japan running news

Japan finally got on the medal board with a silver medal from Rikuya Yoshida and a pair of bronzes from Ko Ochiai and Kaisei Nakatani on the fourth day of the Lima World U20 Championships. Yoshida was up first in the men's pole vault, where he cleared a PB 5.40 m on his first attempt, good for silver behind German Hendrik Muller who made 5.45 m. Czech Jan Krcek also PBd at 5.30 m for bronze, with Ryota Murakoso 4th at 5.20 m. After squeezing through the men's 800 m semifinals by 0.02, NR holder Ochiai started strong in the final, 2nd through 200 m in 25.13 and 4th at 400 m in 52.19, almost dead even with his NR last month. By 600 m he dropped to 6th, but over the final 200 m he ran down Kenyans Kelvin Kimutai Koech and Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech and Qatari Hatim Ait Oulghazi to take bronze in 1:47.03 behind Ethiopian General Berhanu Ayansa and Australian Peyton Craig . Ochiai's closing split of 27.33 was actually faster than Ayana's 27.53 and Craig's 27.46, b...

Like at the Paris Olympics, there's no shortage of top 8 placings by Japanese athletes so far at the Lima World U20 Championships , but no medals yet. One of 4 Japanese athletes in action in finals on the third day of the championships, Koki Kanai was 70 cm out of the medals in the men's triple jump, going 15.60 m (+1.8) for 7th in the final. Gold medalist Ethan Olivier of New Zealand set a new Oceania U20 record of 17.01 m (+1.4) for the win. Kentaro Shirahata better Kanai's placing in the men's 400 m final, running 46.83 for 5th after having run PBs in both the heats and semifinals. Gold medalist Udeme Okon was the only athlete to break 46 seconds, running 45.69. Despite high expectations, Yamato Hamaguchi couldn't quite crack top 8 in the men's 3000 m final, running 8:24.60 for 9th. Teammate Tetsu Sasaki was a DNS. Gold medalist Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen of Norway and silver medalist Denis Kipkoech of Kenya raced each other to sub-8:21 times, Halvorsen ...

Only one Japanese athlete was in action in finals on the second day of the Lima World U20 Championships . After making it through the heats and semifinals in the men's 100 m, Naoki Nishioka turned in the highest placing by a Japanese athlete so far in Lima, taking 5th in the final in 10.43 (-0.9). South Africans Bayanda Walaza and Bradley Nkoana took gold and bronze in 10.19 and 10.26, with Thailand's Puripol Boonson splitting it down the middle with a 10.22 for silver. In qualifying rounds: Kentaro Shirahata and Ryota Oishi both moved on to the men's 400 m semifinals, Shirahata winning Heat 5 in a 46.45 PB and Oishi only 4th in Heat 3 but picking up a time qualifying spot in 47.46. Shirahata was back in the semifinals with another PB to win SF2 in 46.30, 2nd among the qualifiers for the final behind American Jayden Davis . Oishi was 5th in SF3 in 48.09 and will not join Shirahata in the final. Koki Terada failed to make it out of the men's 1500 m heats, finishin...

  The 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships kicked off Aug. 27 in Lima, Peru. Top-ranked Japanese woman Kana Mizumoto  was a DNS in the Championships' first final, the women's 5000 m, but teammate Yumi Yamamoto  was the top non-African finisher at 6th, running 16:01.54. But with gold medalist Medina Eisa  of Ethiopia running a 14:39.71 championships record Yamamoto was over 36 seconds outside the medals. All three men's 5000 m medalists ran 13:41 with Kenyan Andrew Kiptoo Alamisi  taking gold in 13:41.14. That was slightly faster than the PBs of Yamato Hamaguchi  and Kaito Matsui , but both were far below potential with Hamaguchi 13th in 14:16.29 and Matsui last in 15:31.85. In qualifying rounds, both 800 m national record holders Rin Kubo  and Ko Ochiai  easily made the semifinals, Kubo the fastest overall in the women's heats with a 2:04.53 and Ochiai 2nd in his heat in 1:50.67. Togo Yoshizawa  also advanced, 3rd in Heat 3 in 1:51.49 behi...

Two-time Olympic marathoner Suguru Osako  posted on his Instagram story on Aug. 26 about his trail running debut at last weekend's UTMB MCC in Chamonix, France with support from his high school friend, trail runner Ruy Ueda . Osako ran the 40 km division with 2300 m cumulative elevation gain. In 4th at the first checkpoint, he slowed partway through when the course got steep and rocky. "To be honest it was too scary," he wrote. "How can people run there? LOL. It was different from what I'd heard. Mostly rock." Osako struggled on the descents, writing that he had cramps in his legs. Video showed trail specialists running smoothly past him on a steep downhill. But in the end he managed to finished, placing 50th among men and 52nd overall in 4:30:41. Afterward he wrote, "It was scarier than I expected and my legs wouldn't move, even more on the downhills where I'm terrible. But at least I was able to make a mark in the safe first 10k! LOL. I'v...

On Aug. 26 women's marathon national record holder Honami Maeda of the Tenmaya corporate team talked about her unfortunate withdrawal from the Paris Olympics after suffering a stress fracture. After that she went on leave from the team to focus on her recovery. Q. What have you been doing since the Olympics? Maeda: I've just been back home taking it easy and seeing friends. Taking it slow and relaxing. The stress fracture hasn't fully healed yet, so I have to rest. I don't really have any choice except taking it easy, so it feels different from my normal holidays. When I look back on the whole thing I feel some regret. Q. What makes you feel regret? Maeda: I can't answer that. With no current plans to restart her training, for the foreseeable future Maeda will be just dealing with recovery from her injury. source article: https://www.ohk.co.jp/data/26-20240826-00000019/pages/ translated by Brett Larner

The  Lima World U20 Championships  start tomorrow. Despite having its best-ever overall medal haul across all sports the Paris Olympics were almost a complete bust for Japan in athletics, with Haruka Kitaguchi 's gold in the women's javelin throw its only gold medal. But there are a lot of medal prospects in Lima, and overall it's probably the best team Japan has ever sent to the U20 World Championships. 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.) - 4:15.50 3000 m Miyu Yamada (Meijo Univ.) - 9:14.09 Miu Suzuki (Tsukuba Univ.) - 9:18.64 5000 m Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 15:31.51 Yumi Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:37.38 100 m Hurdles Ami Takahashi (Tsukuba Univ.) - 13.28 Miki Hayashi (Waseda Univ.) - 13.40 400 m Hurdles Haru Hiraki (Osaka Seikei Univ.) - 58.02 Aki Yajima (Tokorozawa Nishi H.S.) - 58.58 10000 m Race Walk S...

2018 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Pauline Kamulu Kaveke and Tokyo Olympics marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura survived tough conditions, 22˚C at the start with 82% humidity, sunny skies and almost no wind, to take the 2024 Hokkaido Marathon Sunday in Sapporo. Both running their debuts, Kamulu and Shiho Tachizako ran steadily around 2:28-flat pace surrounded by a group of amateur men, staying together until just before 30 km when Tachizako started to fade. Kamulu struggled with the hot conditions late in the race and could only watch the clock as sub-2:30 slipped away, looking very tired as she crossed the finish line in 2:31:04. Tachizako faded to 2:33:47 for 2nd, but even that was good enough to easily beat the rest of the field, with last year's 2nd-placer Ayano Ikeuchi 3rd in 2:35:26 in her third marathon so far this year. Nakamura had said pre-race that he didn't care about time and was only focused on getting in the win, and that was exactly ho...

They say in Hakone Ekiden circles that the team that wins the summer wins Hakone. Aiming to break a three-year streak of finishing off the podium at the main event, 2019 Hakone winner Tokai University is aiming to take the top position at the Oct. 19 Yosenkai Hakone qualifier half marathon. Led by 4th-year captain Yuto Kajitani , the Tokai team is putting in more mileage this summer than usual. The Shonan-based Tokai's 2019 Hakone title was its first-ever win at Japan's biggest race. Since then it has finished as high as 2nd and 5th, but in the last three years it was 11th, 15th and 11th and missed out on top 10 and a guaranteed place at the following year's Hakone. To try to get back to its winning ways the team is training this summer in Nagano at Lake Shirakaba and at altitude in Sugadaira. "This season our goal is to make top 5 at both the National University Ekiden and the Hakone Ekiden," said Kajitani. Everyone on the team is working actively to make that g...

A monument has been erected at Todoroki Sanso Lodge in Higashiagatsuma, Gunma where four-time Hakone Ekiden winner Toyo University does its summer training every August. In 1991 former alumni association president Tsuneyoshi Kosuge proposed Todoroki Sanso as a training base, and it was built with the support of Mitsutake Todoroki . Ever since then summer training camps in the lush nature surrounding Higashiagatsuma have become a regular feature of Toyo's calendar. Students at the Japan Women's University of Nutrition provide meals to the Toyo athletes under the supervision of professor Kazuhiro Uenishi as part of their practical training, creating an optimal training camp in terms of both nutrition and accommodations. The monument at Todoroki Sanno was erected to commemorate the 100th running of the Hakone Ekiden in January this year and is engraved with the Toyo slogan "shave off another second." Head coach Toshiyuki Sakai , 48, a Toyo alum who has trained at Todo...

The Paris Olympics have just ended and the Paralympics are set to kick off next week on the 28th, but the focus is already shifting to the Los Angeles Olympics 4 years down the road. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach , 70, will step down from his position at the end of his term next June. The word is that IOC member Morinari Watanabe , 65, president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), is planning to run in the election for Bach's successor in March. If elected, Watanabe would become the first Japanese head of the IOC. While Bach was a gold medalist in the men's fencing team competition at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Watanabe never competed at the Olympics let alone medaled. After joining the Jusco retail chain in 1984, he worked as a salaryman office worker for the Aeon Group, Jusco's renamed parent corporation and served as director of the Japan Gymnastic Association. In 2017 he became FIG's first Asian president. Under Watanabe...

A native of Ozu, Kumamoto, Paris Olympics men's marathon 6th-place finisher Akira Akasaki  appeared at a press conference in his current base of Fukuoka on Aug. 19. "Most people didn't think I could make top 8," he said. "I think a 2:09 guy making top 8 was a nice surprise." Before the marathon Akasaki's PB was only 2:09:01, ranking him 74th among the 81 starters in the marathon field. But at 25 km Akasaki led the field, and in the later stages of the race he stayed with the leaders until the very end. He finished 6th in 2:07:32, the fastest time ever by a Japanese man at the Olympics. Akasaki was the first runner from Kumamoto to make an Olympic marathon since  Shizo Kanakuri  100 years ago. Now he is aiming for more. "It wasn't just fun, but I feel like I actually ran a good race too," he said. "The Paris Olympics as an event helped me grow. I'm looking at this as the start line. I want to take the confidence I've gotten fro...

Next weekend's Hokkaido Marathon has a good men's field lined up, with five sub-2:10 men and some interesting matchups. At the front is 2024 Osaka Marathon winner Kiyoto Hirabayashi , the winners of the 2024 and 2022 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Derese Workneh and Yuki Nakamura , and 2023 Beppu-Oita runner-up Atsumi Ashiwa , with threats from two other race winners, 2022 Hokkaido champ Luka Musembi and Tokyo Olympics marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura . Sub-61 half marathoner Kazuki Matsuyama is scheduled to debut, and if he or Hirabayashi actually start it will give the race a very different dynamic. The women's field is thinner, but 2018 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Pauline Kamulu is on the list to make her debut. If she's for real nobody else in the field can touch her. If not, it'll probably be a head-to-head between the only sub-2:30 woman in the race, Yuri Mitsune , and Nanami Aoki , 2:30:01 on Osaka last year. Shiho Tachizako is ...

Two classic midsummer ekidens happened during the Paris Olympics, the 77th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden in Akita and the 49th Mount Fuji Ekiden in Shizuoka. We didn't have time to cover them then, but better late than never. The Towada Hachimantai Ekiden was held Aug. 7 on a 5-leg, 71.4 km course from Lake Towada on the Akita/Aomori border to Hachimantai in Kazuno, Akita. For the third time in the race's history, the East Japan Corporate Select Team took the top spot in the men's race, winning in 3:49:05. East Japan was 4th after the 1st leg, with 2nd runner Shota Sugimoto moving them up to 2nd. They fell to 5th on the next leg, but after that a stage win by Neo Namiki and a new stage CR by Yuito Yamamoto on the final two stages put them out front. Yamamoto graduated from Josai University in March. At Josai he won the uphill Fifth Stage at both last year's and this year's Hakone Ekidens, with his new CR there this year earning him the MVP award at Hakone's 1...

Two classic midsummer ekidens happened during the Paris Olympics, the 77th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden in Akita and the 49th Mount Fuji Ekiden in Shizuoka. We didn't have time to cover them then, but better late than never. The Mount Fuji Ekiden was held Aug. 4 in Gotemba, Shizuoka starting at Gotemba Field, climbing 3258 m to the peak of Mt. Fuji, then making the return trip for a total distance of 48.19 km in 11 stages. Each runner on the 6-member teams handled one uphill leg and one downhill leg except the sixth runner, whose stage included the final climb to the peak and then the start of the descent after getting the tasuki stamped by a monk waiting at the top. For the 8th year in a row the Takigahara SDF Base team won the overall title, running 3:51:35 to win just 24 seconds off last year's mark. Individual stage winners from Takigahara included 2-time Hasetsune Cup winner Yuya Kawasaki on the uphill 4th leg, vertical king Toru Miyahara on the 5th leg, and Hiroya Morig...

We've been busy the last few days working with the Mongolian marathon team at the Paris Olympics. Catching up on the Japanese national team's performances over the last 3 days of athletics competition, the big news was of course world champion Haruka Kitaguchi scoring Japan's first and only medal in Paris, gold in the javelin on her first throw. In the final evening session on Saturday Kitaguchi came out swinging with a season best 65.80 m first throw that left the rest of the field fighting for silver. South African Jo-Ane Van Dyk came closest to Kitaguchi's mark at 63.93 m, just holding off Czech Nikola Ogrodnikova for silver by 25 cm. Japan's other javelin finalist Momone Ueda was 10th with a season best 61.64 m throw. Kitaguchi's gold was the first-ever for a female Japanese athlete in the javelin throw and the first by any Japanese athlete since Mizuki Noguchi in the Athens Olympics marathon. Kitaguchi was seriously burned by the JAAF's massive 90%...

The first Japanese man to make an Olympic 110 m hurdles final, NR co-holder Rachid Muratake turned in the best performance by a Japanese athlete so far at the Paris Olympics when he took 5th in the final. Only 8th in the field on semifinal time, Muratake outran American Freddie Crittenden and Jamaicans Hansle Parchment and Orlando Bennett , crossing the line in a photo finish with Spain's Enrique Llopis . Llopis was 4th in 13.20 (-0.1) behind American medalists Grant Holloway and Daniel Roberts , 12.99 and 13.09, and Jamaica's Rasheed Broadbell , 13.09, with Muratake clocking 13.21 for 5th. That put him ahead of Koki Ikeda 's 7th-place finish in the men's 20 km race walk as the top Japanese placer at this Olympics, and with few people remaining who have a realistic chance of bettering that it's almost a given that Muratake will go home as one of Japan's top 3 this time around. One of the contenders to do better than 5th, the Japanese men's 4x100 m rel...

Former Juntendo University teammates and co-NR holders  Rachid Muratake and Shunsuke Izumiya had the chance to make history in the first track event of the evening session on day 7 of athletics at the Paris Olympics . No Japanese man had ever made it to the final of an Olympic 110 m hurdles before, and with the top 2 finishers in each semifinal plus the next 2 fastest going on to the final both lined up in their SF with the 2nd-fastest season best time in their race. Muratake was up first, but with a 13.26 (+0.1) for 4th in SF1 his chances of getting through didn't look good. Senegal's Louis Francois Mendy kept Muratake's hopes alive when he ran only 13.34 (-0.1) for 3rd in SF2, leaving it to SF3 and Izumiya. Izumiya was sluggish through the early and middle phases of the race but came back with a brilliant last 20 m to take 3rd. When his time of 13.32 (+0.6) came up it meant Muratake was in as Japan's first Olympic finalist, but Izumiya himself was just short of k...

Day 7 of athletics at the Paris Olympics kicked off with one of Japan's few chances at a medal, the marathon race walk mixed relay. Masatora Kawano took it out hard, leading early with honorary Japanese team member Evan Dunfee of Canada and staying with the pack once caught. 20 km NR holder Kumiko Okada took over for the 2nd half of the race but soon lost touch and drifted back to her final finishing position of 8th in 2:55:40, just over 4 minutes behind bronze medalists Australia . Spain took gold in 2:50:31, with Ecuador beating Australia by 16 seconds for silver in 2:51:22. Japan's B-team of Kazuki Takahashi and Ayane Yanai was 13th in 2:58:08. 8th place for the A-team was far off a medal, but as another top 8 finish to go with those in the men's 20 km race walk it clicks a box in the JAAF's metrics for success at this Olympics.  Japan's best chance at an individual medal, 2023 world champion Haruka Kitaguchi led off with a 62.58 m throw that put her ov...

Day 6 of athletics at the Paris Olympics saw almost every Japanese athlete eliminated, with only one moving on thanks to a successful appeal. After missing out on making the 5000 m final, Nozomi Tanaka had a lucky break in the first women's 1500 m heat when she collided with another runner with 200 m to go. Although Tanaka finished 11th in 4:04.28, she was advanced to the semifinals on appeal. Yume Goto ran a PB of 4:09.41 for 13th in Heat 2 and will run the repechage round. In the men's javelin throw, Roderick Genki Dean threw a season best 82.48 m in the first qualification group, unluckily coming in at 13th and missing a place in the field of 12 for the final. With no repechage round to help him out Dean's first Olympics since London 2012 comes to an end. Women's long jump NR holder Sumire Hata jumped 6.31 m (+0.4) for 26th in the qualifying round and likewise missed out on a place in the final. Two of the three Japanese men in the 110 mH made the semifinals, bu...

Monday a relatively busy day in Paris Olympics athletics for the Japanese national team. Things started off slowly with all three men in the 400 mH heats finishing near the bottom of the field of 39 starters, Daiki Ogawa running 50.21 for 33rd, Kaito Tsutsue 50.50 for 35th and the high potential Ken Toyoda last among the 37 finishers in 53.62 after a mid-race injury. All three head to the repechage round, but in Toyoda's case he'll likely be a DNS. All three Japanese men in the 400 m repechage round, Joseph Nakajima , Fuga Sato and Kentaro Sato , gave it a miss in order to focus on the 4x400 m relay where their chances of making the final are higher. In the men's 3000 mSC heats, national record holder Ryuji Miura made it through to the final, running close to his season best with an 8:12.41 for 4th in Heat 2. Ryoma Aoki was one of the casualties of the slow pace in Heat 3, finishing 8th in 8:29.03 and missing out on advancing. In the men's 200 m heats 21-year-old...

There still aren't many Japanese athletes on the ground in athletics at the Paris Olympics. Day 3 on Saturday saw only 3 men in action, all in the 100 m. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown was the only one to make it out of the heats and into Sunday's semifinals, running 10.02 (0.0) for 2nd in Heat 4 behind Jamaican Oblique Seville . Ryuichiro Sakai missed a time qualifying spot by only 0.01, running 10.17 (+0.3) for 5th in Heat 7. Akihiro Higashida was 5th in Heat 1, running 10.19 (+0.6). In the semifinals Sani Brown had an unlucky draw, running SF 3 against Kishane Thompson , Fred Kerley , Andrew De Grasse , Ferdinand Omanyala and others. Totally determined to make the final, Sani Brown ran a PB 9.96 (+0.5) for 4th, the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese man and just 0.01 off the NR. But with the fastest times ever in Olympic semifinals coming in two of the three races it took a 9.93 to make the final on time, putting it out of Sani Brown's range. His best just wasn't enough, bu...

Athletics competition kicked off at the Paris Olympics with the men's and women's 20 km race walks. One of Japan's best medal chances, the men's race saw Koki Ikeda and Yuta Koga sit in the second pack through the second half of the race, ultimately finishing 7th and 8th in 1:19:41 and 1:19:50. Ikeda was only 30 seconds back from bronze medalist Alvaro Martin of Spain and another 16 seconds from gold medalist Brian Pintado of Ecuador. Third Japanese man Ryo Hamanishi was 18th in 1:20:33. Overall it was an improvement on the team's performance in the Budapest World Championships last summer, where Koga was 12th and Ikeda 15th. With Kumiko Okada and Ayane Yanai withdrawing to focus on the mixed relay, the women's 20 km race walk had only one Japanese athlete, Nanako Fujii . With China's Jiayu Yang leading all three medalists under 1:26:00 in 1:25:54, Fujii was a distant 32nd in 1:34:26. No Japanese athletes were in action in the morning session at the...

The new Japanese men's 800 m NR of 1:44.80 by Ko Ochiai (Shiga Gakuen H.S.) and winning solo 2:00.81 meet record by Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) were the big stories at this year's National High School Track and Field Championships in Fukuoka, but there were a lot of other good results across the meet's five days. Jeremy Koga (Tokyo H.S.) set a new high school NR and meet record in the 110 m hurdles, winning the final in 13.59 (-0.7) after breaking them in the semifinals in 13.67 (-0.9). 2nd-placer Koki Takajo (Miyazaki Nishi H.S.) was also under the old records in 13.68. Another high school NR and meet record went down in the boys' high jump, where Kaisei Nakatani (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) cleared 2.24 m on his 2nd attempt. That beat future NR holder Naoto Tobe 's previous H.S. NR of 2.23 set back in 2009. Kei Wakana (Sano H.S.) broke the boys' 200 m meet record, running 20.61 (+0.1) to win the final. Manaka Matsui (Otsuka H.S.) took the girls'...