Kimutai Does the Double at Tokorozawa Games

A key part of Josai University's school record 3rd-place finish at the Hakone Ekiden in January, 2nd-year Victor Kimutai did a quality double at Saturday's Tokorozawa Games at Waseda University. Running in the 3000 m fast heat at 10:20 a.m., Kimutai led a quartet most of the way on sub-8 minute pace before pulling away over the last two laps to win in a PB of 7:53.75. Teammate Itsuki Hirabayashi looked set for 2nd but was run down in the last 50 m by Waseda's Taishi Ito, who set a PB of 7:58.64 just two weeks after running the United Airlines NYC Half. Hirabayashi held on for 3rd in 7:59.18, his first time under 8 minutes.

95 minutes later Kimutai lined up again in the 1500 m fast heat, and again he scored the win with a 3:45.78 PB. Another one of his Josai teammates Tatsuki Yamanaka was right with him with a 3:46.02 PB for 2nd, with high schooler Yanab Naoki Yoshikura of Waseda Jitsugyo H.S. 3rd in 3:49.08.

Tokorozawa Games

Waseda University Field, Tokorozawa, 30 March 2024

complete results

Men's 1500 m Heat 1

1. Yu Shibata (Josai Univ.) 3:48.41

2. Shuto Iguchi (Keiho H.S.) 3:49.94

3. Sora Matsuoka (Kyoto Gaikokudai Nishi H.S.) 3:52.78

4. Toma Hino (Waseda Univ.) 3:53.76

5. Kenta Mizuno (Josai Univ.) 3:59.13

Men's 1500 m Heat 2

1. Victor Kimutai (KEN/Josai Univ.) 3:45.78

2. Tatsuki Yamanaka (Josai Univ.) 3:46.02

3. Nayabu Naoki Yoshikura (Waseda Jitsugyo H.S.) 3:49.08

4. Kazumi Nakajima (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) 3:49.30

5. Umi Fukuda (Chinen Gakuen Nara H.S.) 3:49.47

6. Naoto Hamaguchi (Soka Univ.) 3:50.35

7. Shun Miyake (Kagawa Nishi H.S.) 3:50.81

8. Yuto Masaoka (Kumamoto Kogyo H.S.) 3:51.68

9. Manato Ozawa (Kamiina Nogyo H.S.) 3:52.12

10. Nagi Miyamoto (Josai Univ.) 3:53.58

Men's 3000 m SC

1. Kai Ogata (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) 8:50.66

2. Hikaru Kitamura (Waseda Univ.) 9:03.89

3. Takuma Nakayama (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) 9:11.68

4. Kosei Kusano (Waseda Univ.) 9:17.70

5. Yusei Kojima (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) 9:22.78

Men's 3000 m Heat 3

1. Hinata Kuroki (Soka Univ.) 8:09.69

2. Sora Saito (Soka Univ.) 8:14.11

3. Jo Fujinoki (Soka Univ.) 8:15.70

4. Yuto Wada (Waseda Univ.) 8:17.82

5. Haruyoshi Takeda (Waseda Univ.) 8:22.17

Men's 3000 m Heat 4

1. Hibiki Yoshida (Soka Univ.) 8:03.00

2. Joseph Githae (KEN/Yugakkan H.S.) 8:09.21

3. Shinjiro Fujimoto (Waseda Univ.) 8:11.59

4. Ryo Yoshida (Soka Univ.) 8:15.56

5. Ikuya Masuda (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) 8:19.20

Men's 3000 m Heat 5

1. Victor Kimutai (KEN/Josai Univ.) 7:53.75

2. Taishi Ito (Waseda Univ.) 7:58.64

3. Itsuki Hirabayashi (Josai Univ.) 7:59.18

4. Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 8:01.42

5. Shunpei Yamaguchi (Saku Chosei H.S.) 8:03.80

6. Haruto Ishizuka (Waseda Univ.) 8:04.67

7. Junpei Maseda (Waseda Univ.) 8:06.07

8. Eiki Kogure (Soka Univ.) 8:08.67

9. Takumi Orihashi (Soka Univ.) 8:10.34

10. Yuta Kubode (Josai Univ.) 8:11.06

Osako Breaks Marathon NR for 3rd Time - Weekend Roundup

It looked like it was going to be a big weekend, and it delivered. For the 3rd time in his career Suguru Osako broke the men's marathon NR, running 1 second under the standing record to take 4th in the Valencia Marathon in 2:04:55. All the way to 40 km he was steady on 2:58/km, 2:05:10 pace, and like a surprising number of other people in both the men's and women's races, there was a massive jump over the last 2.195 km from his projected finish time to his actual one. His run put Osako back on top of the Japanese charts, put the average of Japan's 10 fastest marathon times of the year under 2:06 for the first time, and got him into the L.A. Olympics marathon trials. Valencia has been trying to get top-tier Japanese athletes to come for years, and now that they finally managed to do it it paid off in a big way. Expect more next year. Back home, former Takushoku University captain Derese Workneh won a 3-way race against Toyota teammates Kazuya Nishiyama and Bedan Ka...

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