Skip to main content

Kanto Regionals Day Three Streaming and Preview

 

Saturday is a light day for long distance at the 102nd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, with the D1 and D2/D3 men's 3000 m steeplechase heats the only event on the program. That means Sunday is going to be packed, but for today everything will happen between 13:55 and 15:00.

D2/D3 has three heats starting at 13:55. At the top tier, three men are in range of the 8:42.57 D2 meet record. In Heat One, Kento Uchida (4th yr., Rikkyo Univ.) has run 8:37.24. In Heat Two, Asahi Kuroda (2nd yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) has run 8:38.55. In Heat Three, Hibiki Obara (4th yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) has a best of 8:41.93. Also in Heat Three, Yuki Morita (2nd yr., Tokyo Univ. Grad School) has a shot at the 8:56.84 D3 MR. New records probably won't happen today, but Uchida, Kuroda and Obara all making the final will set up a great race tomorrow.

The D1 heats start at 14:40. National record holder Ryuji Miura (4th yr., Juntendo Univ.) is giving the steeple a miss to run the 5000 m tomorrow instead, leaving it wide open for everyone else. The D1 meet record of 8:35.2 dates back to around when a lot of the athletes' parents were probably born, but there are a few people who could give it a serious swing. In Heat One Atsushi Shobu (4th yr., Waseda Univ.) has a best of 8:38.94, and Yuki Murao (2nd yr., Juntendo Univ.) has run 8:41.64. In Heat Two, Yuki Satake (4th yr., Daito Bunka Univ.) has run 8:39.22, and Sora Nakagomi (4th yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) is almost even at 8:39.45.


© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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...
3 comments
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
1 comment
Read more