Japan Dominates Half Marathon - World University Games Day 6 Japanese Results

Japan didn't quite pull off a sweep of the men's and women's half marathon at the 2025 FISU World University Games, but it was pretty close. In the men's race Waseda University's Shinsaku Kudo, the fastest man in the race with a best of 1:00:06 from Marugame this past February, led start to finish, keeping it around 62-flat pace before finishing in a WUG record 1:02:29. Turkey's Ramazan Bastug spent most of the race in a small chase pack with Ryuto Uehara (Koku Gakuin Univ.) and Kento Baba (Rikkyo Univ.) before dropping them both for silver in 1:02:35. Uehara was just behind in 1:02:39 for bronze, with Baba missing out on the medals in 1:02:44 for 4th.

In the women's race China's Xiuzhen Ma had to deal with the Japanese trio of Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.), Mariya Noda (Daito Bunka Univ.) and Ayaka Maeda (Kansai Univ.). And she did, running a PB 1:12:48 for gold over Tsuchiya by 10 seconds. Noda scored the bronze medal in 1:13:16, with Maeda, a replacement for Aoi Takahashi (Josai Univ.), 2 seconds behind in 4th. Both the women's and men's teams took the gold medals in team scoring.

The men's 5000 m final didn't have any Japanese athletes in it, but what a wild race. France's Arthur Gervais won gold in 15:02.00, in a men's 5000 m, with 0.47 separating the medalists, 0.93 separating the top 6, and 4.37 seconds separating the top 14. If you can find video of it watch it to see the crazy last lap. There were no Japanese women in the 5000 m final either, where Julia David-Smith made it a French double with a 15:34.57 PB for the win off a 60-second last lap. Daito Bunka University's Sarah Wanjiru was 10th in 15:46.26.

Aoi Murakami (Nittai Univ.) was 4th in the women's javelin throw final, throwing 56.28 m on her 3rd attempt and coming up only 45 cm short of bronze. Turkey's Esra Turkmen came up with a 59.90 m PB on her final attempt, moving up from bronze into gold. In the men's triple jump final Yuto Adachi (Fukuoka Univ.) jumped 16.16 m (+1.3) on his opening attempt, ultimately finishing 7th. Australian Conor Murphy took gold at 16.77 m (+1.2). Tetsu Sasaki (Waseda Univ.) was also 7th in the men's 3000 mSC final in 8:41.53, 6 and a half seconds out of the medals with Luxembourg's Ruben Querinjean running a WUG record 8:18.46 for gold.

In qualifying rounds, Raika Murakami (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) made the women's hammer throw final with a 65.89 m throw that put her at 7th among the qualifiers. In the men's 800 m semifinals, both Sota Okamura (Kanoya Taiiku Univ.) and NR holder Ko Ochiai (Komazawa Univ.) missed the final, Okamura 3rd in SF2 in 1:48.67 and Ochiai a disastrous last in SF1 in 1:51.70 after leading the first lap in 52.83, only 21st out of the 24 competitors in the semis. It's too soon to call his decision to go to the long distance-specialty Komazawa a mistake, but with results like this you have to feel like at some point he's going to start questioning that decision.

The FISU World University Games wrap Sunday.

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

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