japan running news

Popular opinion was that 2024 national champion Koku Gakuin University was down on strength this year following the graduation of its two best runners Kiyoto Hirabayashi and Ayumu Yamamoto . But the season-opening Izumo Ekiden earlier this month set people straight. Ranked #4, KGU took the lead early in the 2nd half of the race there and led the rest of the way to win Izumo for the 2nd year in a row. At Sunday's National University Ekiden they're coming into the race ranked #1, the only team in the field with 8 men having 5000 m bests under 14 minutes, 8 under 29 minutes for 10000 m, and 8 under 63 for the half marathon. 7 of those half marathoners are under 62, and an incredible 4 are under 61. With Nationals having 8 legs averaging 13.35 km, the last 2 close to the half marathon in length, chances are good of another KGU win. On paper Chuo University is KGU's closest competitor, but at Izumo Chuo was ranked #1 and finished only 10th. Maybe they'll pull it togethe...

Yeah, this was a good one. Last year's CR-breaking Morinomiyako Ekiden winner and national university women's champion Ritsumeikan University had a lackluster run at the Kansai Region qualifying race at the end of September, finishing only 3rd. That turned out to be a sign of where it is this season and not a peaking issue. Ritsumeikan was in 2nd for the first 2 legs in the 6-stage 38.0 km race with good runs from leading duo Sayuki Ota and Yua Sato but only faded from there, ultimately finishing 5th almost 2 minutes off the win. Josai University , the 1998 and 2000 national champ, came in hot with its first 3 runners Kyo Honma , Koharu Kaneko and Yuna Onishi replicating their feat at the Kanto Region qualifying race of all breaking the CR on their stages. Ichigo Ishikawa , a replacement for Kanto lineup member Aoi Takahashi , ran big on the 4th leg to give Josai a 20-second lead over last year's 5th-placer Tohoku Fukushi University , 49 seconds on 2018-2024 national ...

University men's ekiden season got started with the Izumo Ekiden two weeks ago and last weekend's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race. This week it's the first national-level university women's ekiden of the season, the Morinomiyako Ekiden in Sendai. Because of Hakone's popularity and Tokyo's massive size the Kanto Region dominates men's running to the point that it's almost impossible for a university from any other part of the country to beat even a single Kanto team at Izumo or next month's National University Men's Ekiden. Not so at Morinomiyako or December's Mt. Fuji University Women's Ekiden. The Kanto Region still has the biggest share of the field, with 11 of the 26 teams in the field this year based in Kanto. But it doesn't dominate the same way it does for collegiate men. There's almost always a Kanto Region team in the top 3, and it's almost always last year's 2nd-placer Daito Bunka University , but a Kant...

31 corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka this weekend to go for the 16 remaining spots at November's Queens Ekiden, the corporate women's national championship race. 19-year-old China Nakagawa was a revelation on the opening leg as she took down the leadoff runners from the bigger teams to put Hitachi out front, but on the next stage steepler Manami Nishiyama put Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo out front with a stage-winning 10:57 for 3.6 km. A brilliant run from Nanaka Izawa (Starts) on the first of the race's two long stages interrupted Mitsui Sumitomo's lead, but when Mitsui Sumitomo's Tabitha Njeri outkicked Starts' Esther Wambui it was all Mitsui the rest of the way. Stage-winning runs from last two runners Wakana Kabasawa and Anna Matsuda were enough to give Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo the win in 2:15:53, 48 seconds under the old course record set by Shiseido in 2021 when Kabasawa was a member of that team. Starts ended up a distant 2nd in 2:18:04, with Ten...

Compared to yesterday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon conditions were tougher for the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon today, and the effects of the warmer weather showed in the results. With people like Tokyo Olympics 10000 m gold medalist Selemon Barega , 57:50 for the half marathon, and 59:30 collegiate record co-holder Richard Etir in the race the men went out in a leisurely 14:52 for the downhill first 5 km, with Sydney Marathon 6th placer Masato Arao in the lead and a pack of over 50 in tow. Victor Kipchirchir made a couple of tries to get things moving, shaking the front pack down to 16 by 10 km and 9 by 15 km. Things really broke up on the same hill that featured near the end of the Tokyo World Championships marathons, leaving it down to Barega, Etir, Benard Kimeli and Paul Kuira with 1 km to go. Barega and Etir were head-to-head heading onto the track, and even though Etir tried to pull off a replay of the Tokyo Worlds men's marathon finish Barega hung on for t...

With the best half marathon credentials in the field of 42 Kanto Region university teams, 11 runners with half marathon bests under 64 minutes, Chuo Gakuin University took the top spot at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon, the official qualifying race for January's 102nd Hakone Ekiden. With a 1:00:45 best Hiro Konda let the way for CGU as the top Japanese finisher in the race, running 1:02:04 for 7th overall. Taisei Ichikawa was next at 18th in 1:02:16 and Kotaro Osabe next in 1:02:57 for 38th, and CGU's other 7 scoring members all came through with a good run to give CGU the win in a combined time of 10:32:23, a 10-man average of 1:03:14.30. That was a bit on the slow side given the excellent conditions which were thanks in part to the race starting an hour earlier this year. An all-African lead group took it out hard, splitting 14:25 and 28:43 at 5 km and 10 km. The projected finish time was 1:00:35 at that point, in range of the best Japanese athletes in the filed...

Sunday's Princess Ekiden is the qualifying race for November's Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championship race. In contrast to corporate men's teams, who are divided into regions for their qualifying races which they have to run every year because the New Year Ekiden national championships doesn't currently have a seeded podium, the women's system gives the top 8 teams at the Queens Ekiden guaranteed places at the next year's race and sends the rest back to a single qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden. This frees up the top tier of women's teams, currently Japan Post , Sekisui Kagaku , Shimamura , Panasonic , Edion , Iwatani Sangyo , Daiichi Seimei and Shiseido , to do things like this weekend's Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon or overseas races. 31 other teams will race at the Princess Ekiden, 42.195 km in 6 stages, to try to take one of the 16 remaining spots in the Queens Ekiden field. Teams at Princess are listed in the order they finish...

Following Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifier half marathon, the weekend's other big half is Sunday's Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon . The Tokyo Marathon Foundation has been trying to get this race off the ground for the last few years, and it is pretty cool. Starting and finishing on the track in the National Stadium built for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and following basically the same course as the one originally planned for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the MGC Race Olympic marathon trials, and last month's Tokyo World Athletics Championships marathon, it's quickly gotten popular as a mass participation race. But as an elite race it's got a few problems. The uphill finish that was such an important strategic part of the MGC and World Championships marathons means it'll never be as fast as it could be. And its timing in the middle of ekiden season severely limits the number of Japanese athletes and Japan-based Africans who can run it, especially fo...

The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) held a press conference in Tokyo on Oct. 15. During the Tokyo World Athletics Championships last month the JOC utilized AI to monitor the sports world's ever-increasing issue of slander and libel on social media. They reported detecting approximately 500 problematic posts, of which they requested the deletion of around 230 that violated anti-defamation and other laws. At the press conference JOC executive director Yuki Ota explained, "Most of the posts that were requested to be deleted contained insults, racist or otherwise prejudicial content, sexual slander, or sexual harassment. As fans you should praise athletes over the course of their careers, and you keep that in mind if you feel some disappointment about performances in this sport we love. There is a big difference between trash talking and giving criticism you think will be constructive. Please think in terms of being a team player before you post online." The next year featu...

January's Hakone Ekiden has a big impact on the shape of the fall season for Japanese collegiate men. The top 10 teams at Hakone run this past Monday's Izumo Ekiden , where 6 runners per team run an average of 7.5 km. 11th-place and lower run Saturday's Yosenkai, the half marathon used to fill the 10 remaining slots in the Hakone field and the lineup of the select team made up of top-placing individuals from universities that don't qualify as a team. The 42 teams at the Yosenkai can run up to 12 people, with the times of their first 10 finishers adding up to a team score and the 10 fastest teams going on to the big show. At Izumo a lot of the top teams were down on track times this season . At the Yosenkai it's really noticeable how much the level has come up. In 2023 only 2 teams, Daito Bunka University and Tokyo Kokusai University , had a 10-runner 10000 m average under 29 minutes. Last year there were 3, Chuo University , Tokai University and TKU again. This ...

The Hokkaido prefectural qualifying race for December's National High School Ekiden took place this weekend at Abashiri Sports Training Field. 20 teams from 14 schools ran the 5-stage, 21.0975 km girls' race. Going for its 14th-straight Hokkaido representation at Nationals, Asahikawa Ryukoku H.S. was an unexpected DNF when its anchor suffered a broken bone. With 400 m to go the Asahikawa Ryukoku girls were in 2nd, enough to qualify for the National High School Ekiden. Team members were gathered to welcome in 3rd-year anchor Kokoro Matsubara , calling out her name as she approached the finish line. But their cheers turned to screams as Matsubara twisted her ankle and fell. According to head coach Fumihito Abe , Matsubara was taken to the hospital, where she was found to have broken her ankle. As a result the team was a DNF, ending its Nationals streak at 13 years. As team members fought to hold back their tears post-race, coach Abe told them, "Matsubara is the one who is ...

Even with some big losses to graduation this year, defending champion Koku Gakuin University found a way to put together a winning lineup to take its 2nd-straight title at the season-opening Izumo Ekiden in Shimane. Favorite Chuo University was expected to be looking at a landslide, but instead of riding it to a blowout win it found itself caught beneath one under sunny skies and hot temperatures. Chuo's lead runner Kaisei Okada ran away from the field on the 1st leg, but after him only one other of Chuo's five remaining runners did better than 7th of 22 on his stage and the team ended up 10th. Head coach Masakazu Fujiwara excels at development on the track, but this kind of result is exactly how Chuo went from ranked #1 two years ago to not making Izumo last year. The fan pick to be a threat this year, Waseda University took over from Chuo on the 2nd leg with a win by Tomonori Yamaguchi , but after that it was a struggle to stay where they ultimately ended up in 2nd. Jos...

Ekiden season is well underway , but for university men it kicks off Monday at the season-opening Izumo Ekiden . At 6 legs averaging 7.5 km it's short and sweet compared to November's National University Ekiden and January's Hakone Ekiden, showing off some different skill sets than at the half marathon-centric Hakone. In that regard this year's race looks pretty interesting. Most of the top programs, like last year's 1st through 4th-placers Koku Gakuin University , Aoyama Gakuin University , Komazawa University and Soka University , 6th-place Waseda University and 7th-place Josai University , are down a bit on average performance level over 5000 m and 10000 m, while in most cases having better half marathon averages. At the same time some of the next-tier programs like 8th-place Teikyo University and 11th-place Toyo University are up on track speed this season, making them a threat for better placings this year. And at the top of the list, Chuo University and l...

Parties involved in the situation confirmed this week that the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is in the final stage of acquiring naming rights to the National Stadium in Shinjuku, Tokyo effective 2026. The contract is estimated to be worth ¥2 billion per year (~$13 million USD), with a total value of ¥10 billion (~$65.5 million USD) over the contract's 5-year term. It will be the largest domestic stadium naming rights deal in Japanese history. According to an involved source, the stadium's name will include the MUFG acronym but is likely to retain the current "National." Mitsubishi UFJ will become involved in the stadium's management, seeking to increase customer interaction through events and other plans. The National Stadium, the main venue for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, was privatized in April this year and is operated by the Japan National Stadium Entertainment group, a management firm jointly held by NTT Docomo, J. League and other entitie...

A native of Uwajishima, Ehime, a new chapter is starting in the life of men's marathon national record holder Kengo Suzuki , 30. On Oct. 8 he announced that he is quitting the Fujitsu corporate team to which he has belonged for 8 years to go independent. His new main sponsor will be a major food product manufacturer, who will support him in his shot at making the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics team. Suzuki ran the National High School Ekiden as a 3rd-year at Uwajishima Higashi H.S. . His 3rd year at Kanagawa University he won the 93rd Hakone Ekiden's most competitive leg, the Second Stage, making him determined to pursue a future as a marathoner. He joined Fujitsu after graduating in 2018, and in January, 2021 played a key role in the team winning its first New Year Ekiden national title in 12 years. A month later he ran 2:04:56 to win the Biwako Mainichi Marathon, a national record that still stands. In recent years he has suffered from a series of injuries, causing his star to l...