Koga 13.07 110 mH U20 NR at National Sports Festival

Day 4 of the National Sports Festival in Shiga saw more records fall. In the junior men's 110 m hurdles, Jeremiah Koga (Tokyo H.S.) ran a stellar 13.07 (+0.7) U20 NR, high school record and meet record for the win. Koga bettered current NR holder Rachid Muratake's U20 NR by 0.21, making his prospects in the event look pretty exciting. And it wasn't just him. In 2nd, Koki Takajo (Miyazaki Nishi H.S.) ran an U18 NR of 13.17. Muratake breaking 13 this season was a big step for the event in Japan, and it looks like there's more talent ready to follow him.

It's a bit more of a fringe event, but the junior women's 300 mH also saw a new U18 NR. Winner Rachel Mayu Gardener (Hosei Daini H.S.) won in 41.11, and right behind her Yuna Kusuda (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) came through in 41.27 to set a new U18 NR. And again, it wasn't just her. 3rd-placer Makoto Saka (Saku Chosei H.S.) also went under the old U18 record, clocking 41.44.

The other big event of the day saw a rematch of all the current top names in one of the hardest Japanese squads to have made at the Tokyo World Championships, the senior men's high jump. Tomohiro Shinno (Kraftia) cleared 2.29 m on his 1st attempt. Ryoichi Akamatsu (Seibu Prince) took 2 tries to clear it, then passed and went for 2.32. When he missed it the win went to Shinno. In 3rd, Yuto Seko (FAAS) cleared 2.26 m on his 2nd attempt. Struggling with some niggling leg pain since his Diamond League debut in Silesia in August, Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex RC) took 3 attempts to get over 2.26 m, tying his PB. But even though he ended up 4th Hasegawa told JRN post-meet that he was glad to have ended the season with a step back in the right direction. Up-and-comiing Sota Haraguchi (Juntendo Univ.) was 5th at 2.20 m.

In other finals:

Yuta Kawasaki (Okayama Shodai H.S.) won the junior men's shot put title with a last-round throw of 17.61 m, his only attempt over 17 m.
Ruku Azuma (Ino H.S.) won the junior men's discus throw with his first throw of 51.33 m. Nobody else in the field threw over 50 m, but Azuma did it again on his 5th and 6th attempts.
Shogo Tochigi (Shiritsu Kashiwa H.S.) won the junior men's 300 mH in 35.42.
The junior women's 1500 m title went to Mary Muthoni (Aomori Yamada H.S.) in 4:24.94, less than a second ahead of Honomi Muramatsu (Tokai Sagami H.S.), 2nd in 4:25.78, and Aika Koreeda (Utube J.H.S.), 3rd in 4:25.81.
Nana Ishihara (Hakuoh Ashikaga H.S.) won the junior women's 100 mH in 13.29 (+0.8).
Masateru Yugami (Toyota) came out of top of a close senior men's discus throw, winning with a 57.97 m throw on his 4th attempt.
Yuki Morisaki (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ.) took the senior women's high jump when she cleared 1.85 m on her 2nd attempt.
After anchoring the winning Hokkaido team in the 4x100 m relay, Midori Mikase (Sumitomo Denko) came back to win the senior women's 100 m final in 11.57 (+0.4).
Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) won the senior men's 100 m final in 10.17 (+0.3), with NR holder Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) 4th in 10.29.

The National Sports Festival wraps Tuesday.

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

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