japan running news

After missing the men's 800 m national record by 0.07 at last month's National Championships, 17-year-old Ko Ochiai of Shiga Gakuen H.S. made history as the first Japanese man to break 1:45 with a 1:44.80 NR to win today's National High School Championships 800 m. Ochiai got lucky when Seita Kikuchi (Morioka Daiyon H.S.) took it out fast, going through 200 m just under 25 seconds and hitting 400 m in 52. Ochiai went to the front a step past 400 m, but he got another big break when Felix Muthiani (Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.) surged past him just before 600 m. That forced him to keep working, and Ochiai pulled even again with 50 m to go. Both went way under Ochiai's 1:45.82 high school record from Nationals last month , Ochiai cutting 0.95 off the senior national record in 1:44.80 and Muthiani, 19, next in an almost 4-second PB of 1:45.10. In an interesting article in mid-June , national champion Saku Chosei H.S. head coach Masaru Takamizawa speculated that the controve...

Athletics is about to kick off at the 2024 Paris Olympics . Japan's medal chances are few, but there's a decent number of people with a realistic shot at top 8 or top 10, depending on what you care about. The ones most likely to hit one of those targets: Women's Javelin Throw - Haruka Kitaguchi Kitaguchi is the 2023 world champion and Diamond League final winner and the only woman in the field over 67 meters in the Paris qualifying window. She's been more consistent this season than in the lead-up to Budapest last year but also hasn't had a really big throw. Last year she went in to the World Championships with a 67.04 m in mid-July. This year she's only hit 65.21 m, also in mid-July, but both Colombia's Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado and Austrian Victoria Hudson have thrown over 66 m this season. Kitaguchi's medal chances are good, but it'll take a peak performance for her to walk away with gold. Men's 20 km Race Walk - Koki Ikeda , Ryo Hamanishi a...

  The 77th running of the Fuji Mountain Race took place on July 26. In the long course summit race, 21 km with around 3000 m of climb from Fuji Yoshida city hall to the peak of Mount Fuji, Yuri Yoshizumi won the women's race in 3:13:08 and Ryunosuke Omi the men's race in 2:42:24.; In the women's race, last year's 2nd-placer Rieko Koshi led Yoshizumi by 19 seconds at the end of the road section at around 11.5 km. But on the trail section after that Yoshizumi passed her and built a winning lead to score her sixth Fuji Mountain Race title since 2017. 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016 winner Mina Ogawa was 2nd in 3:21:44, with Koshi hanging on to make the podium again in 3:25:02 for 3rd. Having won in his summit course debut last year, Omi was in the lead at the 11.5 km checkpoint. But by the Fifth Stage checkpoint he had been overtaken by Ruy Ueda and dropped two minutes behind. But Ueda, running the summit course for the first time, faded after hitting the steepest trail se...

  At this weekend's Summer Night Run Festival in CHUO track meet at Chuo University 's Tama campus, Chuo 1st-year Kaisei Okada ran 7:55.41 for 3000 m, the 4th-fastest Japanese U20 time ever. A rebranded version of the Chuo University Time Trials series, the Summer Night Run Festival featured top junior high school and high school athletes and members of Aoyama Gakuin University 's 2024 Hakone Ekiden champion team, with Chuo team members and alumni running as pacers. The third heat of 3000 m included AGU's Asahi Kuroda , Shota Shiode and Shunya Udagawa . Okada won, his 7:55.41 being his first time under 8 minutes, with 2nd-year teammate Hayate Honma also cracking 8 minutes in 7:58.65 for 2nd. Kuroda was 3rd in 8:02.83, with AGU 1st-year Hikaru Ogawara 5th in 8:05.81. Okada graduated from Kyoto's Rakunan H.S. , home of national record setters like Keita Sato , Ryuji Miura , Yoshihide Kiryu and Toshinari Takaoka . His 2nd year of high school he was 12th in the 50...

The Paris Olympics, a celebration of top athletes who've refined their skills and bodies to the limit, kick off in a few hours. Technology to help enhance their already incredible performances continues to evolve, bringing changes to the frontlines of athlete development. The Olympic triathlon is a hybrid sport consisting of a 1.5 km win, 40 km bike ride and 10 km run that takes around 2 hours total to finish. Winning it takes not only top physical condition but also technique and mental preparation. In May an international triathlon was held in Yokohama. Kenji Nener (31, NTT) finished 7th, the best-ever placing by a Japanese male. "I'm getting close to my ideal range of physical motion," he said afterward, sounding enthusiastic about his chances at the Olympics. Temperature has a major impact on long-distance triathlons, so acclimatization is critical. Paris in July can be over 30˚, and in a heatwave even hotter. Core body temperature is a key element in keeping it ...

On 30 August, 2003 Mongolia's Ser-Od Bat-Ochir ran his first global championships marathon at the Paris World Championships. Tonight he'll be the Mongolian flag bearer in the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, and in two weeks he'll be in the marathon. In between he's been in every World Championships marathon, eleven of them, and every Olympic marathon, five. In Paris he'll become the first person to run in six Olympic marathons. The Billboard #1 hit songs at all sixteen of his global championship marathons so far: 30 Aug. 2003 - Paris World Championships - Beyoncé "Crazy in Love" 29 Aug. 2004 - Athens Olympics - Terror Squad "Lean Back" 13 Aug. 2005 - Helsinki World Championships - Mariah Carey "We Belong Together" 25 Aug. 2007 - Osaka World Championships - Sean Kingston "Beautiful Girls" 24 Aug. 2008 - Beijing Olympics - Rihanna "Disturbia" 22 Aug. 2009 - Berlin World Championships - Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta ...

On July 23 the Fujitsu corporate team announced that men's 20 km race walk world record holder and 2019 50 km world champion Yusuke Suzuki , 36, and three-time men's 400 m national champion Julian Walsh , 27, are retiring at the end of the month. Suzuki competed in the 2012 London Olympics in the 20 km race walk. In 2015 he set a world record of 1:16:36 for 20 km at the National Race Walk Championships in Nomi. At the 2019 Doha World Championships he won the 50 km race walk, the first time a Japanese athlete won gold at an international championships including the Olympics. After that, he suffered setbacks from overtraining and other issues and did not try to make the Tokyo Olympic team in 2021. After leaving Fujitsu Suzuki will become a coach at Niigata University of Food and Agriculture . "I want to give the next generation of athletes the same kind of support that I received in my time as an athlete," he said. A member of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2021 Tokyo Ol...

Getting stuck in the shinkansen cancelation headaches yesterday means we're a day late getting to the weekend's track roundup, but better late than never. At the top of the list, women's 100 mH national record holder Mako Fukube (NKK) took 0.04 off her own record to win in 12.69 (+1.2) at the All-Star Night Games in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa in her last race before the Paris Olympics. Other Paris team members won their races too: 4x400 m squad member Takuho Yoshizu (GK Line) took the win in the men's 400 m in 45.89. Men's 400 m hurdler Daiki Ogawa (Toyo Univ.) set a meet record 49.09 for the win. Sumire Hata (Sumitomo Denko) set a women's long jump MR of 6.61 m (+0.8). Marina Saito (Suzuki) and Momone Ueda (Zenrin) both threw over the old MR held by world champion and Paris teammate Haruka Kitaguchi , Saito getting the win with a final attempt of 58.45 m, Ueda next at 57.93 m and 3rd-placer Yuki Yamamoto (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) also going over the old MR at 57...

The 37th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon took place July 21 in hot and sunny conditions. Patrick Kamau (Jobu University) won the men's race in 1:03:42, his third-straight Shibetsu win.. In 2nd place and the top Japanese position was Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) in 1:04:47. Koki Yoshioka (Kyudenko) was 3rd in 1:05:09. In the women's race Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) won in 1:14:01 by 48 seconds over Yuki Toyoda (Higo Ginko). The top member of Chuo Gakuin's ekiden team, Yoshida ran the competitive Second Stage at this year's Hakone Ekiden. Last year he ran the World University Games half marathon and was the fastest among the Japanese team at 1:02:08 for 4th, helping Japan score the team bronze medal. He has a half marathon PB of 1:00:31 and took 5th in the fast heat at last month's National University Ekiden qualifier. 37th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon Shibetsu, Hokkaido, 21 July 2024 complete results Men 1. Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) - 1:03:...

800 m national champions Rin Kubo and Ko Ochiai lead Japan's team for next month's Lima World U20 Championships , Kubo having just broken the NR with a 1:59.93 and Ochiai just off the NR at Nationals last month with a 1:45.82 in the heats. Sherry Drury is another one of Japan's big U20 hopes and will run the 1500 m, and 2023 National High School Ekiden champion Saku Chosei H.S. dominates the men's long distance squad with 3rd-years Yamato Hamaguchi in the 3000 m and 5000 m, Tetsu Sasaki in the 3000 m and 3000 mSC, and 2024 graduate Soma Nagahara in the 3000 m SC. World Athletics U20 Championships Japanese Team Lima, Peru, 27-31 Aug. 2024 complete team listing Women  (14) 800 m Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) - 1:59.93 1500 m Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) - 4:16.69 3000 m Miyu Yamada (Meijo Univ.) - 9:16.12 Miu Suzuki (Tsukuba Univ.) - 9:19.53 5000 m Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 15:31.51 Yumi Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:47.74 100 m Hurdles Ami Takahashi (Tsuku...

  The OSJ Ontake 100 happened this past weekend, one of Japan's most popular trail ultras. In the 100 km short course race , actually around 109 km, Shingo Nosaka had a 4-minute lead over Yuta Onodera through the first checkpoint at 54 km, splitting 4:26:20 to Onodera's 4:30:39. Running in 3rd and 4th at that point, Ryo Murata and Yuichi Miura were another 4 minutes back, but over the tough 2nd half both dropped out. Nosaka faded too, caught by Onodera before the second checkpoint at 83 km, but he rallied over the last 26 km to close a minute and a half on Onodera's lead. In the end, Onodera won by almost 9 minutes in 9:23:20, Nosaka 2nd in 9:32:16 and Hironori Nomoto running strong over the second half for 3rd in 9:39:59. In the women's 109 km race, Ethiopian Mulu Seboka , a 2:21:56 runner who was 5th in Chicago 2015 and won Toronto in 2014, led by half an hour at the first checkpoint and sat at 13th overall in 5:05:09. But on a course that rewarded more caution,...

At the July 15  Long Distance Time Trials meet in Nara, Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. 2nd-year Rin Kubo , 16, added the 800 m national record to her national title two weeks ago and 4x800 m NR on Friday, becoming the first Japanese woman to break 2 minutes with a new NR of 1:59.93. The previous NR of 2:00.45 was set on June 5, 2005 by Miho Sugimori . Kubo cut 0.52 seconds off that time, set almost three years before Kubo was born, and in doing it she achieved one of her major goals, becoming Japan's first woman to break the 2-minute barrier. It also majorly improved her own U18 NR of 2:03.13 set at Nationals two weeks ago, and bettered her 2:01.9 split in the NR-setting 4x800 m three days ago where she went through the first 400 m in 56.8. Translator's note: Kubo's 100 m splits per the stadium announcer: 14-28-43-58-1:13-1:29-1:44-1:59.93 Worldwide, her 1:59.93 is the 2nd-fastest U18 time in the world this year behind the 1:57.86 run by 17-year-old Phoebe Gill of Great Brita...

Newly crowned women's 800 m national champion Rin Kubo , 16, anchored one of two 4x800 m teams from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. at a time trial meet in Higashi Osaka Friday, setting a new Japanese NR of 8:33.77. The team, which included Rin Kitamura , Runa Asano , Misa Tamura and Kubo, took 8 seconds off the old record, clocking individual splits of 2:07.4 for Kitamura, 2:11.2 for Asano, 2:13.1 for Tamura and a solid 2:01.9 for the 16-year-old Kubo whose official PB for a standard 800 m is 2:03.13. Higashi Osaka Keiai's B-team also broke the old high school NR in 8:55.06. Overseas, three members of Japan's team for the Paris Olympics tuned up at the Monaco Diamond League meet. Women's javelin world champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) ntook the win in style with a 65.21 m season best on her final throw, surpassing the leader since the first round, Australian Mackenzie Little , by 47 cm. After a good comeback run at the Paris Diamond League meet, Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitom...

Yasushi Sakaguchi , who guided the Chugoku Denryoku men's corporate team to the peak of its power as its head coach and later executive head coach, retired from the team at the end of June. Appearing at his final race on June 29, he said, "It all went by in a blur. I was blessed with the right people for 35 years." Sakaguchi helped co-found the Chugoku Denryoku team, working to build the team up from zero and becoming its head coach in 1994. "We started with the basics, and built Chugoku Denryoku up into a well-known powerhouse in athletics," he said. Sakaguchi's coaching style encouraging the independence of his athletes helped produced Olympians, World Championships medalists and national record breakers like Shigeru Aburaya , Tsuyoshi Ogata and Atsushi Sato . In the team's golden era it even won the New Year Ekiden national title. Asked what athletics has meant to him, Sakaguchi answered, "I got to experience the world, and to see it in all its...

In his first race of the season 93-year-old super veteran runner Hiroo Tanaka showed that he still has what it takes. Tanaka lined up in three events at the Prefectural Sports and Recreation Festival in Aomori. Tanaka trains four days a week most of the time, but this was his first race since November, 2023, an almost 8-month blank. "I'm not confident at all. Especially about the 400 m," he said pre-race. "I'll be trying to break 1:50." But once the starting gun fired, Tanaka's sheer momentum couldn't be stopped. "I just focused on getting to the finish line without worrying about time," he said afterward. "I got there just before I was about to collapse." Despite not thinking about the pace he was running, Tanaka easily cleared his 1:50 goal with a stellar 1:43.02. Other runners gathered round to congratulation the legend of masters athletics. "Thank God it's over, thank God we're done," he said. "400 m is...

Catching up on track results from the last few days: After skipping the National Championships, men's 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) and 110 mH hurdler Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) demonstrated fitness at the Paris Diamond League meet. Miura ran a season best 8:10.52 for 7th, with Izumiya 3rd in the final in a 13.16 (-0.6) SB after winning Heat 2 in 13.16 (+0.4). National champion Rachid Muratake (JAL) was a DNS in the final after winning Heat 1 in 13.15 (+0.1). At the last Nittai University Time Trials meet of the season, collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m record holder Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) won the men's 5000 m fast heat in 13:27.48, outrunning Brian Kiptoo (Reitaku Univ.) and Patrick Kamau (Kokushikan Univ.). Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) was the fastest Japanese man in the meet at 13:45.54 for 6th. Kiptoo also soloed a 10000 m, literally, as in the only person in the race, in 29:05.52. Sharon Mwanthi (Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.) won the wome...

With World Athletics' update of its Road to Paris rankings , one male and three female athletes have been added to Japan's team for the Paris Olympics, all in mid/long distance events. Left out are the vertical jumps, with women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota and high jumpers Nagisa Takahashi and Naoto Hasegawa missing by one or two places each. Men 100 m Abdul Hakim Sani Brown - 9.97 PB / 9.99 SB Ryuichiro Sakai - 10.02 PB / 10.10 SB Akihiro Higashida - 10.10 PB / 10.14 SB (4x100 m) - Hiroki Yanagita - 10.02 PB / SB (4x100 m) - Yoshihide Kiryu - 9.98 PB / 10.20 SB (4x100 m) - Shota Yamamoto - 10.16 PB / SB -  alternate 200 m Towa Uzawa - 20.23 PB / 20.26 SB Shota Iizuka - 20.11 PB / 20.46 SB Koki Ueyama - 20.26 PB / 20.47 SB 400 m Yuki Joseph Nakajima - 45.04 PB / 45.16 SB Kentaro Sato - 44.77 PB / 45.21 SB Fuga Sato - 44.88 PB / 45.61 PB (4x400 m) - Takuho Yoshizu - 45.57 PB / SB (4x400 m) - Kaito Kawabata - 45.73 PB / 45.77 SB (4x400 m) - Yudai Nishi - 20.43 PB...

23-year-old Yuki Nakamura broke through to the upper levels of Japanese women's marathoning, taking over 6 minutes off her PB to win Australia's Gold Coast Marathon in a course record 2:24:22. Coming into the race with a best of only 2:30:31 from Nagoya in March, the night before the race Nakamura's coaching staff told JRN that her goal was to clear 2:26 and that she'd go with the lead group on 2:24 pace and see what she could do. Helped by a large group of men to break the wind, the pack of five soon shook down to just Nakamura, favorite Visiline Jepkesho of Kenya and 2:26 Ethiopian Sichala Kumeshi . Nakamura looked comfortable and under control, even like she was holding back, through the first 2/3 of the race. A move from Jepkesho before 30 km opened a 10 m gap between the two Africans and Nakamura, but Nakamura worked the small hill just after 31 km to catch back up and even go to the front. From there Nakamura threw in a series of surges, first breaking Kumeshi a...

  The winner of Tokyo's Year End Half Marathon in 2019,  Andy Buchanan  ran a crafty race to beat four sub-61 Japanese men and the debuting Australian  Isaac Heyne  at the Gold Coast Half Marathon . Smiling most of the way, Heyne led on 2:59/km pace through the turnaround point just before 11 km before Koki Kamata  took over. From there it was a series of turnovers that took the lead group down to just Heyne, favorite Shunsuke Shikama , 2:06 marathoner Daisuke Doi , and Buchanan. All of them made moves in the last 2 km, but Buchanan made the definitive one in the last km, pulling away to win in a PB 1:02:20. After falling slightly behind, Heyne fought back for 2nd in 1:02:22 with Doi getting Shikama on the line for 3rd, both clocking 1:02:25. Four other Japanese men including 2:05 marathoner Kenya Sonota  made the top 10. The women's race started out as a trio with Australians Leanne Pompeani  and Jessica Stenson , and two-time winner  Sara H...

Australia's Gold Coast Half Marathon and Marathon are big draws for Japanese corporate leaguers these days, especially with a big contingent from this year's National Corporate Half Marathon dominating the entry lists in the half. Two-time winner Sara Hall is top-ranked in the women's half with a 1:07:15 from Houston two years ago and will mostly be racing Leanne Pompeani for the win. Beyond that there's a big group at the 1:10 level including Japan's Rinka Hida , Yukari Nagatomo and Moe Shimizu who should all be in it for 3rd. The men's half is dominated by four Japanese men who broke 1:01 at the National Corporate Half in February, meaning that if the weather is decent then the 1:01:16 CR is likely to fall to Shunsuke Shikama , Koki Kamata , Soshi Suzuki or Daisuke Doi . That's a big if, though, with >50% chance of rain and a headwind in the 2nd half that's forecast to get stronger as the race goes along. The favorite for the win and a shot at...