Already the course record-breaker at the Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden this season, 2021 Hakone Ekiden champion Komazawa University came one step away from its first-ever triple crown of single-season ekiden wins as it won a highly competitive 2023 Hakone Ekiden Day One over defending champ Aoyama Gakuin University and last year's 6th placer Chuo University . Things got off to an unexpected start when Select Team runner Hayate Nitta of non-qualifier Ikuei University decided to take his one and only Hakone shot and run it up to his ability on the 21.3 km 1st leg even though the rest of the field opted to jog. At one point Nitta had a lead of almost a minute and a half, but as beautiful as it would have been for him to pull it off, Meiji University 's Shunpei Tomita and Komazawa's Kensuke Tsubura still managed to run him down in the final kilometer. Tomita took the stage win in 1:02:44, 1:02:08 half marathon pace vs. his 1:02:10 PB despite the slow s...
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I have been critical of the way Juntendo staff developed him after his 1st year and since he is still with the same staff I didn't think he could get this time by such a big margin.
He almost broke the NR a couple of months ago but then he struggled at some other races.
This time we saw the Miura we witnessed in his 1st year at Juntendo and in the first part of his second year.
Very good strategy during the race, not sure if on purpose but starting at the back, but with the pack scattered and in line had him able to keep a tight inside line for the first 1.5km and avoiding contacts and not having to run on outside lanes.
His form was under control most of the race and the last lap was a spectacular 58 seconds 400 that reminded me of his 1st year and half at Juntendo.
El Bakkali answered in amazing fashion after the last barrier, he is an olympics/world champion for a reason.
It's hard to convert steeplechase time to flat track time but Miura's 8.03 in the steeplechase could have translated to what on a 3000? Possibly around Osako's 3000 record or better? An intriguing thought I think.