Skip to main content

2020 Olympic Marathon Trials Winner Shogo Nakamura Wins First Race of Year in PB Time

2020 Olympic marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura (27, Fujitsu) ran a course record 1:01:40 to win the Jan. 12 Takanezawa Genki Up Half Marathon in Tochigi. His time bettered his 2016 PB of 1:01:53 by 13 seconds. "I ran pretty much according to plan," he commented afterward.

Nakamura's sponsor team Fujitsu finished 17th at November's East Japan Corporate Ekiden, failing to qualify for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national championships. As a result, Takanezawa was his first race of the Olympic year. Alongside him were members of 2020 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University, runner-up Tokai University and other top collegiate programs. Most fielded 3rd-year and younger team members who didn't make this year's Hakone lineups, giving them valuable experience for the buildup to next year's 97th running.

Next up Nakamura plans to run in the Mar. 29 World Half Marathon Championships. His coach Hiroaki Oyagi, 61, commented, "At the World Half we will be targeting a time under 1:01." Honing his speed, Nakamura continues to prepare for the Aug. 9 Sapporo Olympic marathon.

In the 10 km race, Tokai head coach Hayashi Morozumi, 53, ran 35:40, breaking the 50+ course record but finishing 2nd in his division. "The last 3 km were hard," he said. "I felt like this summed up this season. A course record but 2nd, just like at Hakone." Morozumi plans to run March's Tokyo Marathon, his first time running one since the 1995 Fukuoka International Marathon. "I aim not to get hurt," he said. With a PB of 2:18:37, his goal this time is to go sub-3.

47th Takanezawa Genki Up Half Marathon

Takanezawa, Tochigi, 1/12/20

1. Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) - 1:01:40 -CR, PB
2. Daisuke Momozawa (San Kogyo) - 1:01:58 - PB
3. Hironobu Nakakura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:26 - PB
4. Taiki Miyasaka (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:26 - PB
5. Ryo Nishikubo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:26 - PB
6. Takeshi Shingo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:30 - PB
7. Yuito Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:43 - PB
8. Keita Honma (Tokai Univ.) - 1:02:59 - PB
9. Shoya Hayata (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:00 - PB
10. Torazo Kai (Chuo Univ.) - 1:03:07 - PB

source articles:
https://hochi.news/articles/20200112-OHT1T50040.html
https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/202001120000308.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...