Joe Klecker leading through 5 km in 13:57 and Houston Marathon winner Zouhair Talbi through 10 km in 27:56. Right up in it was Shunsuke Kuwata , a 20-year-old 2nd-year at 2025 National University Ekiden champ Koma...
Post a Comment
Read more

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...
1 comment
Read more