Karasawa Breaks T11 5000 m World Record

Karasawa Breaks T11 5000 m World Record - Weekend Track Roundup

Four out of five corporate regional championship meets went off as schedule this weekend, with the 51st Hokuriku Region meet in Ishikawa the only one to cancel amid the latest COVID-19 wave hitting Japan.

The 63rd East Japan Region meet in Saitama was the biggest and fastest of those that did happen. The biggest news was in the T11-T13 men's 5000 m, where T11-class Kenya Karasawa (GSWC) won in 15:09.94, going a second and a half under the previous world record for his class. Sitonki Kiprono (Komori Corp.) turned in the only sub-28 men's 10000 m of the weekend, winning Saturday's A-heat in 27:47.69. Justus Soget (Honda) was likewise the only one to go sub-3:40 for 1500 m, winning Saturday's A-heat in 3:39:12. Soget doubled to win Sunday's men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:29.43 going close to 55 seconds for the final lap and ending up the only man under 13:30 for the weekend.

Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) won the East Japan women's 10000 m in 32:15.27 on Saturday. Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won Sunday's 5000 m A-heat in 15:17.94 in a close race that saw the top four finish within less than 0.9 seconds of each other. Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) set a meet record 8:56.65 to win the 3000 m A-heat, the fastest 3000 m of the weekend. Cynthia Mbaire (Hitachi) won the 1500 m A-heat in 4:13.45, leading Naomi Muthoni Kariuki (Univ. Ent.) and Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) under 4:15. Mori doubled Sunday in the 3000 mSC, running a 9:50.67 meet record for the win.

At the 65th Chubu Region meet in Gifu, Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo) took the men's 10000 m A-heat in 28:09.99 by almost 10 seconds. His teammates Philemon Kiplagat and Kosei Yamaguchi went 1-2 in Saturday's 3000 mSC, Kiplagat in a meet record 8:26.50, then did it again in Sunday's 5000 m, Kiplagat running 13:31.10 and Yamaguchi 13:31.24. Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec) won the 1500 m A-heat in 3:42.67.

The women's races were mostly low-key, with Naoko Koizumi (Denso) winning the 10000 m in 34:06.71 and Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) the 5000 m in 15:45.63. Kawaguchi's teammates Nozomi Tanaka and Yume Goto won the 3000 m and 1500 m in 8:58.54 and 4:14.29, with Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) soloing a 10:21.79 meet record to win the 3000 mSC.

At the 65th Kansai Region meet in Osaka, two weeks after securing her place on the Tokyo Olympics 10000 m squad Yuka Ando (Wacoal) won the distance double, taking Friday's 10000 m in 31:58.55 and Sunday's 5000 m in 15:30.30. Olympic marathoner Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) was 3rd in the 10000 m and 2nd in the 5000 m just a week and a half after running a PB 1:08:28 to win the Olympic marathon test event half marathon.

In Kansai it was the men's races that were relatively low-key, Katsuhiko Suzuki (SGH Group) winning the 10000 m in 28:45.19, Ayumu Kobayashi (NTT Nishi Nihon) the 5000 m in 13:44.16, Yuki Ishii (NTT Nishi Nihon) the 1500 m in 3:45.30, and Jun Shinoto (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) the 3000 mSC in 8:48.13.

The 60th Chugoku Region meet in Hiroshima rounded out the weekend's action, having already held its 5000 m races last weekend. 5000 m winners Ai Hosoda (Edion) and Dan Kiplangat (JFE Steel) were back, Hosoda taking the women's 10000 m in 32:13.45 and Kiplangat the men's in a meet record 28:01.19. After finishing in the top Japanese spot at last weekend's Olympic test event 5000 m just outside the Olympic qualifying time, Kaede Hagitani (Edion) set a meet record 8:58.67 in the 3000 m, while Donald Mitei (Chugoku Denryoku) took the men's 1500 m in 3:46.06.

Corporate regional action wraps up next weekend with the 64th Kyushu Region meet.

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

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