5 stages, both Day One and Day Two, and the overall course had their records broken, 3 of the stages that didn't have their CR broken had an all-time #2 performance, 2 of them less than 10 seconds off the CR, and the other 2 stages had an all-time #3 performance. Every stage had at least 2 all-time top 6 performances, the Tenth Stage had 6 in its all-time top 10, and the opening First Stage saw 9 of its 10 fastest-ever runs.
The 1:07:16 CR on the uphill Fifth Stage rightfully earned Asahi Kuroda from overall winner Aoyama Gakuin University the MVP award at this year's Hakone, but the other 4 stage CR, 1:00:28 for the 21.3 km First Stage by Koku Gakuin University's Rui Aoki, 1:05:09 for the 23.1 km Second Stage by Josai University's Victor Kimutai, 1:03:45 for the 21.4 km Eighth Stage, and 1:07:31 for the 23.1 km Tenth Stage by Komazawa University's Keita Sato, also impressed.
Especially Kimutai's, which was completely unexpected and took 21 seconds off the CR set last year by collegiate 5000 m, 10000 m and half marathon record holder Richard Etir from Tokyo Kokusai University. Barely making it to Hakone after being overtrained early in December, Sato's CR made him a rare double CR holder at Hakone, having broken the Seventh Stage record last year.
The 2 near-misses on CR, 1:00:01 for the 20.9 km Fourth Stage by Waseda University 1st-year Rui Suzuki, and 56:48 for the 20.8 km downhill Sixth Stage by Soka University's Riki Koike, were also incredible, Suzuki's just 1 second off the senior-year record by TKU's Vincent Yegon, and Koike's 1 second off the record that earned AGU's Akimu Nomura the MVP award last year. Seventh Stage winner Goki Takayama from KGU came close to Sato's CR from last year, just 11 seconds off.
Margins between the CR and all-time 2nd-fastest marks at Hakone after this year's race:
AGU took about 4 minutes off its overall CR from last year, running 10:37:34 for the complete 217.1 km course, 2:56.2/km. That pace would have put it 28th out of 40 teams at the 7-stage, 100.0 km New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships on Jan. 1. But take out the 2 mountain stages with a peak elevation of 874 m and AGU's pace was 2:55.4/km for the other 8 stages, good enough for 23rd against pros running about half as far.
The New Year Ekiden only has one stage about half marathon-length, the 21.9 km Second Stage. 28 of the 40 corporate league runners on that stage ran the equivalent of a sub-62 half marathon, with Hibiki Yoshida making his debut for Sunbelx in 1:01:01, equivalent to a 58:48 half marathon, and 11 others running the equivalent of a sub-hour half. At Hakone, 18 out of a field of 21 runners ran sub-62 on the First Stage alone.
Excluding the mountain stages a total of 57 collegiate runners ran equivalent to sub-62 for a half marathon across 8 stages, with Hayato Honma of Chuo University fastest at the equivalent of 59:18 for the 21.3 km Third Stage and both Kimutai and Aoki also running the equivalent of under an hour. 57 going sub-62 at Hakone this year was a big increase from the 40 in 2024 and 33 last year, another sign of how much the level has gone up on Japan's collegiate scene.
Four brands, Adidas, ASICS, Nike and Puma, dominate the market at Hakone with a combined share of about 95%, the other 5% made up of brands with just a few people in their shoes. Adidas still had the largest market share at Hakone this year, down slightly from 36.2%, 76 out of 210 runners, in 2025 to 35.7%, 75 out of 210, this year. ASICS and PUMA were the only brands to have grown their market share in both 2025 and 2026, ASICS going from 24.8% in 2024 to 25.7% last year to 28.6% this year, and Puma from 8.7% two years ago to 11.9% in 2025 to 14.8%. Nike's decline continues to stun, going from virtually 100% in the early days of carbon plated shoes to 42.6% in 2024 to 23.3% in 2025 to 16.7% this year, almost overtaken by Puma.
Nike did recover a bit earlier in the season with 3 stage titles at the Izumo Ekiden after winning none last year and 2 at the National University Ekiden after only 1 in 2024, but not a single athlete wearing Nike won a stage at Hakone 2026. It's incredible given that 7/10 stages at Hakone 2024 went to Nike athletes, and it speaks volumes to the impact that the stage wins in 2024 by AGU's Kuroda and Aoi Ota wearing Adidas Pro Evo 1 had.
While Nike went 7-2-0 for Hakone stage wins over the last 3 years, Adidas has gone 2-6-6, matching its overall market share in looking like it has hit a ceiling of influence. Puma's share of stage titles continues to grow, from 0 in 2024 to 1 in 2025 to 2 in 2026, also tracking its market share. ASICS has failed to do the same, with only 1 stage win in 2024, none last year, and 1 again this year. On scored its first Hakone stage title last year with Sato's Seventh Stage CR and repeated that this year with his Tenth Stage win, but its failure to capitalize on this in terms of market share remains a mystery.
© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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