Skip to main content

Etir and Hanyu Sub-28, and Fuwa Returns - Weekend Track Roundup


It was the first really busy weekend of outdoor season in Japan, with the first quality results coming at the season's first Setagaya Time Trials in Tokyo. Collegiate 10000 m record holder Amos Bett (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) ran 27:48.00 for the win in the men's 10000 m fast heat, with Takuya Hanyu (Toyota Boshoku) going under 28 minutes for the second time in his career with in 27:49.78 for 2nd. The winner of last month's National University Half Marathon, Rui Aoki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) ran a PB 28:02.00 for 3rd, barely beating Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) by 0.26.


In the men's 5000 m A-heat, photo finish specialist Edwin Kisalsak (Fujisan no Meisui) did it again, both he and Duncan Maina (Senshu Univ.) clocking 13:38.82 in the men's 5000 m fast heat but Kisalsak getting the win by 0.005 in 13:38.815 to Maina's 13:38.820. Five Koku Gakuin University runners went under 14 minutes led by Kosei Atomura in 13:47.46, with Aoi Ito making a partial comeback from the injury that kept him out of January's Hakone Ekiden with a 13:55.76 that was the fastest of the three Komazawa University men to go under 14.


Honda teammates Shota Nakano and Hideo Kosode went 1-2 in the men's 3000 m fast heat in another photo finish, 7:55.43 to 7:55.48, with runners from the Kao corporate team taking the next five spots all between 8:03.86 and 8:08.99. Marathoner Mao Uesugi made her debut with new team Tokyo Metro, winning the women's 3000 m in 9:21.66. Keigo Yuhara (Komori Corp.) won yet another close race in the men's 1500 m fast heat, running 3:46.61 with 2nd-placer Ren Yonemitsu (Konica Minolta) in 3:46.69.


Across town at the Kizuna Time Trials in Machida, Hiroki Wakabayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) ran a solo 28:48.10 10000 m with pacing from Hakone Ekiden Third Stage winner Aoi Ota and, in his debut in the AGU uniform, 13:28 high schooler Sota Orita. AGU runners took pretty much everything, with Kosei Yamaguchi taking the 5000 m fast heat in 13:44.25, Akimu Nomura the B-heat in 14:03.98, Hakone Second Stage winner Asahi Kuroda the 3000 mSC fast heat in 8:42.46, and Hikaru Ogawara both the 1500 m in 3:47.76 and the 800 m in 1:54.44.

At the Kokushikan University Time Trials, women's 10000 m collegiate record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) ran her first race since October, 2022. In a mixed 5000 m Fuwa clocked 16:32.92, clearing the qualifying standard for May's Kanto Regionals by over 37 seconds. Fuwa sustained an Achilles tendon injury in January, 2022 after doing multiple ekidens in the weeks after her 30:45.21 collegiate record in December, 2021, and after making a brief comeback in the fall of 2022 suffered a stress fracture that kept her out of the 2023 season.


At the Tokyo Big 6 collegiate meet at Yokohama's Keio University, Waseda University's Junpei Maseda took the men's 5000 m in 13:55.61 over Takuma Akiyoshi (Tokyo University), the only other runner under 14 minutes at 13:56.76. Keio's Rikuto Yasuda won the 3000 mSC in 8:47.04, with Waseda's Nayab Naoki Yoshikura taking the 1500 m in 3:48.60.


At the Kanto Region 7 Private University Meet in Saitama, Mashu Nomura (Toyo Univ.) ran a meet record 13:50.46 to win the men's 5000 m, Stephen Lemayan (Surugadai Univ.) taking 2nd in 13:52.75 and Itsuki Hirabayashi (Josai Univ.) 3rd in 13:53.14. Toyo took the top spot in the men's 3000 m too with Ryota Kobayashi running 8:00.89 for a close win over Shoya Saito (Josai Univ.) and Kyohei Oda (Daito Bunka Univ.). Shuto Iguchi (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) won the 1500 m in 3:49.18.

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
It is such a long road back for Seira Fuwa. Maybe, come Ekiden season, we can see her return to somewhere close to her best form and in 2025 challenge her personal bests? Late last year, I held slim hopes she'd recover to make the Paris Olympics team but it isn't to be. Realistically the challenge now will be to be at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. I hope she doesn't suffer any further setbacks and still has the drive to succeed. She brought such excitement to the sport and I hope she can do it again.
April 8, 2024 at 3:55 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chinese Influencer Intrudes on Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage to Shoot Video of Himself Running with AGU's Wakabayashi

A Chinese influencer ignored restrictions and race officials' directions and ran on the Hakone Ekiden course to shoot video during the race's uphill Fifth Stage on Jan. 2. He later apologized. The influencer, Shen Haoze , posts about running and marathons, and on the Chinese social media site Weibo has nearly 5 million followers. A clip of him running on the closed road course of the Hakone Ekiden's Fifth Stage alongside course record setter Hiroki Wakabayashi of defending champion Aoyama Gakuin University and shooting video went viral on social media. Race officials can be heard warning him to get off the course due to the danger to the competing athletes, but Shen ignored them, setting off a firestorm of criticism from users in both Japan and China. Comments included, "These athletes are putting their whole lives into the race. What the hell does he think he's doing?" and "He has no regard for the danger to them." Shen later posted an apology on...
Post a Comment
Read more

February's National XC Named as Selection Race for 2026 World XC Team

The JAAF has announced that the 2025 National Cross Country Championships on Feb. 22 will act as the selection race for the senior teams for the 2026 World Cross Country Championships to be held Jan. 10 in Tallahassee, U.S.A. for both the senior men's and women's 10 km, up to 8 athletes will be selected, with 6 ultimately running. Team scoring is based upon each team's first 4 finishers. Member of the 10000 m team at September's Tokyo World Championships will be given priority in World XC team selection. The JAAF is planning a separate selection race in November for the U20 teams. Nominations to the 8 km mixed relay will be based on results in the 2 km race at the 2025 National Cross Country Championships, to be held at Fukuoka's Umi no Naka Michi Kaihin Park. source article: https://www.rikujyokyogi.co.jp/archives/158822 translated by Brett Larner
Post a Comment
Read more

The 2025 Hakone Ekiden by the Numbers

It was another record-breaking year at the Hakone Ekiden . All 13 of the course records, the 10 individual stages, the Day One and Day Two courses and the overall course, have been set since 2019, and out of those 6 fell this time, 2 of them broken by multiple athletes or teams. All of them had performances in at least their all-time top 6, and 9 of them in their all-time top 3. First Stage (21.3 km) - all-time #4 Second Stage (23.1 km) - CR, all-time #2, all-time #3, all-time #9 Third Stage (21.4 km) - all-time #4, all-time #5, all-time #7 Fourth Stage (20.9 km) - all-time #2, all-time #7, all-time #8, all-time #9 Fifth Stage (20.8 km uphill) - CR, all-time #3 Sixth Stage (20.8 km downhill) - CR, all-time #5, all-time #9 Seventh Stage (21.3 km) - CR, all-time #4 (x2), all-time #7 Eighth Stage (21.4 km) - all-time #6, all-time #9, all-time #10 Ninth Stage (23.1 km) - all-time #6, all-time #10 Tenth Stage (23.0 km) - all-time #2, all-time #7 Day One (107.5 km) - all-time #2...
2 comments
Read more