Shobu Takes Steeplechase Bronze - World University Games Day Three Japanese Results

Waseda University's Atsushi Shobu added another medal to Japan's so far petite haul on day 3 of athletics competition at the Chengdu World University Games. Running the men's 3000 mSC, Shobu sat at the back of the lead pack throughout the race. In 5th at the bell, Shobu moved up into 3rd on the back straight, then was overtaken by Germany's Nick Jager heading into the curve. Both passed Czech Damian Vich and kept up their duel for 2nd until the final obstacle, where Shobu hesitated and lost ground. Jens Mergenthaler took gold in 8:38.42, Jager making it a German 1-2 with a silver in 8:40.53 to Shobu's 8:40.84 for bronze.

The men's 400 m final was maybe the race of the day, with the top 6 all running new PBs and Portugal's Joao Coelho and Australian Reece Holder both going under the WUG record in a photo finish. Coelho was timed at 44.782 for gold, with Holder officially running 44.785 for silver. Romanian Mihai-Sorin Dringo took bronze in a PB of 45.27, with Hosei University's Naohiro Jinushi running a 45.58 PB for 4th. Tsukuba University's Kenki Imaizumi was far off his best, finishing last in 47.18. The top 3 in the women's 400 mH final also all ran new PBs, with Italian Alice Muraro winning gold in 55.48 by almost a second over Brazil's Marlene Dos Santos. Ritsumeikan University's Ami Yamamoto was 5th in 57.19.

Doubling from the 10000 m, Nittai University's Risa Yamazaki ran an easy 16:58.97 for 4th in Heat 1 of the women's 5000 m to make the final. Also doubling, Ritsumeikan's Tomo Muramatsu ran an even easier 17:10.66 for 4th in Heat 2 to join Yamazaki in the final. In the women's hammer throw qualification round, Raiki Murakami of Kyushu Kyoritsu University threw 63.63 m for 2nd in Group A and advanced to the final. Akari Funada of Mukogawa Joshi University also made it through in the women's triple jump with a 13.26 -0.5 m/s on her second attempt for 4th in Group B.

Waseda's Aoi Inage ran a PB of 20.84 +1.1 m/s for 2nd in the men's 200 m Heat 5 and moved on to the semifinals. His Waseda teammate Yudai Nishi ran almost the identical time in Heat 7, 20.85 -0.1 m/s, but finished 3rd and failed to advance on time. Konan University's Abigail Ido was 3rd in Heat 5 of the women's 200 m in 24.16 +1.0 m/s and did advance. No luck for Sonoda Joshi University's Manaka Miura in heat 6, though, as she finished 4th in 24.54 +0.7 m/s and didn't advance. Ayaka Ito of Fukuoka University didn't make it out of the first round of the women's 100 mH, running 14.18 +0.5 m/s for 7th in Heat 2.

Complete day 3 results here. The Chengdu World University Games continue through Sunday.

Saku Chosei H.S. Makes It 2 In a Row - National High School Ekiden Boys' Race

While the girls' race was a blowout by 2022 champ Nagano Higashi H.S. , the boys' race at Sunday's National High School Ekiden was a tense battle of turnover that saw all of the final top four teams take a stab at leading. 2023 3rd-placer Yachiyo Shoin H.S. handled the first 2 of the 7 stages in the 42.195 km race, with lead runner Rui Suzuki delivering a bold run on the 10.0 km First Stage that produced the fastest-ever time by a Japanese runner on the stage, 28:43, and put Yachiyo Shoin 29 seconds out front. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Suzuki ran Yachiyo Shoin down to put 2023 champ Saku Chosei H.S. into 1st on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, but Genta Sugano of last year's 8th-placer Sendai Ikuei H.S. had other plans and took the lead on the 8.0875 km Fourth Stage. Smiling and fist pumping to the crowd almost the entire way, Taketo Tsukada of last year's 6th-placer Omuta H.S. moved up from 3rd to 1st by 2 seconds over Saku Chosei on the 3.0 k...

Nagano Higashi Girls Lead Start to Finish to Win National High School Ekiden

2022 National High School Ekiden girls' champion Nagano Higashi H.S. was back in force after a 5th-place finish last year, leading start to finish to win this year's national title Sunday in Kyoto. Lead runner Airi Mashiba kicked it off with a 19:30 stage win on the 6.0 km opening leg, something that head coach Fumio Yokouchi said later that he hadn't been expecting. That ended up being Nagano Higashi's only individual stage win in the 5-leg, 21.0975 km race, but the rest of its team ran well enough to hold a lead that was never less than 11 seconds but never more than 21. Last year's 4th-placer Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. spent most of the race in 2nd, but over the second half of the race Sendai Ikuei H.S. , 2nd last year by just 1 second, came from further back to run Kunei down on the anchor stage thanks in big part to a critical stage win on the 4th leg by Tsubomi Tezuka that put anchor Aoi Hosokawa in position to catch Kunei's Mizuki Oda . Nagano Higashi ...

Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

Japan Post was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's Ayuko Suzuki and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...

japan running news

Search This Blog