Breaking Down the Top Performances at the 2020 Hokuren Distance Challenge Series

After months off from competition, the athletes at this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge produced high-level performances across the board, with world-leading times at all four meets in the series and a string of Japanese national records. Using World Athletics scoring tables to compare performances across distances and meets, Rosemary Wanjiru (Starts) turned in the best run of the series with her world-leading 30:38.18 in the Abashiri meet 10000 m. Benard Kibet (Kyudenko) had the best men's performance of the series when he held off Bedan Karoki (Toyota) to win the Fukagawa meet 10000 m with a 27:14.84 world leader. Kibet was the only athlete male or female to have two performances inside the overall ten best in the series, his 13:11.77 win in the Abashiri 5000 m ranking at #9.

Among Japanese athletes, Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) had the top performance of the series with her 31:23.30 PB in the Abashiri 10000 m. Four Japanese women turned in five performances inside the women's top ten. On the men's side, 18-year-old Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) was the only Japanese athlete to make the men's top ten, his world-leading 8:19.37 win in the Chitose 3000 m steeplechase ranking him #4 among men and #6 overall.

In terms of the individual meets, although the other three meets were evenly split, the series-opening Shibetsu meet was the lowest-level with no top ten performances, although men's 3000 m winner Dan Kiplangat (JFE Steel) did deliver a world-leading time of 7:49.03. Along with Koech's 10000 m world leader at the Fukagawa meet, Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) also ran a 31:34.94 PB for the win, a world leading time for a week until both Wanjiru and Ichiyama bettered it at the Abashiri meet. Miura's steeplechase world lead led the Chitose meet, but both Victor Kipkirui Korir (GMO) and Cynthia Mbaire (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) turned in 5000 m U20 world leads, Korir running 13:21.59 and Mbaire 15:07.13.

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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