Skip to main content

Weekend Track Update

 

The biggest domestic meet of the weekend was the four-day Kanto Region Track and Field Championships, but there were other good meets happening across the country. At the Kinami Memorial Meet in Osaka, Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) had a near-miss on the Japanese NR, running a meet record 3:35.77 for the win to come in at all-time JPN #2. 2nd through 4th-placers Abraham Guem (South Sudan), Felix Muthiani (Kenya) and Dezhu Liu (China) were all under the old MR and under 3:38, and the top 10 all went under 3:40. All told it was one of the best non-international championship men's 1500 m ever on Japanese soil. The women's 3000 mSC also saw a new MR from Shuangshuang Xu (China) in 9:47.45, with 2nd through 4th-placers Miu Saito (Nittai Univ.), Georgia Winkcup (Australia) and Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) all breaking 10 minutes.


At part one of the Chugoku Corporate Championships in Hiroshima, Rebecca Mwangi (Daiso) had an easy win in the women's 5000 m in 15:26.53, 13 seconds up on Paris Olympic marathon team alternate Ai Hosoda (Edion). Kenyan Chugoku Denryoku teammates Cosmas Mwangi and Waweru Nganga went 1-2 in the men's 10000 m in 28:10.82 and 28:11.11, Taiyo Iwasaki (JFE Steel) the top Japanese finisher at 3rd in 28:38.38.


At the Chubu Corporate Championships in Gifu, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a 3:39.75 MR to win the 1500 m, his first time under 3:40. Daiki Hattori (Toyota Boshoku) edged Simon Muthio Saidim (Chuo Hatsujo) by 0.80 to score the top spot in the men's 5000 m in 13:36.01. Philemon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) won the 10000 m by 3 seconds over Felix Korir (Toyota) in 28:19.08. Yutaro Niinae (Aisan Kogyo) continued a breakthrough season with a 3000 m SC win in 8:39.27.


In the women's races, Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) took the 1500 m - 5000 m double, winning the 1500 m in 4:18.16 on Saturday and the 5000 m in 15:50.91 the next day. Rio Matsutani (Denso) took 4 seconds of the MR in the U20 women's 3000 m, soloing a 9:24.08 for the win. Marathoner Reia Iwade (Denso) took the 10000 m in 33:30.26.

Overseas, men's 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) had a good run at the Doha Diamond League meet, running 4 seconds off his PB with an 8:13.96 for 5th. NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) was unimpressive in the women's 5000 m, running only 15:11.21 for 11th. At the Track Fest meet in L.A., Hibiki Obara had a good run in the men's 3000 mSC with am 8:25.92 PB for 5th, beating Olympian Ryoma Aoki (Honda), who ran 8:35.16 for 9th.

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'CAS Clears Japan’s Olympic Silver Medallist Ikeda of Doping, Overturns Ban'

https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/10/23/cas-clears-japans-olympic-silver-medallist-ikeda-of-doping-overturns-ban The AIU's missteps in this case cost Tokyo Olympics and Oregon World Championships 20 km race walk silver medalist Koki Ikeda , a Toyo University graduate who competes for the Asahi Kasei corporate team, the chance to represent Japan at a home soil World Championships last year. It is almost unheard of for an athlete to successfully fight a biological passport suspension as Ikeda did, making this a highly significant case. The CAS' press release about its decision stated: "The Panel stressed that the Athlete did not merely assert his position on the ABP abnormalities but adduced very extensive evidence in support of his explanations. In this highly complex case, the evidence brought during the CAS proceedings was far more abundant and specific than during the first instance proceedings with the WA Disciplinary Tribunal, implying the CAS Panel had further ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meijo Back With Morinomiyako Ekiden CR for National University Title

The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's distance running with 7-straight wins at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden from 2017 to 2023 and 6-straight titles at the season-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden from 2018 to 2023, Meijo University came back from a 3rd-place finish last year to win the 44th Morinomiyako Ekiden again, leading almost start-to-finish to set a 2:02:21 CR for the 6-stage, 38.0 km course in Sendai. 12 second back in 2nd after the opening leg, collegiate 3000 mSC champ Nozomi Kondo put Meijo out front with a 12:36 CR for the 4.0 km Second Stage, and the rest of the team never looked back. The biggest threat to a Meijo win was on the 9.2 m Fifth Stage, where this year's collegiate 10000 m winner Sarah Wanjiru from last year's runner-up Daito Bunka University started 50 seconds back from Meijo 1st-year Mao Kimura . In taking the 10000 m title Wanjiru had outrun Kimura by over a minute, but today Kimura was a revelation, strong and smooth out fr...
1 comment
Read more

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more