Four of the five women who have the standard are entered, Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.), Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post), Rino Goshima (Shiseido) and Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo Univ.), so the full squad could be decided in one go. 19-year-old Fuwa would be the favorite, but coming off an Achilles injury in January she's less than 100% and will have a tough time beating Goshima and Kobayashi. That leaves Hironaka, who hasn't been seen in competition this year yet.
UPDATE: Takushoku University announced midday on May 7 that Fuwa has withdrawn from tonight's 10000 m, citing inadequate progress in her recovery from her injury and consideration of her future. As a result Fuwa will miss the World Championships unless she were to qualify in the 5000 m.
On the men's side only Ren Tazawa (Komazawa Univ.) has the World standard. Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) has broken it before and is in the WA 10000 m quota at this stage, so with a top 3 finish he has a chance whatever his time. NR holder Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) has been working back from injury and needs a big run to have a shot at the quota. Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) and Tomoki Ota (Toyota) are both within about 5 seconds of the standard, so the probable top 3 is anything but a given. Complete entry lists are here.
Also Saturday are the Chugoku Corporate Track and Field Championships 5000 m, and everything except the men's 5000 m at the Nittai University Time Trials. Sub-61 half marathoner Jun Nobuto (Mazda) and 2:08 marathoners Takuya Fujikawa (Chugoku Denryoku), Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) and Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) are the biggest names at Chugoku, while Nittai overall is lower-level than usual what with all the other meets and races happening. Sundays at Nittai can have over 40 heats of men's 5000 m, but this time around there are only 11, with only 1 heat of women's 5000 m on Saturday. 2:06 marathoner Hidekazu Hijikata (Honda) is the biggest name on the entry list at Nittai either day.
Following 10000 m National Championships, the Seiko Golden Grand Prix meet happens Sunday at the Olympic Stadium. TBS will broadcast it live starting at 15:00 local time, with streaming starting at 13:30 on Paravi. TBS will also have dedicated field event streams and interviews on its Youtube channel, and World Athletics will also be streaming the meet on its channel. Start lists aren't up as of this writing, but entry lists have a lot of top international talent like Christian Coleman (U.S.A.) in his first 100 m post-suspension, Michael Norman (U.S.A.) in the 400 m, Isaiah Jewett (U.S.A.) in the 800 m, Rai Benjamin (U.S.A.) in the 400 mH, Brandon Starc (Australia) in the high jump, Kendra Harrison (U.S.A.) in the 100 mH, and Kelsey-Lee Barber (Australia) in the javelin throw.
On the domestic front the race of the day is the men's 3000 mSC, where NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) leads his Tokyo Olympics teammates Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) and Ryoma Aoki (Honda), Japan-based Kenyans Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) and Philemon Kiplagat Ruto (Aisan Kogyo), Ben Buckingham (Australia) and other top Japanese names. Only Miura has the Worlds standard, but Yamaguchi, Aoki, 2000 mSC NR holder Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) and Taisei Ogino (Asahi Kasei) are all currently in the quota and will be going for as many points as they can get here. Complete entry lists here.
On the roads, the Sendai International Half Marathon returns Sunday. There've been a lot of withdrawals for the obvious reasons, but it still has good fields lined up. Tokyo Olympics marathoner Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) is set to run her first race of the year, with sub-70 half marathoner Reia Iwade (Adidas) and 2:23 marathoner Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) her main competition. World all-time #4 Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) leads the men's race with competition from Bernard Kimani (Comodi Iida), Andrew Lorot (Subaru), NR holder Yusuke Ogura (Yakult), 2:06 marathoner Ryu Takaku (Yakult), sub-61 half marathoners Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) and Shin Kimura (Honda), and more. There's even 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako as a guest runner in what might end up his first public race appearance since announcing a comeback from an almost exactly 6-month post-Olympics retirement. Despite all that, it doesn't look like there will be streaming at this stage.
Another member of the Tokyo Olympics marathon team, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Yuma Hattori (Toyota) will be running the Prague Marathon Sunday. Hattori ran a half marathon PB of 1:01:24 in February, a good sign that he has recovered from the heat stroke he suffered during the Olympics. Streaming will be happening here starting at 9:00 a.m. local time.
Comments
It was so good to read that Honami Maeda will be racing in the Sendai Half. And her Tenmaya teammate, Natsumi Matsushita, will give her plenty of competition, as will Reia Iwade. Given recent form, I'd expect Natsumi Matsushita to finish first. I'm disappointed it won't be live streamed. That is one event I would really enjoy watching.