japan running news

https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2019-09/wada-and-kyowa-kirin-co-sign-agreement-formalizing-collaboration-to-protect-clean

The first Nittai University Time Trials meet of the season and the National Corporate Track and Field Championships delivered most of the weekend's pre-Doha World Championships action on the track.

At Nittai, Australian Melissa Duncan (Shiseido) and Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) tuned up for Doha with a head-to-head race over 3000 m, Duncan taking it by 0.40 in a sprint finish with a 9:05.45. The men's 10000 m was reasonably quick, with newcomer Razini Lemeteki (Takushoku Univ.) running a PB of almost two minutes to lead the top three under 28 minutes in 27:51.91.

But the most interesting result came in the women's 5000 m A-heat, where amateur club runners Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) and Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) went 1-2 in another sprint finish, outkicking 2016 Gold Coast Marathon winner Misato Horie (Noritz), 2:23 marathoner Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and every other corporate leaguer in the field to do it. Yamaguchi, who ran a PB of 2:33:09 last weekend for 4th…

At one point "misselected" by the JAAF to represent Japan at the World Championships beginning Sept. 27 in Doha, Qatar, Asian decathlon champion Keisuke Ushiro (33, Kokushikan Club) has been allowed to compete. The JAAF made the announcement on Sept. 20 that Ushiro was one of five athletes being added to Japan's roster. On his Twitter account Ushiro wrote, "I'm sorry to have made so many people worry about this, but I'm happy to say that today I got word that I'll be able to go to the World Championships. I'll do everything I can to be ready so I can get as close as I can to realizing my dream of medaling. Thank you all for your support."

As the 2019 Asian Championships gold medalist and 2019 national champion, the JAAF announced Ushiro as a member of the Doha team in June. But on Sept. 17 the IAAF informed the JAAF that Ushiro would not be allowed to compete due to not having cleared the qualification standard. The situation forced JAAF execut…

At a Tokyo-area press conference on Sept 18, JAAF executive Kazunori Asaba explained the circumstances surrounding decathlon champion Keisuke Ushiro (Kokushikan Club) having his place on the Doha World Championships team cut. Ushiro had not cleared the World Championships qualification standard of 8200 points, but in April he won the gold medal at the Asian Championships. It was assumed that as area champion he would be qualified to participate in the World Championships, and when he won June's National Championships the JAAF told him he would be on the Worlds team.

Regarding the area champion's qualification for the World Championships, the IAAF states, "Area champions in individual events held at the World Championships automatically qualify regardless of whether they have achieved the qualification standard. This is not applicable to the 10000 m, 3000 m steeplechase, combined events, field events or road events, in which their participation subject to the approval of …

On Sept. 17 it was learned that men's decathlon national champion Keisuke Ushiro (33, Kokushikan Club) has had his guaranteed spot on the Japanese national team for the Doha World Championships later this month eliminated. Ushiro won the gold medal at April's Doha Asian Championships, then won June's National Championships.

Under their published regulations for national representation in Doha, the JAAF guaranteed him a spot on the World Championships team for these accomplishments. But according to an involved party, IAAF regulations stipulate that the participation of area champions in certain events is dependent upon approval of the relevant technical delegate, and this appears to be the case in this instance. Ushiro has not cleared the World Championships qualification standard.

Ushiro did not attend the official Doha national team sendoff event held the same day in Tokyo. No explanation of the cancellation of his place on the team was offered to attendees at the event…

For the first time, the TBS and NHK television networks collaborated to produce a joint broadcast of Sunday's Marathon Grand Championship Olympic marathon trials. TBS covered the men's race and NHK simultaneously broadcast the women's race, with both networks sharing the same feed before the start and switching between each others' footage mid-race to show updates on the other gender's race. According to Video Research Inc., TBS' broadcast of the men's race earned viewership ratings of 16.4%. NHK's broadcast of the women's race scored ratings of 13.5%, giving the joint broadcast a combined rating of 29.9%.

The men's race began at 8:50 a.m. and the women's race at 9:10. Both networks' broadcasts began at 8:00. NHK commentator Masanori Aiba, a member of popular boy band Arashi, and TBS announcer Shinichiro Yasuzumi appeared together onscreen to jointly introduce the races. Aiba said, "This is the first-ever collaborative broadcast th…

A day on from the Marathon Grand Championship, Japan's 2020 Olympic marathon trials event, JAAF marathon development project team leader Toshihiko Seko, 63, spoke to media about the race, which broke from the tradition of the JAAF choosing national team members from multiple races to at last have the contenders all race head to head in a single competition.  "It takes at least six months to prepare for the Olympics," he said. "If you don't know whether you're on the team it creates a lot of uncertainty and worry. That's not going to be the case this time. The MGC was perfect. We came together in humility to put it together." With a laugh he added, "I want a 100 million yen [~$925,000 USD] bonus for it. All we got was the burden of responsibility."

Seko, who in his prime earned the reputation of being the nation's "TV ratings generator marathon man," eagerly anticipates a resurgence of popularity for the marathon thanks to th…

Most of the weekend's focus was on the MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials in Tokyo, but at the same time the National University Track and Field Championships were going on to the southwest in Gifu. The highlights of the meet were a pair of junior national records, one in the men's triple jump by Riku Ito (Kindai Kogyo Univ.) who jumped 16.34 m (+0.6 m/s) for the win, and another in the women's hammer throw by Momoko Watanabe (Tsukuba Univ.), whose 60.49 m throw was good for 2nd behind winner Miharu Kodate (Ryutsu Keizai Univ.).

The women's triple jump also saw a meet record, with winner Kanna Kawai (Osaka Seikei Univ.) jumping 13.65 m (+0.3 m/s). The highest-level race of the meet was probably the men's 4x100 m relay, where Tsukuba University led the top three under 39 seconds in 38.73.



88th National University Track and Field ChampionshipsNagaragawa Field, Gifu, Sept. 12-15, 2019
complete results

Men

100 m Final-0.0 m/s
1. Akihiro Higashida (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.…

After an almost two-year qualification period that made it the most difficult marathon in history to get into, Japan's Marathon Grand Championship 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon trials went off perfectly Sunday in warm and sunny conditions. Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu), 4th in Berlin last year, and 2018 Fukuoka winner Yuma Hattori (Toyota) went 1-2 in a 3-way sprint finish against national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) to score places on the Olympic team, with 2017 Hokkaido Marathon winner Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) taking the women's race and 2018 Hokkaido winner Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) holding off Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) to join Maeda in the Tokyo lineup.

It was a sign of the level of commitment that this generation brought, of what next summer's Olympics are going to be like, that both the women's and men's races went out at national record pace, but the two couldn't have been more different. In the women's race, 9 of the 10 starters went out fas…

Despite warm and windy conditions the Blackmores Sydney Marathon saw new course records in both its men's and women's races. Felix Kiprotich (Kenya) led the way in the men's race with the first-ever sub-2:10 clocking on Sydney's challengingly hilly and twisting course, breaking away from a group including Michael Kunyuga (Kenya) and Satoru Sasaki (Asahi Kasei) for the win in 2:09:49.

The top three all broke the course record. Sasaki, a Rio Olympian in the marathon who failed to qualify for today's MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials, could take extra satisfaction from having been 26 seconds faster than MGC winner Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) on a far tougher course. "I was aiming to win," Sasaki told JRN post-race, "but the course was really twisty and it was hard to run. It would have been nice to be a bit faster, but given my current situation and the problems I've had since Lake Biwa last year I think this put me back on my feet and will help me in my n…

It’s almost here. Japan’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics marathon trials. The Marathon Grand Championships Race. All of Japan’s best marathoners. All in one place. All in one race. What the people have always wanted. The first national Olympic trials race to be recognized with Gold Label status by the IAAF. The only one that legitimately met the Gold Label requirements. It was the hardest marathon ever to qualify for. It should be the best marathon of 2019. It could be the most tedious. Maybe both.

If you’re in Japan you can watch the live broadcast of the men’s race on TBS at 8:50 and the women’s race on NHK starting twenty minutes later. If you’re not in Japan your options for being part of it are limited. There is an official live stream of the men's race via Paravi, a paid service with a 30-day free trial. It's not clear if it's available overseas and signup looks to be only in Japanese. NHK's TV broadcast is available in some areas outside Japan. It’s also live streaming b…