japan running news

The Tokyo World Athletics Championships might have just ended, but there's still a lot of track action happening in Japan with some late-season championships and pre-ekiden season time trial meets. The highlight at the Sept. 24 Kizuna Time Trials meet in Machida in western Tokyo was a solid 13:34.01 win in the fast heat by collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.), not quite a PB but a good shakeout ahead of the Oct. 13 Izumo Ekiden . The top 21 in Kuroda's heat went sub-14 minutes, 11 of them from Aoyama Gakuin, with 2nd-year Sota Orita continuing to struggle at AGU after a promising senior of high school, running only 13:58.77 for 21st. Brian Kiptoo (Comodi Iida) almost tied Kuroda's time with a 13:34.61 win in the fast heat at the Sept. 27-28 Tokai University Time Trials meet south of Yokohama, where the top 20 broke 14 minutes in the fast heat plus another 2 in the B-heat. 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako (unattached) made a return to comp...

Fresh off great Japanese performances at the Berlin Marathon and good ones in the Muenster Marathon and Tokyo World Championships , Ryoma Takeuchi came to today's NN Warsaw Marathon to win it. At July's Gold Coast Marathon he was in 2:07 shape but had a series of setbacks including arriving 24 hours later than planned after heavy rain made him miss his flight, and tripping and falling over the edge of a roundabout near 23 km. Despite that he managed a 2-second PB of 2:08:38 for 3rd. But Takeuchi felt that that didn't reflect the training he'd put in, and he opted to try to fit in another marathon before ekiden season got into full swing. Organizers expected a 2:09:30 race with a lead group of 5-6 up front, but right from the gun Takeuchi was on his own with 2 pacers. Despite excellent weather conditions the pacers struggled to hit the target 3:04/km pace and settled more into a 3:06/km groove, but even that put space between him and the chase group. One lead pacer ...

The Tokyo World Athletics Championships have come and gone, and Japan pretty much performed as expected from an organizational standpoint. Things were smooth, efficient and polite, the Tokyo Olympics stadium was packed at every session, and things like all the teams being housed in one hotel and the warmup track being driving distance from the main stadium that would have caused major logistical problems most other places went without many hitches. Even where cost-cutting measures were evident, like the absence of the light shows for walk-ons in the premier track events, nobody really seemed to care. The atmosphere might not have been as much fun as Budapest two years ago, but it was still miles ahead of other recent World Championships. Budapest was a record-setting team performance for Japanese athletes , with one gold medal, one bronze, and a total of 11 top-8 placings. Although there was a lot of disappointment for the home crowd this time, the actual team results in Tokyo were al...

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/PhotoRun Even with a few withdrawals there was a massive group of Japanese athletes at the Berlin Marathon this year, most of the group that typically goes to the Chicago Marathon seeming to opt for Berlin instead. With men's winner Sebastian Sawe taking a shot at the world record, Akira Akasaki , Yuhei Urano and NR holder Kengo Suzuki sat back in a 3rd group targeting the JAAF's 2:06:30 standard for 2028 Olympic marathon trials qualification. The group held steady on that pace, quickly passing and leaving behind Hakone fan favorite Aoi Ota , who went out with a 14:26 opening 5 km only to finish in 2:14:02. Suzuki dropped off, but Akasaki and Urano were together through 30 km until Urano did the same. The top Japanese finisher in the Paris Olympics last year, from there Akasaki had what had to have been an incredibly fun last 12 km, picking faster people off one by one as he rolled on. Ultimately he made it all the way up to 2nd in a 2:06:15 PB. ...

Bumped by a local election from its usual date at the beginning of September to the same day as the Berlin Marathon, the Volksbank Muenster Marathon saw its most competitive men's race ever. With pacers assigned to go 3:04/km with a halfway split of 1:04:30-45, the lead men went through 5 km way ahead of that in 15:02 and 15 km in 45:17. Running his first race in Europe and hoping for a low-2:10 improvement to his 2:10:49 PB in Tokyo this year, Ryuichi Yoshioka , stayed tucked into the lead pack at that point, but Taiki Suzuki , with a 2:11:51 PB from Tokyo and fresh from altitude training in Kenya in hopes of 2:09, was already starting to lose touch. Yoshioka rolled with the lead group through halfway in 1:03:55 on CR pace, but when a break came just before 30 km he was dropped. Most of the people ahead of him ended up running PBs, no small achievement with relatively windy conditions, and for the first time in the race's 23-year history 3 men ended up going under 2:10. Kenya...

  In its only event on the final day of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships , Japan fielded the same men's 4x100 m lineup it did in the heats, Yuki Koike , Hiroki Yanagita , Yoshihide Kiryu and Towa Uzawa . The specter of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics final, where Japan had a rare missed exchange while being a medal favorite, hung over the team's return to the final on home ground, and there was the extra pressure of knowing the emperor was in attendance in the stadium watching. Japan had the 5th-best time in the heats, and given the less than A-team lineup this time it would have taken something special to better that and add one last medal to Japan's count. Multiple delays due to heavy rain kept them waiting, but once it went off it played out pretty much according to expectations. Well, the U.S.A. did manage to get the baton around this time, so not exactly every expectation, but given that they did they of course dropped a world-leading 37.29 for gold. Canada was next ...

This will be easy. Japan closes out its home soil World Athletics Championships with one last race, and one of its traditionally strong ones, the men's 4x100 m relay. 21:20 - Men's 4x100 m Relay Final Prognosis : This is the entry pool: Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Toray) - 9.96 (+0.5) -  4th, Heat 7, Nationals Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 9.99 (+1.5) -  1st, Nationals Yuhi Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.00 (+1.3) -  7th, Nationals Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) - 10.00 (+0.3) -  DQ, Nationals Sorato Shimizu (Seiryo H.S.) - 10.00 (+1.7) -  4th, SF3, Nationals Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.08 (+0.3) -  5th, Nationals Naoki Inoue (Waseda Univ.) - 10.12 (+0.4) -  4th, Nationals Naoki Okami (Aomori Pref. Gov't) 10.17 (+0.9) -  2nd, Nationals Towa Uzawa (JAL) - 20.11 (+0.9) -  1st, Nationals In the individual 100 m Sani Brown confirmed that he wasn't anywhere close to peak form, and he was left off the 4x100 m team in the relay heats. The lineup th...

Fresh off the sting of world and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi  not making the final in the women's javelin, national pride was salved a bit in the first event the next morning on day 8 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships . In a tight 5-way race for the medals, women's 20 km national champion Nanako Fujii took 15 seconds off her own NR to take bronze in 1:26:18, 24 seconds behind Spain's Maria Perez , who added the 20 km gold to her 35 km victory last weekend with a 1:25:54, and 12 seconds behind Mexico's Alegna Gonzalez , who set an area record of 1:26:06. Fujii had to reach for bronze, beating Ecuador's Paula Milena Torres to the line by a step, with Peruvian Kimberly Garcia Leon 4 seconds back in 5th. All-time Japanese #2 Kumiko Okada was 18th in 1:30:12 and third teammate Ayane Yanai 37th in 1:35:44. That brought Japan's medal count for its home soil World Championships to 2, both bronze and both in race walks. With Kitaguchi out the home tea...

Day 7 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships was the lightest yet for the home team with only 4 athletes in competition, but it provided the biggest disappointment for Japanese fans. In the women's javelin throw, defending world and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi , working her way back from an injury, was eliminated in the qualification round after throwing only 60.38 m on her 2nd attempt. That put her at 8th in group A behind even teammate Momone Ueda 's 60.49 m 2nd attempt, and with the top 6 in group B all clearing 61 m both Kitaguchi and Ueda were out. The third Japanese woman on the squad, Sae Takemoto threw 55.11 m for 15th in group B and likewise did not move on. It's notable that Kitaguchi's training partner Petra Sicakova was also way off her best form with a 51.90 m best throw for 18th in group B. The only other Japanese athlete competing was Nagiya Mori in the men's 5000 m Heat 1. Mori ran 13:29.44 for 15th, well off the top 8 placing he needed...

It's getting near the end of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships , and with only one bronze medal so far the host country's chances of the kind of team performance it was hoping for are fading. A look at who's in action on Day 8: 7:30 - Women's 20 km Race Walk Nanako Fujii (Edion) - 1:26:33 -  1st, Nationals Kumiko Okada (Fujitsu) - 1:28:17 -  2nd, Nationals Ayane Yanai (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1:29:44 -  4th, Nationals Prognosis : Fujii's win at this year's National Championships makes her the fastest woman in the field on SB and 2nd on PB. Okada and Yanai aren't likely to factor into the top 8, but Fujii is a realistic medal contender. 9:00 / 10:35 - Men's Discus Throw Qualification Masateru Yugami (Toyota) - 64.48 m -  3rd, Nationals Prognosis : Yugami made it into the Worlds field on a host country slot and is ranked 3rd from its bottom. He's had a decent season, and while there's almost no chance of him making the final a PB in front of a h...

Another short day at the World Athletics Championships for the home team, with a total of 4 athletes competing in only 2 events on day 7. 19:30 / 21:00 - Women's Javelin Throw Qualification Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) - 66.13 m -  1st, 2024 Nationals Momone Ueda (Zenrin) - 62.20 m -  1st, Nationals Sae Takemoto (Orico) - 60.51 m -  3rd, Nationals Prognosis :The defending Olympic and world champion, Kitaguchi is coming back from injury. Her last 2 Diamond League meets were disastrous, then only average, but at least she's trending in the right direction. The only question is whether she's had enough time to get to full operational status. Ueda and Takemoto will have a tough time making it through the qualification round, so if Kitaguchi is far from peak form there's the prospect of no Japanese women in the final. 20:05 - Men's 5000 m Heats Nagiya Mori (Honda) - 13:15.07 -  2nd, Nationals Prognosis : Mori has been running well, by Japanese standards, all season, the o...

Both heats of the women's 5000 m saw the expected sight of Japanese athletes trying to fronton their way to the final. In Heat 1 both Yuma Yamamoto and Nozomi Tanaka went out hot on sub-15 pace. Yamamoto eventually faded to 18th of 20 finishers in 15:36.29, but NR holder Tanaka managed to ride the momentum to 5th in 14:47.14 to make the cut of 8 qualifiers. After a good run in the 10000 m Ririka Hironaka tried to frontrun Heat 2 solo on sub-15 pace, but while she a lead of 7 seconds at 2000 m and all 8 qualifiers ran between 14:56 and 14:57 Hironaka dropped to 13th in 15:10.68. 1.88 m was what it took to make the women's high jump final, but even though Nagisa Takahashi hit that mark her missed attempts ranked her 11th in qualification group A and 22nd overall, not enough to make the list of 16 qualifiers. The NR holder while still in high school and the only Japanese woman to have broken 2 minutes, Rin Kubo took 7th in Heat 3 of the 800 m in 2:02.84 in her first major int...

A couple of unexpected qualifiers add to the numbers of Japanese athletes in action on day 6 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships . 19:05 - Women's 5000 m Heats Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 14:31.88 -  1st, Nationals Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:12.97 -  7th, Nationals Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 15:05.69 -  2nd, Nationals Prognosis : NR holder Tanaka should make it through to the final, but the decline in her last kick this season and evident in the 1500 m heats decreases her chances in a slower race. Yamamoto is in the same heat as Tanaka and doesn't have a realistic chance, but Hironaka could get through in the second heat after a great run in the 10000 m. 19:15 - Women's High Jump Qualification Nagisa Takahashi (Senko) - 1.92 m -  2nd, Nationals Prognosis : Takahashi was a host country addition to the field and is ranked near its bottom, so it would probably take at least a PB for her to make the final. 19:55 -  Women's 800 m Heats Rin Kubo ...

Only 7 Japanese athletes were in action across 3 events on the fifth day of the Tokyo World Championships . In the men's javelin throw qualification round, all 3 on the squad, Yuta Sakiyama , Roderick Genki Dean and Gen Naganuma , failed to make it to the final. Sakiyama was the best of them at 77.61 m for 15th in group A, Dean throwing 77.01 m for 16th in the same group and Naganuma 74.70 m for 17th in group B, putting him at 36th out of 37 competitors overall. Japan's hopes now rest on the women's javelin team. There was better luck in the women's 200 m heats, where Abigail Fuuka Ido , running on a host country slot, unexpectedly qualified for the semifinals with a 22.98 (+0.0) for 5th in Heat 5. That was enough to give her a time qualifying spot, and not the last one. Towa Uzawa came in ranked much higher in the men's 200 m field than Ido was in the women's, and he matched her performance in the heats with a 20.39 (+0.0) for 3rd in Heat 6 to move on to the ...

It's a pretty light day of competition for Japan on day 5 of its home soil World Athletics Championships , with only 7 people in action. 19:10 / 20:45 - Men's Javelin Throw Qualification Yuta Sakiyama (Ehime T&F Assoc.) - 87.16 m -  1st, Nationals Roderick Genki Dean (Mizuno) - 84.66 m -  2nd, Nationals Gen Naganuma (Suzuki) - 80.58 m -  3rd, Nationals Prognosis : Sakiyama and Dean are high enough up the rankings that both should make the final. Naganuma just squeezed onto the team thanks to roll-downs and will likely not advance. 19:30 - Women's 200 m Heats Abigail Fuuka Ido (Toho Ginko) - 22.79 (+1.0) -  1st, Nationals Prognosis : The new NR holder, Ido was an addition to the team thanks to Japan's host country slots. Her NR of 22.79 is far from the slowest season best in the field, but it would take some really good luck for her to advance. 20:15 - Men's 200 m Heats Towa Uzawa (JAL) - 20.11 (+0.9) -  1st, Nationals Soshi Mizukubo (Miyazaki T&F Assoc.)...

Day 4 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships had a relatively small number of Japanese athletes in action, but it was highlighted by another great run in the men's 400 m from new NR holder Yuki Joseph Nakajima . 800 m NR holder Ko Ochiai , who made Worlds on a host country slot, bowed out in the first round with a 1:46.78 for 7th in Heat 5, putting him at 45th of 63 finishers overall. Neither member of the women's triple jump squad advanced either, Maoko Takashima 13th in qualification group A at 13.86 m (-0.3) and Mariko Morimoto 17th in group B and last overall at 13.10 m (+0.5). Ryoichi Akamatsu added to Japan's top 8 placing count, taking 8th in the men's high jump final at 2.24 m. Yuto Seko was 10th, clearing only 2.20 m after having hit the 2.33 m qualifying standard in late August. Olympic champ Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won a great duel against Korean Sanghyeok Woo , 2.36 m to 2.34 m. Czech Jan Stefela won bronze at 2.31 m. In the men's 110 m hur...

With Kana Kobayashi the top-placing Japanese woman in the Tokyo World Athletics Championships marathon yesterday at 7th, hopes were high that the men would come through with a medal in the event they care the most about. But alas. Yuya Yoshida was clearly nowhere near his Fukuoka CR-breaking form and was off the back of the lead pack by halfway, ultimately finishing 34th in 2:16:58. Paris Olympics marathon trials winner Naoki Koyama lasted longer but could still only manage a 2:13:42 for 23rd. The surprise was debut marathon NR holder Ryota Kondo , who ran 2:10:53 for 11th in only the second marathon of his career. It's back to the drawing board, but with the JAAF having revised the qualifying standards for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials to prioritize time even more over competitive performance ability, there's not much reason to be optimistic that Japanese marathoners are going to be relevant in championship races anytime in the foreseeable future. Anyway, Tanzanian Alp...

No new medals for the host country on the 2nd day of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships , but there still some good performances across the day including a massive NR in the men's 400 m. The least experienced member of the women's marathon squad, Kana Kobayashi took the early lead in the women's marathon, dropping as far back as 12th mid-race but clawing her way back into the top 8 on the hills at the end with a 2:28:50 for 7th. Sayaka Sato was off the back from the start but eventually ran down Yuka Ando for 2nd Japanese in 2:31:15 for 13th. Ando was 28th in 2:35:37. Peres Jepchirhir took gold in a track sprint against Tigist Assefa , 2:24:43 to 2:24:45, with Uruguay's Julia Paternain a distant 3rd in 2:27:23. Next up, Asian champion Kazuto Iizawa didn't make it out of the first round heats in the men's 1500 m, taking 13th in Heat 1 in 3:41.76. In the women's 100 m hurdles heats 2 of the 3 Japanese woman advanced to the semifinals on time, Mako F...

Japanese athletes lining up on Day 4 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships Tuesday night: 19:35 - Men's 800 m Heats Ko Ochiai (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:45.16 -  1st, Nationals Prognosis : An NR breaker in high school, Ochiai made the Worlds team on a host country ticket. Probably best to view this one as experiential. 19:40 - Women's Triple Jump Qualification Maoko Takashima (Kyudenko) - 13.92 m (+0.2) -  1st, Nationals Mariko Morimoto (Orico) - 13.83 m (+0.8) -  3rd, Nationals Prognosis : National top 2 Takashima and Morimoto are near the very bottom of the triple jump field, so it's not likely either will make it to the final. Morimoto has better chances on paper but Takashima has been outperforming her this season. (20:36 - Men's High Jump Final) Prognosis : The men's high jump squad was probably the hardest to make outside the road events, and any or all of the 3 men on it could make the final. (20:40 - Men's 110 m Hurdles Semi-Final) Prognosis : NR holder ...

The Japanese men came out swinging in the first event of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships , the men's 35 km race walk. Hayato Katsuki and Masatora Kawano were up front and pushing the pace most of the way, but after a surge from Ecuador's David Hurtado they started to fade as the humidity rose. With a more patient early pace Canada's Evan Dunfee walked all 3 down for gold in 2:28:22. Brazil's Caio Bonfim also came up for silver in 2:28:55, with Katsuki getting Japan off on to a good start with a 2:29:16 for bronze as just about the only person who went out hard and held it together. Kawano faded badly to 18th in 2:37:15, with Japan's 3rd man Satoshi Maruo 26th of 34th finishers in 2:40:29. The women's race saw Spain's Maria Perez emerge from a lead group of 5 to repeat her 35 km gold medal from the 2023 Budapest World Championships, with Italian Antonella Palmisano narrowly beating Paula Milena Torres for silver 2:42:24 to 2:24:44, Torres...

Day 3 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships kicks off with what will probably be the most-viewed event on domestic TV. A quick look at Japanese athletes competing throughout the day: 7:30 - Men's Marathon Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 2:05:16 -  1st, Fukuoka Int'l 2024 Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:05:39 -  2nd, Osaka 2025 Naoki Koyama (Honda) - 2:06:33 -  3rd, Osaka 2024 Prognosis : If we had to pick one Japanese athlete we'd most like to see win a medal it's Yoshida, someone who's risen from benchwarmer in college to Fukuoka CR holder. He's been almost invisible this year so it's hard to know where he's at, but if his second half is anything like it was in Fukuoka then he's a contender. Kondo is a wildcard, with a 2:05:39 debut and narrow miss on the win in Osaka this year, but in snow and cold far removed from what Tokyo will be like Monday. Koyama seemed almost no-miss up through his PB in Osaka last year but has struggled since then and controv...