Start lists for most events are here. 10000 m start lists are here. Live results are here. A-heat event previews:
Women's 800 m - 11:00
High schooler Rin Kubo is the only Japanese woman to have broken 2 minutes, with a 1:59.93 last July. Is she going to get any faster? Only one way to find out. Her nearest competition in Kumamoto is Ayano Shiomi, 2:01.93 also last July for all-time JPN #5, with all-time #8 Ai Watanabe, 2:02.39, also on the list.
Men's 800 m - 11:15
NR holder Ko Ochiai is in the meet in his debut in the Komazawa University uniform, but in what's probably a sign of things to come he's already being pushed into a longer distance, the 1500 m. In his absence the top seed is all-time JPN #10 Sota Okamura, 1:46.38. Former NR holder Sho Kawamoto is also in the race but hasn't run under 1:47 since 2023.
Women's 3000 mSC - 13:10
Miu Saito has been coming up through the ranks, with a 9:41.57 two weeks ago that bumped her up to all-time #5. Here she'll be making her debut in the Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo uniform, facing off against all-time #3 Yuzu Nishide and #4 Manami Nishiyama.
Men's 3000 mSC - 13:30
No sign of NR holder Ryuji Miura, who's set to announce a sponsor change, but it should be a good head-to-head between all-time JPN #5 Ryoma Aoki and #6 Yutaro Niinae, 8:20.09 to 8:20.36. #10 Hibiki Obara, 8:25.07, is also in the race and could give them a scare for making the Asian Championships team.
Women's 1500 m - 14:00
NR holder Nozomi Tanaka, all-time #5 Yume Goto and #9 Chikako Mori face Kenyans Teresiah Muthoni, Esther Muthoni, Rose Wangui, Jecinta Nyokabi and Margaret Ekalale. Only Tanaka has broken 4 minutes, but both Muthonis are close enough to give her a run for it.
Men's 1500 m - 14:40
A pretty good field by Japanese standards, with 3 of Japan's 4 all-time fastest, Kazuki Kawamura at 3:35.42, Kazuto Iizawa at 3:35.62, and Nanami Arai at 3:36.63. South Sudan's Abraham Guem and Ochiai are in it too, along with sub-3:40 men Masato Saiki, Keisuke Morita and Yusuke Takahashi.
Women's 5000 m - 15:50
Lots of good Kenyans here like sub-15 women Agnes Mwikali and Tabitha Njeri, but they've all in the slow heat at 14:50. NR holder Tanaka is in the fast heat apparently as a pacer, with Wakana Kabasawa the top seed there at 15:20.94 and former NR holder Ririka Hironaka trying to make a comeback from her latest round of injuries. Paris Olympian Yuma Yamamoto is in it too.
Men's 5000 m - 16:10
30 Kenyans are entered, but for whatever reason, as in the women's, the powers that be put all but one of them in the two slower heats, leaving 13:13.63 man Emmanuel Kipchirchir to run with the top tier of Japanese men, Keita Sato, Kotaro Shinohara, Nagiya Mori, Masaya Tsurukawa, Hyuga Endo and Ren Tazawa. Sato, who made a comeback from 10 months of injury with a stellar CR run at the Hakone Ekiden in January, hopes to break the NR of 13:08.40, but with pacing set at only 8:05 through 3000 m he's going to have to do some heavy lifting to get anywhere near that.
Men's 10000 m - 19:35
Fun and games in store, with 4 of Japan's all-time top 5, Kazuya Shiojiri, Tomoki Ota, Jun Kasai and Mebuki Suzuki all in the race. Shiojiri set the 27:09.80 NR at the December, 2023 National Championships with Kasai following up to win the May, 2024 National Championships in 27:17.46 and Ota 2nd in both races. Ota's fresh off a 59:27 NR in the half marathon at Marugame in February, so fingers crossed that 2025 keeps on being his year.
Women's 10000 m - 20:15
A pretty weak field for a National Championship race, really, with only 11 Japanese women and Kenyan pacer Margaret Akidor. Hironaka is entered here too, but apart from her there's nobody else from Japan's all-time top 10 list, with only Miyaka Sugata and Nanaka Izawa having cleared 31:45 and only Kazuna Kanetomo under 32:00 inside the qualifying window.
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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