Kanto Regionals Day Two Streaming and Preview

The 102nd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships continue Friday at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. local time on the main feed above, with different camera angles on the secondary feed below.

The first middle and long distance event on the day's schedule is the D2 men's 1500 m final at 13:00. #2-ranked Nao Kurihara (3rd yr., Josai Univ.) made it through with a 3:52.14 for 2nd in Heat 1. In the final his main competition will be Heat 2 winner Shunya Udagawa (2nd yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) with a 3:44.03 best, and Udagawa's 3rd-year YGU teammate Soya Katayama and 4th-year teammate Kento Yamauchi. Ranked #4 in the final, Haruto Matsuo (1st yr., Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) could make the podium in his debut.

All five women with 1500 m bests under 4:20 made the final at 13:15. Saki Katagihara (4th yr., Tsukuba Univ.) won Heat 1 in 4:26.10, Haruko Hosaka (4th yr., Nittai Univ.) took Heat 2 in 4:26.28, Yuzuha Sawai (4th yr., Tsukuba Univ.) was 2nd in Heat 3 in 4:26.65, collegiate record holder Mizuki Michishita (4th yr., Rikkyo Univ.) was 3rd in Heat 2 in 4:27.41, and Mao Kogure (3rd yr., Juntendo Univ.) squeezed through on time at 4th in Heat 3 in 4:27.22. With better weather on the forecast for Friday Katagihara's 4:16.41 meet record from last year could be in range.

The D1 men's 1500 m final kicks off at 13:30. #1-ranked Mikuto Kaneko (4th yr., Chuo Univ.) was a DNS in the heats, but #2 and #3-ranked Yuichiro Baba (4th yr., Meiji Univ.) and Hiroto Takamura (3rd yr., Nittai Univ.) both went through. Takamura ran the fastest time in the heats at 3:50.56, but there's a narrow enough range of talent in the field that people like Tomoki Nakano (3rd yr., Chuo Univ.), Toshiki Yamada (4th yr., Chuo Univ.) and at least three others are all in range of the win.

For men D1 has a limited number of teams, but in D2 there are enough that this year there's a qualifying round in the 5000 m. The first heat starts at 17:25, with Nelson Mandela (2nd yr., Obirin Univ.) the fastest on the list at 13:29.59. Mandela was 2nd in last night's 10000 m, making it a tough turnaround for him less than 24 hours later. He'll probably do the least necessary to qualify, and with only one other runner on the list, Johnson Mogeni (1st yr., Asia Univ.), under 13:40 he's got a bit of a margin of error to work with, especially with Mogeni having run the 10000 m too.

Heat 2 is the same story, with 10000 m winner Victor Kimutai (2nd yr., Josai Univ.) leading the field at 13:26.77 and Boniface Mutech (1st yr., Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) under 13:40 but also doubling from the 10000 m. But in this case there's some solid Japanese competition with fresh legs from 2023 Hakone Ekiden winner Komazawa University 4th-year Taiyo Yasuhara with at 13:37.01 PB.

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance? Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance. This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere. It was put into place in 1986. In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made. Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km. When a bicycle is u...

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...

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