japan running news

Conditions weren't fantastic at the Tokyo Marathon , a bit too warm and sunny, a bit too windy, a lot too much cedar pollen in the air, but it was still a record-breaking day. Except for a race-morning DNS from men's NR holder Tomoki Suzuki there weren't any surprises in the wheelchair races, where world record holders Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug of Switzerland scored solo wins, Debrunner outgunning training partner and all-time #2 Eden Rainbow-Cooper by 4 minutes and Hug winning by 7 minutes in 1:21:09. The women's marathon was a slow burner, starting behind target pace on track for 2:17:00 at 5 km but ramping up all the way to the finish. CR holder and 2-time defending champ Sutume Asefa Kebede and 2022 champion / former WR holder Brigid Kosgei stayed side-by-side the entire way, shadowed by a pack of Ethiopians that dwindled down to just Bertukan Welde . The projected finish got closer and closer to Sutume's 2:15:55 CR, then past it and into 2:14 ter...

The Tokyo Marathon kicks off the 2026 Abbott World Marathon Majors this Sunday. The forecast is looking pretty good, maybe a bit on the warm side but not like last year or even last weekend in Osaka , and with quality fields in all 4 races there's a decent chance we'll see some fast times on Tokyo's borderline record-eligible downhill course. As usual, JRN's Brett Larner will host Nippon TV's international broadcast on local affiliates in 115 countries worldwide starting at 9:00 a.m. local time Sunday. Details on where to watch the broadcast here . A live leaderboard will be posted here on race morning. In the wheelchair races Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner and Japan's Tomoki Suzuki both broke the Tokyo course records last year and are back for more this year. Debrunner could get a race out of British athlete Eden Rainbow-Cooper who she beat by just 1 second in Berlin 3 years ago, and if they go the whole way there could be another new CR. Suzuki w...

The winner of the first Marathon Grand Championships Olympic trials race is starting down a new road leading back to the Hakone Ekiden. Set to retire at the end of March, 2021 Tokyo Olympics marathon team member Shogo Nakamura (33, Fujitsu) will take over as head coach at Meiji Gakuin University in April in a quest for its first-ever Hakone appearance. According to a source involved in the situation, Nakamura has been hired to lead Meiji Gakuin to Hakone by the 2028-29 academic year. Nakamura's career as an athlete garnered great respect, especially his serious attitude toward competition and the patience and endurance he developed through marathon running. Still on the cusp of retirement, Nakamura is unproven as a leader. But last year he entered the Waseda University Graduate School of Sport Science with the aim of becoming a professional coach. While balancing his academic work with his racing he studied top sports management at the same place Susumu Hara , head coach of 9-t...

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

Hosts Japan swept the team titles and won 3 of the 4 individual titles at the 18th Asian Cross Country Championships Saturday in Fukuoka. With the Asian XC races integrated into the National Cross Country Championships the winners of 3 of the main races saw Japanese winners who weren't part of Asian XC scoring, starting off with the U20 Women's 6 km. China 's Jinhua Hu did a lot of the work up front to pull the lead quartet along and was rewarded with the only individual Asian XC title not won by Japan. But in the last km she fell victim to Nami Kawakami , winner of the 1st leg for 2025 National High School Ekiden champion Nagano Higashi H.S. , who outkicked Hu for the overall win and national title in 19:51. Nodoka Ashida was 3rd overall in 19:55, with Yui Onotora and Mona Utsunomiya taking 2nd and 3rd in the Asian XC placing. Japan took the team title over China, with India winning bronze. Yudai Fujii finished strong to win the U20 men's 8 km national title, ou...

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...

The 2026 Asian Cross Country Championships happen Saturday in Fukuoka in conjunction with Japan's National Cross Country Championships. Complete entry lists are at the links below, with Japan's entries for the 4 teams as listed. The senior men's 10 km team is especially strong, with 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) leading 3 other men all in the 27:36-27:37 range for 10000 m, Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku), Hiromichi Nonaka (Koku Gakuin Univ.) and Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.). As of right now there is no info on streaming available, but we'll update this with links if it surfaces. Senior Men's 10 km Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 27:36.61 (Hachioji 2025) Hiromichi Nonaka (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 27:36.64 (Hachioji 2025) Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.) - 27:37.06 (Hachioji 2025) Ryuji Miura (Subaru) - 28:32.28 (Inzai 2021) / 8:03.43 NR (Monaco 2025) Senior Women's 10 km Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 31:03.14 (Osaka 2025) Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo)...

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...

Josai University followed up its women's domination of the college ekiden circuit this season and its men's 7th-place finish at the Hakone Ekiden with a start-to-finish win at the National University Mixed-Gender Ekiden , short and sweet with 6 stages of 2.0 to 5.0 km and 3 women and men from universities across the country. Only 9th last year, Josai was out front on the 1st leg and never looked back, winning all 6 individual stages. A 6:01 CR by Yuna Onishi on the women's 2.0 km 2nd leg and a 5:20 CR tie on the men's 2.0 k 5th leg by Manato Ozawa put Josai close to Nittai University 's 58:27 overall last year, but ultimately they came up just short in 58:30. But even that was enough to put Josai well over a minute ahead of Daito Bunka University , whose runner-up curse saw them finish 2nd yet again in 59:43, 2nd runner Mana Aiba tying Onishi's CR and helping keep DBU ahead of Juntendo University , 3rd in 59:46. Last year's 5th-placer Tsukuba University ...

Alongside the weekend's 2 big 30 km races and college ekiden action, 4 of Japan's big mass-participation races with quality sub-elite fields happened across the country. The Kitakyushu Marathon just north of Fukuoka saw the fastest men's race up front, with Toyo University 's Mashu Nishimura scoring the win in his debut in 2:16:14, outrunning Rio Olympian Hisanori Kitajima by 2 minutes. The Daihatsu corporate team's Yuki Shibata had a decent debut to win the women's race in 2:40:36. The only one of the 4 marathons to be on the World Athletics calendar and visible to the rest of the world, the Kumamoto Castle men's race was almost as fast as in Kitakyushu, with amateur Hiroaki Furukawa taking a 5th win in 2:16:56 and 3 others under 2:20 like in Kitakyushu. Another amateur, women's winner Michiru Kato took her 5th win too, running a CR and PB 2:42:00. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. , the Kyoto Marathon had the fastest Japan...

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...

Paris Olympics marathon team alternate Ai Hosoda and Tokyo Olympics marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura both announced their retirements recently, but with the fiscal year ending in March there have been a raft of other retirements hitting the Japanese news in the last couple of weeks. Some of them: Former women-only marathon NR holder Mao Ichiyama , 28, announced that she is retiring and leaving the Shiseido corporate team after a couple of dull seasons following her making the Paris Olympics team. Ichiyama's husband Kengo Suzuki , the former men's marathon NR holder, left the Fujitsu corporate team last fall to go it solo. Kento Otsu , 34, announced he is quitting the Chuo Hatsujo team to retire and take a position on the Rikkyo University coaching staff after next month's Tokyo Marathon. Otsu helped Toyo University take the overall win at the 2012 and 2014 Hakone Ekidens, winning his stages in both races and named MVP of the 2014 Hakone for his role in helping...

At a press conference on Feb. 9 the JAAF announced that the Marathon Grand Championship (MGC) race, Japan's marathon trials event for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, will be held Oct. 3, 2027 in Nagoya. Details on the course will be announced at a later date. The MGC race was first held before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and again before the 2024 Paris Olympics, both times in Tokyo. 16 men including Paris Olympics 6th-placer Akira Akasaki (Kraftia), national record holder Suguru Osako (Li-Ning), 2022 Oregon World Championships marathon team member Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) and 2025 Tokyo World Championships team member Yuya Yoshida (GMO) have already qualified for the 2027 race, along with 9 women led by Mikuni Yada (Edion), who set a debut marathon record 2:19:57 at last month's Osaka International Women's Marathon. Paris Olympics alternate Ai Hosoda (Edion) has qualified but has announced that she plans to retire after next month's Tokyo Marathon. source article: ht...

The 66th Karatsu Road Race took place Feb. 8 in Karatsu, Saga. In his first time running the men's 10 mile, Taisei Kiyono (Chugoku Denryoku) ran 47:12 to win. The race came down to a 4-way sprint finish, with Kiyono pulling away on the track to beat 2nd place by just 1 second. 2nd on the 12.3 km opening leg at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden , Kiyono already had proven ability. "I was pretty confident of my chances if it came down to a kick," he said. "I didn't think there was any way I was going to lose on the track." Kiyono was making his debut over 10 miles in windy conditions. "I couldn't tell what the pace was, so it se long," he said. "Winning it was a great experience." After this Kiyono will shift focus to outdoor track season. "I want to make the 5000 m and 10000 m at the National Championships," he said. In the women's 10 km, Miu Saito (Panasonic), who represented Japan in the 3000 mSC at last fall's Tokyo Wo...