japan running news

The university men's ekiden season dominates the calendar in Japan, three main races spanning an arc from October's Izumo Ekiden , 6 stages totaling 45.1 km, November's National University Ekiden, 8 stages totaling 106.8 km, and the biggest of them all, January's Hakone Ekiden, 10 stages over 2 days totaling 217.1 km. This year's season kicks off Monday at Izumo, where 2022-2023 winner  Komazawa University  tries to make it 3 in a row. Despite losing 2 of last year's top members,  Taiyo Yasuhara  and  Mebuki Suzuki , to graduation and the absence of star 3rd-year  Keita Sato  who is still rehabbing an injury, Komazawa's team is almost exactly as strong as it was last year, when it won by 2 minutes despite being ranked only 4th in the field. But out of the 9 Kanto Region teams in the Izumo field, Komazawa is the only one that isn't stronger on weighted average of its 6 fastest men over 5000 m and 10000 m. That means it comes in ranked 6th, still a solid c

Ekiden season saw two of its first important races happen this weekend. Modeled after January's Kitakyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden, Sunday's Okukuma Ekiden in Kumamoto put corporate, collegiate and high school teams together on a marathon-length course with teams of 4 all running double-digit distances and high schoolers with teams of 7 and all but the 10.0 km First Stage split into two parts. Tosu Kogyo H.S. starting runner Taiyo Iwasa led corporate leaguer Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) by 2 seconds on the First Stage, with Omuta H.S. third runner Yuma Matsuda passing both teams to take the lead. It took until the anchor stage for Hiramatsu Byoin's Yeneblo Biyazen to catch Omuta, crossing the line in 2:06:39 with Omuta anchor Nobuyuki Anai 7 seconds back for 1st in the high school division. Soka University was the only other team to go under 2:07, 3rd overall and 2nd in the college/corporate division in 2:06:57. Rakunan H.S. was next in 2:07:07, with e

With the calendar ticking over into October, companies across the country are holding employment offer ceremonies for college students who will join their ranks after graduating next March. 4th-year runners from top universities are also deciding their roads ahead. Having run the fastest-ever time on the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage and playing a key role in Aoyama Gakuin University 's overall win at the 100th Hakone this past January, Aoi Ota , 22, is set to join the GMO corporate team. His teammates Akimu Nomura , 21, and Kosei Shiraishi , 22, plan to join Sumitomo Denko . Former 5000 m high school record holder Kosuke Ishida , 22, who missed all three big college ekidens last year but has made a stellar recovery this season, will join Subaru after graduating from Toyo University . With the fates of their teams in their hands, they and other 4th-years will give it all in their final seasons before moving on to the next stage of their lives. At the 100th Hakone Ekiden Ota del

After running the 2nd-fastest time ever by a Japanese man, 2:05:12, to finish 6th at the Sept. 29 Berlin Marathon, Yohei Ikeda (26, Kao) made an appearance at city hall in his hometown of Shimada, Shizuoka on Oct. 3. Ikeda told Mayor Kinuyo Someya , 70, "I'm disappointed that I missed my goal of breaking the Japanese national record by 16 seconds. But the work I put in paid off. This was a race that's going to lead to something more." Ikeda was a member of the baseball team when he was a student at Shimada Ichi J.H.S. before switching full-time to the track team at Shimada H.S. Starting his second year at Nittai University he was a regular on Nittai's Hakone Ekiden team. After graduating he joined the Kao corporate team, running 2:06:53 in his marathon debut at the 2023 Osaka Marathon. Berlin was his third shot at the marathon distance, and he succeeded in improving his PB by 1:41. Local residents flocked to join city officials in greeting the new local hero

  On Oct. 2 the organizers of the 2024 National Sports Festival set to take place Oct. 11-15 in Saga announced that single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras are banned at the stadium where track and field competition will take place to prevent people from secretly shooting pictures and video of athletes. "These are likely the strictest restrictions on photography put in place at any national-level competition," commented a spokesperson. Track and field at the National Sports Festival will take place at Saga Stadium in Saga. Only media organizations, the families, coaches and other related people will be allowed to bring SLR cameras into the stadium if they have applied in advance. Smartphones and video cameras will also not be allowed in the no-photography areas near the start and finish lines. In recent years "athlete voyeurism," in which people take close-up photos and video of female athletes' breasts and lower bodies, has become a national problem. Venues are incre

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Results at this year's Berlin Marathon were big overall, with 6 women under 2:21 and 14 men under 2:07, and in both the women's and men's races multiple Japanese athletes had great days. In the women's race Paris Olympics marathon alternate Ai Hosoda (Edion) and Tokyo Olympics marathon alternate Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) ran the entire way together, 1:10:13 through halfway and 2:13:09 at 40 km. Hosoda had the better closing speed, finishing in an all-time Japanese #7 2:20:31 for 5th. Matsuda, who had previously broken 2:21 in her win at the 2022 Osaka International Women's Marathon, took 10 seconds off her time in that race for an all-time Japanese #8 2:20:42 for 6th. Having floated retirement after missing the Paris team, it was a great payoff for Matsuda's decision to give it one more go. Hosoda's 2:20 was a major breakthrough, but as her 5th time going under 2:22 Matsuda's performance solidified her position as one of Japan's best ever. After a

Coming up through the ranks as Japan's next top-level steeper, Yutaro Niinae broke through with a 5-second PB of 8:20.36 to win at the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup Sunday in Niigata and bump himself up to all-time Japanese #6. With pacing early on from Aisan Kogyo teammate Philemon Kiplagat , Niinae had the confidence to break away from the field of 6 just after halfway, opening over 10 seconds on Kiplagat by the end of the race. Hibiki Obara was 3rd in 8:36.68. Teenaged national record holders Ko Ochiai , 17, and Rin Kubo , 16, went for aggressive times in the 800 m finals, Ochiai going through 400 m in 51 but fading to 1:46.88. "I wanted to go for the Tokyo World Championships qualifying standard," he said, "but that first lap felt really fast. I learned a lot at the World U20 Championships and that even though I'm at the top Japan I still have a long way to go internationally." Kubo almost perfectly matched the 200 m splits from her sub-2 NR this sum

After two days of flight cancelations and delays that ended up with him arriving in Niigata 4.5 hours before the race, Indian men's 5000 m NR holder Gulveer Singh came through with a record-breaking run to win the 5000 m on the first day of the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup Continental Tour Bronze meet. Set up as a shot at the 13:08.40 Japanese NR, the race went out with steady 63-second laps with pacing from 10-mile world best holder Benard Koech . After the pack settled out 2024 Komazawa University grad Mebuki Suzuki was at the front behind Koech with this year's Komazawa captain Kotaro Shinohara right with him. When a gap opened Singh moved up from 5th or 6th to go with them. Koech stepped off at 4000 m leaving Suzuki to lead, Shinohara struggling to hang on and coming back twice after falling off. At the bell Singh went to the front, and with a 55-second last lap he held off Suzuki in the last 100 m to win in 13:11.82, 7 seconds under his old NR. Suzuki ran a PB 13:18.

Start lists are up for this weekend's Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup Continental Tour Bronze meet in Niigata with scratches and a few additions since the initial entry list announcement two weeks ago. Prominent withdrawals include women's long jump NR holder Sumire Hata , former men's 100 m NR holder Yoshihide Kiryu , men's indoor 5000 m NR holder Keita Sato , and Paris Olympians Ryuichiro Sakai , Tomoki Ota , Ryoichi Akamatsu , and Wakana Kabasawa . Indian men's 5000 m NR holder Gulveer Singh has joined the 5000 m field in pursuit of a new NR. Times listed below are athletes' 2023-2024 best in each event. Streaming of day one of the meet starts at 14:30 Saturday, with day two starting at 10:00 a.m. Sunday. Live results are here . Men's 100 m Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.10 Naoki Nishioka (Tokai Gyosei H.S.) - 10.11 Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.11 Ryo Wada (Miki House) - 10.13 Shoto Uno (Orico) - 10.16 Kuk Young Kim (South Korea) - 10.25 Kenji Ma

  The Japanese men's 110 mH national record holder at 13.04 and a semifinalist in the Paris Olympics 110 mH, Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) turned in the biggest performance at this year's National Corporate Track and Field Championships. Doing his annual shot at the long jump at Corporate Nationals, Izumiya beat his 2022 best of 8.00 m and last year's winning mark of 8.10 m with a new PB of 8.14 m (+0.7) on his first and only successful attempt. That was good enough to take the win over Hibiki Tsuha by 11 cm and moved Izumiya up to all-time Japanese #10 in the long jump. NR holder Shotaro Shiroyama (Zenrin) was 3rd with a first attempt jump of 7.81 m (+0.5). Other standout performances: Shoto Uno (Orico) got into the sub-10.1 club with a 10.09 (+1.4) win in the men's 100 m final. 400 m specialists Fuga Sato (Mizuno) and Kentaro Sato (Fujitsu) stepped down to the 200 m, beating Uno to go 1-2 in 20.67 (+0.4) and 20.79 with Uno 3rd in 20.90. Nanako Matsumoto (T

Waseda University 1st-year Shota Fuchigami and Toyo University 1st-year Hayato Shimoda were the stars of this year's National University Track and Field Championships this weekend at Kanagawa's Todoroki Stadium. Squeezing through the men's 400 mH first round in 3rd in his heat with a time of 50.72, Shimoda watched as Fuchigami won semifinal 2 in 48.78, 0.31 under the U20 national record set way back in 1996 by two-time World Championships bronze medalist Dai Tamesue . Lining up next in SF3, Shimoda bettered Fuchigami with a 48.59 U20 NR. That was only good enough for 3rd in his semi behind Shunta Inoue (Hosei Univ.), whose 48.46 missed the 2005-era meet record by 0.11, and 2nd-placer Shu Watanabe (Nittai Univ.) who ran 48.51 but it got him to the final. There Fuchigami delivered again, going under Tamesue's old record for the second time and beating Inoue by 0.12 to win in 48.96. Shimoda couldn't deliver the same kind of performance, finishing 7th in 50.08, but

  Alongside this long weekend's National University Track and Field Championships , the corporate leaguers get their shot at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships Saturday through Monday in Yamaguchi. Streaming of the first day will be above, with links to the other days here . Complete track event entry lists are here and field events here , with live results here . Top entries per event: Women 100 m Mei Kodama (Mizuno) - 11.37 Arisa Kimishima (DKK) - 11.45 Manaka Miura (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 11.45 Shuri Aono (ND Soft) - 11.58 Yuna Miura (Cerespo) - 11.59 200 m Arisa Kimishima (DKK) - 23.16 Shuri Aono (ND Soft) - 23.45 Haruna Kuboyama (Imamura Byoin) - 23.57 Reika Matsubayashi (MMG) - 23.75 Mei Kodama (Mizuno) - 23.83 400 m Haruna Kuboyama (Imamura Byoin) - 53.07 Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 53.42 Abigail Fuka Ido (Toho Ginko) - 53.70 Shizuho Moriyama (Ichigo) - 53.83 Mayu Inaoka (Kagotani) - 54.08 800 m Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:01.93 Airi Ikezaki (D

The 93rd National University Track and Field Championships start today at Kanagawa's Todoroki Stadium and run through Sunday. The meet schedule and live results can be had here . Streaming of most events will be linked here once competition starts each day. Top entrants in each event: Women 100 m Wakana Okane (Konan Univ.) - 11.55 Yume Okuno (Konan Univ.) - 11.55 Yu Ishikawa (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 11.55 Miu Kurashige (Konan Univ.) - 11.63 Yuiko Yamazaki (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ.) - 11.63 Misato Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 11.64 200 m Aiha Yamagata (Fukuoka Univ.) - 23.53 Ami Takahashi (Tsukuba Univ.) - 23.67 Arie Flores (Nittai Univ.) - 23.73 Yuzuki Kojima (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 23.82 Miu Kurashige (Konan Univ.) - 23.96 Hazuki Yoshinaga (Chuo Univ.) - 23.96 400 m Arie Flores (Nittai Univ.) - 53.28 Marin Adachi (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) - 53.52 Yuzuki Kojima (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 53.99 Yuzuki Nakao (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) - 54.12 Ririka Miyachi (Surugadai Univ.) - 54.13 800 m Ai Wat

The Tokyo Legacy Half happens Oct. 20 on what's basically the course just announced for next year's Tokyo World Championships marathon. With a 1:05:58 best Loice Chemnung is a mile ahead of the rest of the women's field led by Mongolian NR holder Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh , Gold Coast Marathon winner Yuki Nakamura and last year's 4th-placer Natsuki Ogawa . Last year's top 3 men Evans Keitany , Benard Kimeli and Bedan Karoki are all back along with sub-60 men Amos Kurgat ,  Cleophas Kandie and Andrew Lorot , top Japanese man Tomoki Ota at 1:00:08, and a million more. Straight from Paris, Paralympians Misato Michishita , Tsubasa Kina , Tomoki Suzuki , Kenya Karasawa and more lead the para half field. Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights Tokyo, 20 Oct. 2024 complete field listing times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted Women Loice Chemnung (Kenya) - 1:05:58 (2024 Malaga Half) Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 1