Weekend Track and Road Roundup

The Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon aside, a quick roundup of results from this past weekend:

At the Nittai University Time Trials, aka the Nittaidai Challenge Games, Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) led a great men's 10000 m A-heat in 27:20.05, with the top six men all going under 27:28. James Mutuku (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) was the only other collegiate runner among them at 3rd in 27:23.09, with 2:06 marathoner Hidekazu Hijikata (Asahi Kasei) the top Japanese finisher at 8th in 28:23.27.

Mutuku's YGU teammate Brian Kipyegon won the 5000 m A-heat in 13:30.88, James Karuri (Aomori Yamada H.S.) next in 13:33.67 and Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.) 3rd in 13:48.44. Soya Katayama (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) had the fastest 1500 m with a 3:46.19 to win the A-heat.

In the women's races at Nittai, Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was the only one to clear 16 minutes in the 5000 m A-heat, running 15:27.12 for the win. Lucy Nduta (Aomori Yamada H.S.) was likewise the only one under 9 minutes in the 3000 m A-heat at 8:57.59, Runa Shoji (Kantaiheiyo Univ.) taking the 1500 m A-heat in 4:19.30 by 0.12 over Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku). Yamamoto was also 2nd behind Nduta in the 3000 m, running 9:08.38.

Like last year, heavy rain hit Hiroshima's Oda Memorial Meet on Monday, but there were still a lot of good performances. Shunsuke Yoshii (Chuo Univ.) led the top six under 13:30 in the men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:24.06, with Taishi Ito (Waseda Univ.) running in the 13:20s for the first time at 13:28.67 for 5th.

Just-graduated 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) and perpetual rival Philemon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) both went under Kiplagat's meet record from 2021, Miura winning in 8:22.07 and Kiplagat 2nd in 8:23.35. On the way up this season, Yutaro Niinae (Aisan Kogyo) was 3rd in 8:28.54, his first time under 8:30. Three men broke the MR in the 1500 m, all under 3:40, led by Abraham Guem (Ami AC) in 3:39.17. Ryoji Tatezawa (DeNA) was 2nd in 3:39.55 and Masato Saiki (Fujisan no Meisui) 3rd in 3:39.88.

Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) was less than a second off the MR in the women's 5000 m, winning by over 20 seconds in 15:04.71. Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was 2nd in 15:25.30, with Ireland's Jodie McCann 4th in a PB 15:30.20. Tomoka Kimura (Sekisui Kagaku) shaved 0.19 off the women's 1500 m MR dating way back to 1994, winning 4:10.75 over Rose Wangui (Sera H.S.), 2nd in 4:12.85. Overseas, NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) was slightly faster at the Penn Relays, running 4:08.32 for 3rd.

Also overseas, a massive crew of nine Adidas-sponsored Japanese men ran the 5 km at the adizero Road to Records in Germany, where they duly filled up the back half of the field, jogging in a pack and finishing 15th through 22nd and 24th of 24. Kosei Atomura (Koku Gakuin Univ.) was the only one to run relatively seriously, clocking 14:00 for 15th. The 16th through 21st-placers all ran between 14:30 and 14:38, 14:38 being the time run by women's winner Medina Eisa.

'2024 IAU 100k World Championships Results: Jumpei Yamaguchi and Floriane Hot Win Gold'

Silver two years ago , Japanese NR holder Jumpei Yamaguchi took gold at the IAU 100 km World Championships Saturday in Bengaluru, India. Defending gold medalist Haruki Okayama was bronze this time, with Toru Somiya just over 2 minutes behind Okayama in 4th. Japanese women were shut out of the medals, 24-hour world record holder Miho Nakata placing highest at 4th. Complete report and results here: https://www.irunfar.com/2024-iau-100k-world-championships-results photo © 2024 Tarzan Aqzawa, all rights reserved

Miu Saito Moves up Steeplechase All-Time List at Edion Distance Challenge

The last big track time trial of the season, probably, Saturday's Edion Distance Challenge had its biggest result in its smallest event. With only 3 women on the starting line, the 3000 mSC saw Miu Saito from Nittai University move up from all-time Japanese #9 to #8 with a 9:45.62 PB that put her almost 35 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Panasonic 's Nanami Watanabe took the women's 5000 m fast heat in 15:29.67, but a lot of the main competition, Kae Gyu from National Corporate Women's Ekiden winner Japan Post , Yuma Yamamoto , Risa Sasaki and Tomoka Kimura from runner-up Sekisui Kagaku , top-tier collegians Nanaka Yamazaki , Nanase Tanimoto and Haruka Ogawa , and others just looked tired. Only 8 women broke 16 minutes, and with 7 others going sub-16 in the B-heat better seeding might have produced better races. Some Japan Post runners did do well in the women's 10000 m fast heat, with Miyaka Sugata winning in 31:42.28 and Caroline Kariba 3rd in 3...

800 m NR Holder Ko Ochiai Heads to Komazawa University

Men's 800 m national record holder Ko Ochiai , 18, a 3rd-year at Shiga Gakuen H.S. , will go to ekiden powerhouse Komazawa University after his graduation in March. Ochiai won this year's National Championships 800 m in June, and at July's National High School Championships he ran a 1:44.80 NR to win for the second year in a row. His time there was almost 1 second under the old record of 1:45.75 set by Sho Kawamoto in 2014 and equalled by Hiroki Minamoto in 2021. In August he became the first Japanese athlete to make a World U20 Championships 800 m final, winning bronze. Hope are high that he will continue to lead Japanese middle distance into new territory. Ochiai's immediate goal is to make the Tokyo World Championships next year. After coming back from the World U20 Championships he told reporters, "I want to become someone who can make the final and go for a medal, not someone who is just targeting making the team." Regarding the 1:44.50 qualifying stan...

japan running news

Search This Blog