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Osaka Wins National Women's Ekiden for 5th Time


The Osaka team took its 5th national title Sunday at the 9-stage, 42.195 km National Women's Ekiden in Kyoto over Hyogo and Nagano. Nagano's Haruna Tabata opened a 5-second lead on the 6.0 km First Stage, the first time a high schooler had won the opening leg since Ririka Hironaka in 2019. With that momentum Nagano held the lead through the first 6 stages.

But a change came on the 4.0 km Seventh Stage. Starting 19 seconds back in 3rd, Osaka's Rio Kawamura put in a brilliant run to overtake both Hyogo and Nagano, handing off with a 16-second lead by the end of the stage. Hyogo went past Osaka on the 3.0 km Eighth Stage to take the top position for the first time, but with only a 5-second gap at the start of the 10.0 km Ninth Stage it came down to a battle between Hyogo anchor Rio Einaga and Osaka's Ayu Henmi.

After catching up Henmi stayed locked to Einaga throughout the stage before kicking just past 1 km to go and running away to break the finish line tape in 2:18:19. "Our goal was to win this, so was determined to stay in it and take it at the end," Henmi said post-race. "I was only 5 seconds behind at the start, so my plan was to catch up in the first half, stay with her over the second half and run well all the way to the track. Everything went well up to when it was time to make a move, so I was pretty confident I could win it."

44th National Women's Ekiden

Kyoto, 11 Jan. 2026
47 teams, 9 stages, 42.195 km

Top Team Results
1. Osaka - 2:18:19
2. Hyogo - 2:18:28
3. Nagano - 2:19:12
4. Kyoto - 2:19:33
5. Okayama - 2:19:45
6. Gunma - 2:19:48
7. Saitama - 2:19:56
8. Shizuoka - 2:19:59
9. Chiba - 2:20:00
10. Kagoshima - 2:20:17

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (6.0 km)
1. Haruna Tabata (Nagano) - 19:28
2. Ayami Yoshida (Hokkaido) - 19:33
3. Hikaru Kitagawa (Shiga) - 19:33

Second Stage (4.0 km)
1. Nozomi Tanaka (Hyogo) - 12:14
2. Nami Kawakami (Nagano) - 12:31
3. Kana Inoue (Yamagata) - 12:32

Third Stage (3.0 km, J.H.S.)
1. Aoi Ota (Aichi) - 9:20
2. Nonoha Takahashi (Tokyo) - 9:27
3. Mio Nakano (Saga) - 9:28

Fourth Stage (4.0 km)
1. Nodoka Ashida (Kyoto) - 12:43
2. Yua Nagamori (Miyagi) - 12:46
3. Miu Saito (Shizuoka) - 12:49

Fifth Stage (4.1075 km)
1. Aika Murai (Osaka) - 13:11
2. Kairi Ikeno (Hyogo) - 13:14
3. Risako Watanabe (Chiba) - 13:22

Sixth Stage (4.0875 km)
1. Rei Taya (Osaka) - 12:54
2. An Morimoto (Nara) - 12:59
3. Kaho Tochio (Kyoto) - 13:02

Seventh Stage (4.0 km)
1. Rio Kawamura (Osaka) - 12:25
2. Kanna Fujii (Hiroshima) - 12:43
3. Chisato Tane (Hyogo) - 12:44

Eighth Stage (3.0 km, J.H.S.)
1. Hiyori Kanada (Shizuoka) - 10:10
2. Anzu Sakata (Tokyo) - 10:17
3. Momoka Urabe (Aichi) - 10:28

Ninth Stage (10.0 km)
1. Wakana Kabasawa (Gunma) - 31:57
2. Rio Goshima (Ishikawa) - 32:29
3. Kana Kobayashi (Tokushima) - 32:37
4. Mao Kogure (Saitama) - 32:39
5. Mizuki Nishimura (Kumamoto) - 32:54
6. Sakiho Tsutsui (Chiba) - 32:59
7. Ayu Henmi (Osaka) - 33:03
8. Honoka Tanaike (Shiga) - 33:05
8. Nagisa Shimotabira (Miyazaki) - 33:05 
10. Miku Hirashima (Okayama) - 33:07


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