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.

Hakone Champ AGU Hits 50 km a Day in Spring Break Training Camp

Having scored its 3rd-straight Hakone Ekiden win this past January, Aoyama Gakuin University spent the Golden Week spring holidays training on the Myoko Plateau in Niigata from May 2-6. Along with the champion men's ekiden team, the first 2 members of AGU's new women's long distance team Nodoka Ashida and Kairi Ikeno , and AGU alumni and 2026 New Year Ekiden champion GMO team members Yuya Yoshida and Asahi Kuroda also took part in the training camp. Depending on the day's training schedule, mileage at the camp was over 50 km a day. AGU men's captain Kaito Nakamura confidently said, "This Golden Week training camp is where we lay the foundations for our 4th-straight Hakone title." A lot of people spend Golden Week on vacation, but the AGU ekiden team spent their time working hard on Myoko's rolling land amid the sprouting leaves of spring. On the 2nd day of the camp, May 3, team members woke up at 5:00 a.m. to do their warmup. The team assembled a...

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

Shikama and Njeri Win Sendai International Half Marathon

Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won the Sendai International Half Marathon Sunday in Sendai, Shikama in 1:01:31 and Njeri in 1:09:20. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) was the top Japanese woman at 2nd overall. The men's race went through 5 km in 14:34 and 10 km in 29:22. Shikama ran alongside top competition including Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.), who has been running well in half marathons this season, and Tokyo World Championships marathon team member Naoki Koyama (Honda). On a course with many small ups and downs, Shikama attacked on a downhill just after 15 km, quickly breaking free of the lead group of 7. 13 seconds up by 20 km, Shikama covered the last 1.0975 km in 3:06 to seal his first Sendai title. A graduate of Juntendo University , Shikama is in his 4th season with Logisteed. At the 2024 National Corporate Half Marathon he ran 1:00:41, and at last year's East Japan Corporate Ekiden he won the Third Stage. In his marathon d...

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