Skip to main content

16-Year-Old Rin Kubo Becomes First Japanese Woman to Break 2:00 for 800 m


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 Britain in May. But although the Nara meet was an official JAAF-sanctioned meet and the JAAF recognizes Kubo's mark, it looks like it will not be recognized by World Athletics as either the NR or Kubo's PB because the meet was not registered to the World Athletics calendar in advance.

source article:
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Is it not possible to ask for the competition to be added to the "world athletics" calendar?
August 16, 2024 at 11:04 PM
Brett Larner said…
No, the paperwork and fees have to be taken care of before the competition. Otherwise races and meets could just opt not to pay WA unless there were good results that belong in the database, like this one.
August 17, 2024 at 2:56 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...
4 comments
Read more

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more