Kubo Leads Higashi Osaka Keiai to 4x800 m NR

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 (Sumitomo Denko) fell on the 8th hurdle in the men's 110 mH and failed to finish. In the women's 5000 m, NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (NB) was 3rd in a 14:40.86 SB.

Back in Japan at the third Hokuren Distance Challenge meet in Shibetsu, longtime Japan resident Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) continued a surprising jump in her performances this season, smashing an 8:37.16 PB, almost 6 seconds off her best, to win the women's 3000 m A-heat by 26 seconds over . After lucking into roll down spots on the Paris team in the 5000 m and 1500 m, Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Yume Goto (Uniqlo) ran 8:53.99 and 8:58.30 for 3rd and 4th, a PB for Kabasawa and SB for Goto.

Shota Nakano (Honda) turned in maybe the performance of the meet in the men's 3000 m, winning in a PB 7:46.37 that tied him with 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri at all-time Japanese #6. Ahead of a shot at the 1500 m NR later in the HDC series, Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) was 5th in a PB 8:07.06.

Other events in Shibetsu were relatively low-key. South Korean Jaeung Lee ran a 3-second PB of 3:41.48 to win the men's 1500 m, Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Ginko) winning the women's race in 4:23.34. The 5000 m A-heats went to Japan-based Kenyans James Muoki (Konica Minolta) in 13:31.10 and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Denko) in a 15:14.29 SB. Men's 10000 m winner Jin Yuasa (Chuo Univ. Club) was the only one in the top 12 not to run a PB or SB, winning in 28:17.37.

Over in Abashiri, Koku Gakuin University was at the front end of the Summer Distance Challenge meet with a 13:47.17 PB from 1st-year Yuta Asano to win the men's 5000 m and PBs from 3rd-year Goki Takayama and 2nd-year Hikaru Tsujihara to go 1-2 in the men's 10000 m in 28:25.72 and 28:27.93. 2nd-year Airi Tajima (Juntendo Univ.) won the women's 5000 m in a PB of 16:07.37.

Can Meijo Make it 8-Straight? Morinomiyako Ekiden Preview

Sunday's Morinomiyako Ekiden in Sendai is one of the two big national-level ekidens on the collegiate women's ekiden circuit. This is the era of Meijo University , who have won the last seven Morinomiyako titles and the last six at December's Mt. Fuji. Women's Ekiden , and just about the only real story here is whether anyone can stop them. Five out the six members of last year's winning team, Nanaka Yonezawa , Kaede Rikimaru , Asuka Ishimatsu , Saki Harada , and Nanase Tanimoto , are back, and the only one missing, 2nd-year Naru Yabutani , finished the lowest on the team on her stage at 4th last time. Tanimoto, the only 4th-year on the team, has had more downs than ups this season, but that was true last year too and Meijo came through. Perpetual 2nd-placer Daito Bunka University was only 52 seconds behind over the 38.0 km Morinomiyako course, and that was with one of its runners finishing only 12th on her stage. Its entire 2023 lineup is back, led by 2nd-year S

Police Arrest 20-Year-Old Man Charged With Assaulting Female Runner at Popular Tokyo Running Spot

A 20-year-old man has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a female runner along the banks of the Tama River in Ota Ward, Tokyo. "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go for a walk and move my body a bit," the man told police. Local resident Hirai Muroyama , 20, of no known occupation, was arrested on charges of sexual assault. He is accused of acts including grabbing the breasts of a woman in her 20s at around 10 p.m. on May 31 along the banks of the Tama River. According to police, the woman was taking a break in her run when Muroyama approached her silently from behind and grabbed her breasts before running away. Under police interrogation Muroyama told investigators, "I've been stuck at home because of the coronavirus, so I wanted to go out for a walk and move my body. I'd had a few drinks and was feeling pretty hype. She was totally my type." source article: https://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newsey

Shiori Nagumo Makes It to Queens Ekiden Two Years After Giving Birth

Kagoshima's Higo Ginko women's corporate team ran Sunday's Princess Ekiden in a successful shot at making November's Queens Ekiden national championship. On its roster was a runner who looks forward to taking her daughter to the big show. Handling First Stage duties for the Higo Ginko team, Shiori Nagumo 's driving force was her 2-year-old daughter Itoha Nagumo . Shiori, 29, brings Itoha with her on team training camps and to races. When Shiori trains, Itoha is there to give her water. "It's a good thing, you know," said Higo Ginko head coach Shigeharu Watanabe , 55. "Even after becoming a mother, she's still able to focus on being an athlete." Shiori was once a key member of the top-tier Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo team, but she retired to give birth. Afterward she still felt motivated to return to running, and when her former Mitsui Sumitomo coach Watanabe got in touch she agreed to join Higo Ginko in July last year. "It's not easy

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