Skip to main content

It's Entry List Season

Lots of big meets coming up, and entry lists are promising some top Japanese talent at three of the first major ones.
  1. On Mar. 7 the JAAF announced a team of 12 men and 12 women for the Mar. 30 Belgrade World Cross Country Championships, with senior men's 10 km 3rd-placer Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) the only one of the top-placing athletes at last month's National Cross Country Championships to pass on running Worlds. There hasn't been any announcement of withdrawals by the JAAF, but as of this writing the official entry lists on the Worlds site list only 5 men and 7 women. All four people on the mixed relay team are there including the Louisiana State University-bound Yuya Sawada (Hamamatsu Shiritsu H.S.) and 1500 m NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance), but senior men's national champ Tomonori Yamaguchi (Waseda Univ.), the entire U20 men's team, and all but U20 women's 4th-placer Chiseno Ikeda (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) are missing. It has to be wrong, right?
  2. The Apr. 13 Kanakuri Memorial Meet is the first big outdoor meet on the Japanese calendar, and the men's 1500 m looks like the race of the day. On the list are NR holder Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec), all-time #2 Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko), #3 and 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru), #4 and indoor 1500 m NR holder Nanami Arai (Honda), #7 and U20 NR holder Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) and #8 Keisuke Morita (Subaru). It doesn't get much better than that in a domestic Japanese 1500 m. Tanaka is also in the women's 1500 m here, along with all-time #3 Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku), #6 Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) and high school star Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.). Bando will turn up in the men's 5000 m alongside Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko), 10 mile world best holder Benard Koech (Kyudenko) and 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) among others. Kimura is also entered in the women's 5000 m, where sub-15 talent like Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) and Naomi Muthoni (Universal Ent.) is sure to dominate.
  3. The Asian U20 Championships happen Apr. 24-27 in Dubai, and Japan is sending 16 girls and 15 boys. Drury will make her international debut in the 1500 m, with sub-9:10 runners Narumi Okumoto (Oita Tomei H.S.) and Nozomi Kondo (Tokai Sagami H.S.) in the girls' 3000 m. The boys' 5000 m is solid, including all-time high school #2 Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.) and #4 Kaito Iida (Izumi Chuo H.S.). Yota Mashiko (Ishikawa H.S.) is in the 3000 m with a best of 8:05.32, and Kaito Kuroki (Higashi Fukuoka H.S.) is a solid contender in the 100 m with a 10.19 PB from last year.
© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

  Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...
1 comment
Read more

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...
Post a Comment
Read more