Izumiya Sets Collegiate NR, Yegon Just Misses Olympic Standard, Ishihara Runs U20 World Lead

Izumiya Sets Collegiate NR, Yegon Just Misses Olympic Standard, Ishihara Runs U20 World Lead - Kanto Regionals Day 1 and 2 Highlights

The 100th edition of Japan's biggest collegiate meet, the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships kicked off Thursday at Kanagawa's Gion Stadium. Or more exactly it kicked off at the Yomiuriland amusement park closer to Tokyo, where the men's half marathon was held on a closed circuit course inside the park. D1 top three Vincent Raimoi (Kokushikan Univ.), Charles Ndungu (Nihon Univ.) and Paul Onyiego (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) stayed together the entire way until Raimoi pulled away in the last sprint to win in 1:01:13. Ndungu clocked 1:01:14 and Onyiego 1:01:15. 4th-placer Shunsuke Shikama (Juntendo Univ.) just missed, running 1:02:26 for the top Japanese spot with the next four all under 1:03.

The D2 race was just as exciting and almost as deep, Ryo Nishikubo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and Kyosuke Hanao (Komazawa Univ.) outkicking Luka Musembi (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.)) and both timed at 1:02:00 but Nishikubo earning the win. Musembi was 3rd in 1:02:01, with another four runners going under 1:03. Although it has yet to be noted on the published results, the course was reported to have been short, roughly 20.8 km.

The D2 men's 10000 m was probably the race of the opening day, as 2021 Hakone Ekiden MVP Vincent Yegon (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) soloed a 27:30.24 PB for the win, going 30 seconds under the old D2 meet record and coming up seconds short of both the Tokyo Olympics qualifying standard and the Kanto Region record. 2nd-placer Philip Mulwa (Soka Univ.) was also under 28 in 27:56.11. With teammate Takuma Ishikawa a DNS after getting arrested the day before the meet, Takumi Karasawa (Komazawa Univ.) ran big for 3rd in 28:05.76.

A transfer from the Sunbelx corporate team this year, Samson Ndirangu (Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) held off a bold move over the last four laps from Shotaro Ishihara (Tokai Univ.) to win the D1 men's 10000 m in 28:01.80. Ishihara, who turned 19 in January two days after winning his Hakone Ekiden stage as a first year, ran 28:05.91 for 2nd, an U20 world-leading time, the second-fastest Japanese U20 and third-fastest Asian U20 mark ever. Longtime leader James Bunuka (Surugadai Univ.) faded after Ishihara's move and settled for 3rd in 28:13.96.

The women's 10000 m was very conservative until the last 1000 m, most of it spent hovering around only 3:30/km. Kaede Okajima (Nittai Univ.) hammered a 3:04 last 1000 m, going close to 60 seconds for the final lap to win in 34:08.73 by just over a second over Nana Matsumoto (Juntendo Univ.) and Mizuho Yamaga (Daito Bunka Univ.).

Stepping away from his specialty to help Juntendo University score team points, brand new 3000 m steeplechase national record holder Ryuji Miura ran a PB of 3:46.29 to lead Thursday's D1 1500 m qualifying round, then won Friday's windy and rainy final with a perfunctory kick over the last 100 m to come home in 3:48.57. Miura is scheduled to run Sunday's 5000 m, skipping out on his main event where he would be almost guaranteed to win easily.

Max Miller-Chimoto (Rikkyo Univ.) won the D2 title in 3:50.65, beating Reo Yamabayashi (Jobu Univ.) won won his qualifying heat in a PB 3:45.88. Risa Yamazaki gave the Nittai University women another win to go along with Okajima's in the 5000 m, winning the 1500 m final in 4:24.19.

In non-distance action, men's 110 m hurdles collegiate record holder Shunsuke Izumiya (Juntendo Univ.) broke his own record with a 13.30 (+0.8 m/s) in his first round heat on Thursday to become the third Japanese man to clear the Tokyo Olympics qualifying standard of 13.32. Friday's strong winds meant fast times in the D1 semis and final, where Izumiya won in 13:05 (+5.2 m/s). Likewise in the D1 men's 100 m final, where Ryota Suzuki (Josai Univ.) won in 10.01 (+5.5 m/s).

Jun Maekawa (Nittai Univ.) cleared 4.05 m in the D1 women's pole vault, a new meet record by 5 cm. Another meet record came in the D1 women's discus throw, where Maki Saito (Tokyo Joshi Taiiku Univ.) threw 54.56 m. First-year Yu Ishikawa (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) won the D1 women's 100 m final in 11.44 (+5.1 m/s), with Mao Shimano (Nittai Univ.) winning the D1 100 mH final in 13.11 (+4.2 m/s).

The 100th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships continue Saturday and Sunday at Gion Stadium, with live streaming courtesy of organizers KGRR.

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

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