December kicks off with another big weekend on the track and roads across Japan. First up it's Friday's rescheduled long distance segment of this year's National Track and Field Championships in Osaka, strategically positioned just inside the reworked qualifying window for next year's Tokyo Olympics. Across men's and women's 3000 m steeplechase, 5000 m and 10000 m, anyone who wins their event with the Olympic standard will be guaranteed a place on the Tokyo team. It doesn't look like there's any official streaming, but the meet will be broadcast on NHK-BS1 starting at 16:00 local time.
The 9:30.00 standard in the women's 3000 mSC is faster than the Japanese national record, and with defending national champ Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) the closest at 9:49.30 there's not much chance that spot will get taken barring a big step up from her. Her main competition is Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko), close behind on PB at 9:50.05, with two other women under 10 minutes in the field. The men's 3000 mSC just lost the only athlete to have run under the Olympic standard, Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.), to a last-minute training accident, but with Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) leading five men including defending champ Ryohei Sakaguchi ((SGH Group) within eight seconds of the 8:22.00 standard there's a chance someone might break through and pull it off.
Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) was one of two Japanese women to break 15 minutes for 5000 m this fall, and with the other one running the 10000 m she's the favorite for the win. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) and Kaede Hagitani (Edion) have also run faster than the 15:10.00 Olympic standard this season, and with only six seconds separating them it should be a great race that sees someone pick up an Olympic spot. Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) is the closest man to the 13:13.50 Olympic standard, but with a best of 13:22.60 it'll be more of a race for the national title than a shot at the Olympics. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) and defending champ Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) are the only other Japanese men under 13:25.
With a 30:31 10 km split en route at the Queens Ekiden last month, over a minute faster than 2019 women's 10000 m champ Rina Nabeshima (Japan Post), Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) is the heavy favorite for the win in the 10000 m. The national record of 30:48.89 seems bound to fall. But Niiya did blow it at Nationals last year, and if she has anything going wrong this time Nabeshima and marathoner Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) may have a chance of taking her down again. If she's on and they let her go, there's a distant chance Niiya could lap 2nd place again like she did when she set the Nationals meet record of 31:05.67 in 2013.
There are so many men in the 10000 m that it's split into two heats. The fast heat has 5000 m and marathon national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike), who seems like he has the best chance of bettering the national record to hit the 27:28.00 Olympic standard. But he's already bound for the marathon in the Olympics, so it'd be a surprise to see him go for it. His main competition includes ekiden star Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) and half marathon national record holder Yusuke Ogura (Yakult), with all-time Japanese 10000 m top two Kota Murayama (Asahi Kasei) and Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) also in the field.
The next day, the National Corporate Women's Long Distance Trials meet will be on in Yamaguchi. It's usually one of the best women's 10000 m races in the world, but with the top tier all racing the day before it's split more between 3000 m, 5000 m and 10000 m this time with a mix of second-tier people, Japan-based Africans, and a few who probably should have been at Nationals but didn't make the cut. Hagitani is entered in the 3000 m, with other notable names including Martha Mokaya (Canon), Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Meijo Univ.) and Risa Yokoe (Panasonic) in the 5000 m, and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), Husan Zeyituna (Denso), Rei Ohara (Tenmaya), Reia Iwade (Chiba T&F Assoc.) and Hiromi Katakai (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) in the 10000 m.
Always big, the Nittai University Time Trials in Kanagawa will be one of the last main tune-ups for the Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden, New Year Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden, Saturday focusing on men's 10000 m and Sunday split between women's 3000 m, women's 5000 m and men's 5000 m. Iwade is entered in the 5000 m here too, but overall it's definitely third-tier on the women's side. The men's side is a lot like the Yamaguchi meet, with a mix of Japan-based Africans, people who didn't quite make it to Nationals, and solid second-tier runners. The Konica Minolta, Sumitomo Denko and Kanebo corporate teams are all heavy presences in the 5000 m, with Honda, Hitachi Butsuryu and Kyudenko the same in the 10000 m.
On the roads Sunday, one of the oldest ekidens in Japan, western Tokyo's Okutama Keikoku Ekiden, is set to go ahead with its 82nd running. It'll be one of the only non-championship ekidens to happen in a season that has seen even some of the national championship ones canceled. There are usually a few Hakone-bound universities in the field with their B or C-squads plus good high school, club, and minor corporate league teams. Marathoner Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) is entered in the women's race two days after running the 10000 m at Nationals.
But, if you've read this far you're probably looking for the main event, Sunday's Fukuoka International Marathon. COVID-19 restrictions are keeping it strictly limited to Japanese and Japan-based athletes, but with things the way they have been the last couple of years that's still a really good field. Despite the loss of its two fastests entrants, 2:06:45 man Ryu Takaku (Yakult) and 2018 champ Yuma Hattori (Toyota) to injury, Fukuoka still has pending 2019 champ Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) on the list, with training partner Bedan Karoki (Toyota) there to try to guide him to a fast time.
Fujimoto had a 1:00:06 half marathon PB in February, so he should be in good position to go better than his 2:07:57 best from Chicago two years ago if he's fit. 2:06 would seem in range if he's in the same kind of condition. If he pulls off the win, pending the final disqualification of Moroccan El Mahjoub Dazza who crossed the line ahead of him last year but was suspended for bio passport violations last summer, Fujimoto will become the first Japanese man to win Fukuoka twice since the great Takeyuki Nakayama in 1987 and the first to do it back-to-back since Toshihiko Seko's 1978-1980 triple.
Eight other current sub-2:10 men are also on the list, so if he's not where he was in February Fujimoto could be vulnerable to the star of this year's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Yuya Yoshida (GMO), or a breakthrough from Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku), Naoya Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon), Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko) or others. Among the half dozen non-Japanese entrants, Michael Githae (Suzuki) is the fastest t 2:09:21. Sub-62 half marathoners Ryota Sato (Tokyo Police Dep't) and Cyrus Kingori (Hiramatsu Byoin) are interesting are interesting additions looking for their first marathon finishes and could factor in if all goes well. And there's always the hope that Keita Shitara (Hitachi Butsuryu) will finally break through and get back to the level of his twin brother, former national record holder Yuta Shitara.
A deeper English-language field listing can be had here. TV Asahi will broadcast the Fukuoka International Marathon starting at 12:00 p.m. Sunday Japan time. There doesn't look to be an official live stream, but if you're not in Japan, options like mov3.co, iTVer, and TVJapanLive that might work. Unofficial streams tend to pop up on Youtube once the race gets underway. We'll be doing English commentary on @JRNLive as usual, and will tweet Youtube links if streams turn up. See you then.
© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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Japan's dealing with Covid is evident in the 10k list - 119 Japanese under 28:30