Ichiyama and Shitara Top 2019 Japanese Distance Rankings

Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) and Yuta Shitara (Honda) topped JRN's 2019 Japanese distance rankings as the overall female and male athletes of the year despite neither succeeding in qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team.

Just 21 years old, Ichiyama debuted at March's Tokyo Marathon in 2:24:33, then came back the next month with a 2:27:27 in London to qualify for the MGC Race Olympic marathon trials. En route to the MGC Race she won July's Hakodate Half Marathon in an all-time Japanese #8 time of 1:08:49 before taking the Olympic trials out at national record pace. She fell short of making the team, but after bouncing back in time for ekiden season she wrapped the year with a PB of 31:34.56 at December's National Corporate Time Trials meet.

Struggling with injury ever since his marathon national record at the 2018 Tokyo Marathon, Shitara returned with a 1:01:36 tuneup at April's Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon before dropping the fastest Japnaese 10000 m of the year, 27:53.67, a week later, and the fastest Japanese marathon time of the year, 2:07:50, in Australia in July. Both times were wins. Like Ichiyama he went out near national record pace at September's MGC Race, and like her he couldn't sustain it long enough to make the Olympic marathon team. Post-race Shitara said he would go for the national record at the 2020 Tokyo Marathon, something that would both put him on the Olympic team in place of the 3rd-placer at the MGC Race and score him a 100-million bonus, almost a million U.S. dollars. He was clear about his motivations to the media, saying, "I care about the 100 million yen more than the Olympics."

After several straight years of progress by Japanese men, this year the pendulum swung back toward the women. Between 5000 m, 10000 m, the half marathon and marathon, only the 5000 m saw any Japanese men break into the all-time Japanese top 25, with none clearing the all-time top 10. By contrast, Japanese women set new all-time top 25 marks for 5000 m, half marathon and marathon, with top 3 times for both 5000 m and half marathon. The MGC Race held back men's marathon times somewhat, the slow first 15 km preventing any sub-2:10 times which in turn knocked Japan down from its usual 3rd or 4th-place worldwide position on the annual top ten marathon time average rankings to 7th. The women held on to 3rd, but it was an indication of the explosion in marathon times in Kenya and Ethiopia this year that although both the Japanese men's and women's averages were among their fastest-ever, relative to the worldwide average it was the weakest year in history for Japanese men and the weakest since 1988 for Japanese women. In the face of such rapid change what does the future hold, both in long term and on the immediate Olympic horizon, for the inherently conservative Japanese system?