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.

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

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