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 5000 m at the National High School Track and Field Championships, and that winter he represented Japan in the U20 race at the World Cross Country Championships. Last year he was 11th in the 5000 m at high school Nationals and took 5th in the 5000 m at the National Sports Festival. Since entering Chuo in April he has taken 6th in the 5000 m at Kanto Regionals and 4th in the 5000 m at the U20 National Championships. In June he ran a PB of 13:34.09 for 5000 m.
Also this weekend, South Sudan's Abraham Guem won the On Track Nights meet's men's 800 m in 1:47.41 in his last tuneup for the Paris Olympics, where he will run the 800 m on a universality place. Australian Jesse Hunt won the men's 1500 m in 3:38.98 with both Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) and Masanori Anbai (Tokai Univ.) getting under 3:40. Chuo alum Kensuke Horio (MABP) took the men's 3000 m in 8:01.03. Australians took both women's races, Bendre Oboya winning the women's 800 m in 1:59.37 and Maudie Skyring the 1500 m in 4:07.33.
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