Ichiyama Runs 8th-Fastest JPN Time Ever to Win National Corporate Half

Following up last weekend's NR-breaking Marugame Half where the top 24 men went under 61 minutes, today's National Corporate Half Marathon delivered another big one. Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) and Shadrack Kipchirchir (Chudenko) broke away from the pack mid-race and opened a substantial lead, but in the last few km Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) closed the gap and passed them by. Ichiyama took almost a minute off his PB to win in 1:00:22, the 8th-fastest time ever by a Japanese man.

Favorite Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) closed hard to pass Nishizawa and Kipchirchir on the track but couldn't catch Ichiyama, 5 seconds behind in 2nd in 1:00:27 with Nishizawa right behind in 1:00:29 for 3rd. Coming off an injury in November that held him back at last month's New Year Ekiden, Ichiyama told JRN post-race, "This was a big confidence builder for my next race." That would be next month's Tokyo Marathon.

The top 14 men were all under 61 minutes. Compared to that the women's race was relatively conservative, with only 2 women clearing 70 minutes. Shiori Yoshizono (Tenmaya) got the win in 1:09:45, holding off Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) by 5 seconds. Kazuna Kanetomo (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was 3rd in 1:10:20.

Paris Olympian Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) had a characteristically good one in the women's 10 km, taking the win by 30 seconds in 32:33. For the first time the National Corporate Championships featured a men's 10 km, which went to Komazawa University grad Taiyo Yasuhara (Kao) in 29:08.

National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships

Yamaguchi, 9 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men's Half Marathon

1. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) - 1:00:22 - PB

2. Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) - 1:00:27

3. Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:29

4. Shadrack Kipchirchir (Chudenko) - 1:00:39

5. Tamaki Fujimoto (Logisteed) - 1:00:40

6. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) - 1:00:43

7. Yoshiki Oshiro (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:00:43

8. Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:43

9. Hirotsugu Yoshikawa (Yakult) - 1:00:45

10. Ryuto Urushibata (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:47

11. Waweru Nganga (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:00:48

12. Toru Kubota (Honda) - 1:00:49

13. Yusaku Nomura (Toyota) - 1:00:58

14. Kazuki Moriya (Mitsubishi Juko) - 1:00:59

15. Shunsuke Kikuchi (NTN) - 1:01:01

16. Shunta Uchida (Toyota) - 1:01:05

17. Kento Yamauchi (Kyudenko) - 1:01:06

18. Shota Nishimura (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:08

19. Kosei Matsunami (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:12

20. Shoya Kawase (Honda) - 1:01:14

21. Daiki Ozawa (Fujitsu) - 1:01:15

22. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:01:15

23. Tatsuya Tsunashima (YKK) - 1:01:16

24. Hironori Muramatsu (Logisteed) - 1:01:16

25. Masanori Sumida (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:18

-----

50. Yuito Yamamoto (Subaru) - 1:02:06

75. Hiroshi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:54

100. Shumpei Tomita (Logisteed) - 1:03:29

125. Hiroto Ishiwata (SID Group) - 1:04:39

150. Yudai Takayama (Nittetsu Stainless) - 1:06:29

Women's Half Marathon

1. Shiori Yoshizono (Tenmaya) - 1:09:45

2. Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:09:50

3. Kazuna Kanetomo (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:10:20

4. Yuri Mitsune (18 Ginko) - 1:10:23

5. Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:10:27

6. Akira Ozaki (Sysmex) - 1:10:49

7. Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:11:14

8. Riko Iijima (SID Group) - 1:11:14

9. Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) - 1:11:14

10. Shiori Zama (Shimamura) - 1:11:18

Men's 10 km

1. Taiyo Yasuhara (Kao) - 29:08

2. Sosuke Yoshimura (Aisan Kogyo) - 29:15

3. Yuta Mikami (Chugoku Denryoku) - 29:24

4. Yuya Iwasaki (Osaka Gas) - 29:35

5. Nagisa Moriso (Chugoku Denryoku) - 29:43

Women's 10 km

1. Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:33

2. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 33:03

3. Ayu Henmi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 33:06

4. Sara Isobe (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 33:10

5. Akari Matsumoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 33:10

6. Momoa Yamada (Shimamura) - 33:10

7. Miu Yagi (Iwatani Sangyo) - 33:11

8. Rio Matsutani (Denso) - 33:13

9. Erina Yasui (Iwatani Sangyo) - 33:16

10. Rion Furukawa (Nitori) - 33:30

'CAS Clears Japan’s Olympic Silver Medallist Ikeda of Doping, Overturns Ban'

https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/10/23/cas-clears-japans-olympic-silver-medallist-ikeda-of-doping-overturns-ban The AIU's missteps in this case cost Tokyo Olympics and Oregon World Championships 20 km race walk silver medalist Koki Ikeda , a Toyo University graduate who competes for the Asahi Kasei corporate team, the chance to represent Japan at a home soil World Championships last year. It is almost unheard of for an athlete to successfully fight a biological passport suspension as Ikeda did, making this a highly significant case. The CAS' press release about its decision stated: "The Panel stressed that the Athlete did not merely assert his position on the ABP abnormalities but adduced very extensive evidence in support of his explanations. In this highly complex case, the evidence brought during the CAS proceedings was far more abundant and specific than during the first instance proceedings with the WA Disciplinary Tribunal, implying the CAS Panel had further ...

Meijo Back With Morinomiyako Ekiden CR for National University Title

The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's distance running with 7-straight wins at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden from 2017 to 2023 and 6-straight titles at the season-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden from 2018 to 2023, Meijo University came back from a 3rd-place finish last year to win the 44th Morinomiyako Ekiden again, leading almost start-to-finish to set a 2:02:21 CR for the 6-stage, 38.0 km course in Sendai. 12 second back in 2nd after the opening leg, collegiate 3000 mSC champ Nozomi Kondo put Meijo out front with a 12:36 CR for the 4.0 km Second Stage, and the rest of the team never looked back. The biggest threat to a Meijo win was on the 9.2 m Fifth Stage, where this year's collegiate 10000 m winner Sarah Wanjiru from last year's runner-up Daito Bunka University started 50 seconds back from Meijo 1st-year Mao Kimura . In taking the 10000 m title Wanjiru had outrun Kimura by over a minute, but today Kimura was a revelation, strong and smooth out fr...

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

japan running news

Search This Blog