Skip to main content

10000 m National Championships Preview

Given all the breakthrough runs over 10000 m in Japan the last few weeks, enough to take Japan to 30 men sub-28 for the distance this year, it seems a bit odd to have the 10000 m National Championships happening this Sunday in Tokyo's National Stadium. But relative to the timing of ekiden season, the rest of the National Championships in the late spring, and next summer's Paris Olympics, it makes sense. NHKBS is broadcasting it live, with the men's race starting at 16:03 and the women's at 16:43.

The 27:00.00 would be a stretch at this point for any of the Japanese men in the race, but one woman, former 5000 m NR holder Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) has actually cleared the 30:40.00 standard before with a 30:39.71 at the 2022 Oregon World Championships. But that was before the qualifying window opened, so she'll have to try to continue to build back from the injuries she suffered last winter if she wants to hit the standard here. Her best this year is 31:35.12 at the Budapest World Championships, so if she doesn't clear the standard, a win here and something closer to or under the standard sometime in the spring would be enough to get her to Paris

Hironaka's main competition at 31:22.38 is women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima (Shiseido), who broke Hironaka's CR on the opening leg of the Queens Ekiden at the end of November. Tomoka Kimura (Sekisui Kagaku) is a little ways back in 31:56.32 after sitting the Queens Ekiden out. Goshima's Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich is there as a de facto pacer, with the addition this year of the Wavelight pacing system, the red lights up front set for 30:50 and the green second set for 31:10. Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) is a dark horse coming in with a 15:19.98 best for 5000 m.

The men's race has a Kenyan pacer too, Sitonik Kiprono (Kurosaki Harima) the fastest in the race at 27:14.76. At 27:28.04 Ren Tazawa (Toyota) has dominated the distance domestically in the long absence of NR holder Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei), but Aizawa is back this time along with his catalyst for greatness, Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda). Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) is a threat for the win with a 27:31.27, and Tazawa's teammate Tomoki Ota (Toyota) rounds out the Japanese top 5 at 27:42.49. But with 16 Japanese men with sub-28 bests in the field it's likely to be another shinkansen-style race with some unpredictable results.

Many of the fastest Japanese men won't be there, having just dropped their big times in the last week or two. That includes Hakone Ekiden champ Komazawa University's Keita Sato, Mebuki Suzuki and Kotaro Shinohara, Jun Kasai (Asahi Kasei), 19-year old Sonata Nagashima (Asahi Kasei) and Chuo Gakuin University's Reishi Yoshida.

107th National Championships 10000 m Start Lists

National Stadium, Tokyo, 10 Dec. 2023
times listed are best within qualifying window

Women
Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 30:39.71
Rino Goshima (Shiseido) - 31:22.38
Tomoka Kimura (Sekisui Kagaku) - 31:51.05
Hina Yanagitani (Wacoal) - 31:56.32
Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) - 31:58.59
Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) - 31:59.60
Haruka Kokai (Daiichi Seimei) - 32:01.83
Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 32:13.01
Mikuni Yada (Edion) - 32:13.03
Misaki Hayashida (Kyudenko) - 32:15.97
Yumi Yoshikawa (Uniqlo) - 32:18.01
Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 32:22.23
Rio Einaga (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 32:27.40
Tomo Muramatsu (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 32:29.14
Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 32:29.56
Judy Jepngetich (Kenya/Shiseido) - 14:50.20
Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 15:19.98
Nanami Watanabe (Panasonic) - 15:25.48
Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:30.39
Nagisa Shimotabira (Senko) - 15:30.91
Risa Yamazaki (Nittai Univ.) - 15:31.39
Minami Yamanouchi (Shimamura) - 15:32.86
Miyaka Sugata (Japan Post) - 15:35.73
Kazuna Kanetomo (Kyocera) - 15:39.91 

Men
Sitonik Kiprono (Kenya/Kurosaki Harima) - 27:14.76
Ren Tazawa (Toyota) - 27:28.04
Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) - 27:31.27
Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) - 27:42.48
Tomoki Ota (Toyota) - 27:42.49
Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) - 27:42.85
Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 27:43.11
Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 27:46.82
Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 27:48.22
Takashi Nanba (Toenec) - 27:48.27
Yuto Imae (GMO) - 27:50.93
Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Denryoku) - 27:51.64
Tatsuya Oike (Toyota Boshoku) - 27:53.79
Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) - 27:56.20
Minato Oishi (Toyota) - 27:57.32
Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) - 27:57.72
Ayumu Kobayashi (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 27:57.99
Shingo Moriyama (YKK) - 27:59.90
Daiki Hattori (Toyota Boshoku) - 28:02.22
Naoki Ota (Yakult) - 28:02.90
Ayumu Okawa (Press Kogyo) - 28:03.58
Hazuma Hattori (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 28:05.44
Yohei Ikeda (Kao) - 28:06.33
Takuya Kitazaki (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 28:07.10
Aritaka Kajiwara (Comodi Iida) - 28:08.21
Sodai Shimizu (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 28:12.47

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
I'd be surprised if Hironaka can beat the 30:40 standard. I don't think she is in that sort of form though she did run a very good 5000m race last weekend and excellent Ekiden leg the previous weekend. I'm expecting a close fight between her and Goshima. I think Haruka Kokai will run with the leading pack but whether she can hang on in the last 2km will be interesting. She is one who I hope will surprise on Sunday. Yuka Takashima ran an excellent Queen's Ekiden 5th leg so she is in excellent form. It should be a very entertaining race and one I'm looking forward to watching.
December 8, 2023 at 4:06 PM
Anonymous said…
What happened to Seira Fuwa? After injury her fitness was not the same, didn't hear she run any races.
The same also to Hitomi Niiya, after breaking the 10,000m national recored, she can't even run 3000m in 9 minutes.

December 9, 2023 at 3:27 PM
Brett Larner said…
Fuwa hasn't raced much, but they're still talking optimistically about her getting back to pre-injury levels. She also switched shoe brands after running the amazing times. Niiya has moved to the marathon and has taken two shots at the national record.
December 10, 2023 at 9:51 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin
Post a Comment
Read more

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi
Post a Comment
Read more

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and
Post a Comment
Read more