Sato Breaks 1500 m U18 National Record

Sato Breaks 1500 m U18 National Record - Weekend Track Roundup

It was a busy weekend on the track across Japan. At Saturday's Kanaguri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto, the biggest news came in the men's 1500 m where 17-year-old Keita Sato (Rakunan H.S.) ran 3:40.36, a new U18 national record, the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese high schooler, and 3rd-fastest-ever U20 mark. Sato took 4th after leading the first three laps, with two of the three people who finished ahead of him going under 3:40. Winner Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec) broke into the all-time Japanese top ten at 3:38.83 and Keisuke Morita (Komori Corp.) was 2nd in 3:39.37.

Steeplechase specialist Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) followed up his 10000 m win last month in Nobeoka with a 5000 m PB at Kanaguri, dropping a Kenyan trio led by Justus Kevasa (Honda) for the win in 13:22.80. A total of thirteen people broke 13:40 across heats. Joan Kipkemoi (Kyudenko) led Japan-based Africans to sweep the top five spots in the women's 5000 m in 15:30.45, with Ethiopian Burka Desta (Denso) taking the B-heat in 15:32.49.

One of the favorites for the women's 5000 m team if the Tokyo Olympics go ahead, 20-year-old Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) had a good 10000 m debut, winning in 31:30.03 just over 5 seconds off the Olympic qualifying standard. Marathoner Yuka Ando (Wacoal) was the only other runner under 32 minutes, 2nd in 31:46.80. Only two men broke 28 minutes at Kanaguri, Stanley Waithaka (Yakult) taking the top spot in 27:47.15 and Yudai Okamoto (Sunbelx) getting there for the first time with a 27:58.43 for 2nd.

Two other men went sub-28 Saturday at the IUAU 10000 m Time Trials meet at Kanagawa's Nittai University track. Originally planned as the qualifying race for this summer's Chengdu World University Games, the meet saw a lot of DNS when the Games were postponed to next year earlier this month. All the same, corporate leaguer Yuki Muta (Hitachi Butsuryu) and 20-year-old Ryuto Igawa (Waseda Univ.) both went under 28 minutes for the first time, Muta winning in 27:57.15. Igawa just pulled it off in 27:59.74, becoming the third Waseda runner to break 28 minutes in the last four months. Wataru Tochigi (Hitachi Butsuryu), Mebuki Suzuki (Komazawa University) and Tomoya Ogikubo (Yakult) just missed, all three clearing 28:01.Yuna Wada (Meijo Univ.) took the women's race in her debut, winning by over 10 seconds in 32:22.83.

The Chugoku Corporate Time Trials meet Saturday in Kure, Hiroshima was low-key, with Takumi Komatsu (NTT Nishi Nihon) leading the top four under 14 minutes in 13:55.98 in the men's 5000 m A-heat. Kazane Iwamoto (Funyu H.S.) was the only woman to run in the meet, clocking 10:15.54 for 3000 m.

Three others men went under 14 minutes at Sunday's Six-University Meet in Konosu, Saitama. Ken Tansho (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) won in 13:50.84, alongside Kenyan teammate Luka Musemi's 8:53.37 win in the 3000 m SC helping lead Tokyo Kokusai University to its first win in the meet's 17-year history.

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a

10000 m National Championships Preview

Less than five months since the 2023 10000 m National Championships went down at the 2021 Olympic stadium in Tokyo, the 2024 edition happens Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium, with NHK broadcasting it live starting at 19:25 local time. Doubling up on Nationals like this lets Japanese athletes double dip on placing points to try to get into the Paris Olympics on rankings. But between the number of people who've hit the 30:40.00 women's standard and 27:00.00 men's standard and the lopsided eight spots given away to top placers at World XC, there are only four women's spots and three men's available via rankings. Of those, three of the four women's spots and two of the three men's spots are currently occupied by top placers at December's 2023 Nationals, Ririka Hironaka , Haruka Kokai and Rino Goshima for women and Ren Tazawa and Tomoki Ota for men. The 2023 Nationals did get close to the standards, with Hironaka leading the top four women under

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading

japan running news

Search This Blog