800 m NR Holder Ko Ochiai Heads to Komazawa University

Men's 800 m national record holder Ko Ochiai, 18, a 3rd-year at Shiga Gakuen H.S., will go to ekiden powerhouse Komazawa University after his graduation in March. Ochiai won this year's National Championships 800 m in June, and at July's National High School Championships he ran a 1:44.80 NR to win for the second year in a row. His time there was almost 1 second under the old record of 1:45.75 set by Sho Kawamoto in 2014 and equalled by Hiroki Minamoto in 2021. In August he became the first Japanese athlete to make a World U20 Championships 800 m final, winning bronze. Hope are high that he will continue to lead Japanese middle distance into new territory.

Ochiai's immediate goal is to make the Tokyo World Championships next year. After coming back from the World U20 Championships he told reporters, "I want to become someone who can make the final and go for a medal, not someone who is just targeting making the team." Regarding the 1:44.50 qualifying standard he confidently said, "The time has gotten faster, but I'm still targeting it. I'll break it and be on the starting line at Worlds."

Last year Komazawa University won the Hakone Ekiden to complete a sweep of all three 2022-2023 major university ekidens. With 29 wins across all three races it is the winningest school in history. "Right now I want to focus on the 800 m and 1500 m," Ochiai said. "But I've watched the Hakone Ekiden on TV since I was little and even though it's longer distance I really respect and admire it."

Ochiai's greatest strength is his desire to improve. At Nationals in June he beat previous NR holder Kawamoto by over a second to win, but having missed the Paris Olympics qualifying standard of 1:44.70 he hit the track with his hand in frustration right after finishing. After scoring bronze at U20 Worlds he said, "My goal was to win, so only getting bronze is a bit disappointing. I'm happy to have gotten a medal, but I've still got a long way to go before I'm really internationally competitive." Always looking forward, Ochiai's surprising choice to go to a long distance specialty program will have a lot of people tracking his progress.

Ko Ochiai - Born 17 Aug. 2006 in Takashima, Shiga. 18 years old, 165 cm. Started running track at Imazu J.H.S. Entered Shiga Gakuen H.S. in 2022. As a 1st-year he ran the 3.0 km Second Stage at the National High School Ekiden. Won the National High School Championships 800 m as a 2nd-year. Won the April, 2024 U20 Asian Championships his first month as a 3rd-year. In June he won the National Championships. In July he won the National High School Championships for the second year in a row with a 1:44.80 NR. In August he won bronze at the World U20 Championships. His 1500 m PB is 3:47.56.

source article:

https://hochi.news/articles/20241208-OHT1T51283.html?page=1

translated by Brett Larner

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

japan running news

Search This Blog