After falling out of the top 10 for the first time in 3 years to 13th at this year's Hakone Ekiden, Waseda University is set to name Olympian, former GMO corporate head coach and Waseda alum Katsuhiko Hanada, 50, as its new head coach. Former head coach Yutaka Sagara, 41, is expected to remain on as head coach. Under the new arrangement Waseda hopes to regain its former stature.
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Having left GMO at the end of March, Hanada is already overseeing Waseda team training at the university's Tokorozawa campus in Saitama. Asked about his role, Sagara commented, "Nothing has been finalized yet." But according to an involved source, the decision about Hanada is final and only a few last details are still under discussion.
Hanada ran well at the Hakone Ekiden during his collegiate years and was part of Waseda's winning team his third year at the school. After joining the S&B corporate team, he competed on the track at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics. After retiring in January, 2004, he got an email from students at Jobu University asking him to become their coach, which he did in April the same year. In his fifth season coaching them Jobu finished 3rd at the October, 2008 Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race, going on to make the school's Hakone debut at its 85th anniversary edition in January, 2009.
After turning Jobu into a Hakone regular, in 2016 he resigned as head coach to become the first head coach of the new GMO corporate team. At GMO he helped cultivate athletes including Yuya Yoshida, 25, winner of the 2020 Fukuoka International Marathon. At both Jobu and GMO Hanada earned a reputation for a detailed and respectful approach to coaching.
Sagara served as assistant coach to Yasuyuki Watanabe, 48, head coach at Waseda until his departure to take over the Sumitomo Denko corporate team in 2015. Under the duo's leadership, in 2010 Waseda became the only school in history to break the course records at all three major university ekidens in a single season. After Watanabe's departure Sagara was promoted to head coach, but with Hanada's entry he will now return to a prominent supporting role.
Its track and field team having been founded in 1914, Waseda University was one of the four schools to run the first Hakone Ekiden in 1920. It has won Japan's most prestigious race 13 times and appeared in 91 of the 98 editions to date, 2nd only to Chuo University at 14 wins and 95 appearances. This year it will attempt to qualify for its 92nd appearance at October's Yosenkai qualifying half marathon. The Hanada-Sagara coaching team will represent a new chapter in the history of Japan's most illustrious university track and field team.
translated by Brett Larner
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