Skip to main content

Asian Cross Country Championships Results


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, out kicking Koki Niizuma and top-placing Asian XC finisher Shinta Igarashi by 1 second for the win in 24:08. Kain Inagaki and Rikuto Ikeya were the next 2 Asian XC placers, giving Japan a perfect score of 6 for the overall team title. The top non-Japanese finisher in the Asian XC race was China's Boyang Li, back around 77th in 25:32 to lead China to team silver by 2 points over India.

Japan had another perfect team score in the Senior Women's 10 km. 3000 mSC NR holder Miu Saito crushed the lead group for the overall win and national champ status in 33:38, with Wakana Kabasawa, Momoka Kawaguchi and Amisa Murayama going 2nd, 4th and 7th overall to sweep the Asian XC medals and take the team title. China's Xia Luo was 13th overall in 35:10 for 4th in the Asian XC scoring, China taking another silver and India bronze again.

Japan's strongest team was in the Senior Men's 10 km, but that ended up being the race that came the closest to having a non-Japanese winner. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura narrowly held off India's Harmon Jot Singh, winning 29:20 to 29:21. Yuma Nishizawa was 3rd overall for Asian XC bronze in 29:24, a couple of steps up on Japan's 3rd scorer Hiromichi Nonaka who was 4th overall in 29:26. Singh was the only Indian athlete in the race, and an unexpectedly strong team run from Kyrgyzstan gave them the team silver over China, Kyrgyzstan's only medal of the Championships and China's only squad not to take silver.

18th Asian Cross Country Championships Results

National Cross Country Championships
Fukuoka, 21 Feb. 2026

U20 Women's 6 km
1. Nami Kawakami (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 19:51
2. Jinhua Hu (China) - 19:53 - 1st, Asian CC
3. Nodoka Ashida (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 19:55
4. Yui Onotora (Japan/Tohoku H,S.) - 19:55 - 2nd, Asian CC
5. Kaho Honda (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) - 20:01
6. Mona Utsunomiya (Japan/Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) - 20:16 - 3rd, Asian CC
7. Rena Imai (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 20:25
8. Hinaki Nomura (Saikyo H.S.) - 20:32
9. Wakana Fukuyama (Saitama Sakae H.S.) - 20:35
10. Anna Svrcek (Ushiku H.S.) - 20:36

Team Results
1. Japan - 9
2. China - 20
3. India - 22

U20 Men's 8 km
1. Yudai Fujii (Miyazaki Nichidai H.S.) - 24:08
2. Koki Niizuma (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 24:09
3. Shinta Igarashi (Japan/Suijo H.S.) - 24:09 - 1st, Asian CC
4. Kain Inagaki (Japan/Rakunan H.S.) - 24:15 - 2nd, Asian CC
5. Kotaro Fujioka (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 24:17
6. Sodai Monma (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 24:18
7. Rikuto Ikeya (Japan/Komazawa H.S.) - 24:21 - 3rd, Asian CC
8. Sosuke Uesugi (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.) - 24:22
9. Yua Hayashi (Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) - 24:24
10. Ado Takenoshita (Tottori Johoku H.S.) - 24:25

Team Results
1. Japan - 6
2. China - 19
3. India - 25
4. Kazakhstan - 42

Senior Women's 10 km
1. Miu Saito (Panasonic) - 33:38
2. Wakana Kabasawa (Japan/Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 33:44 - 1st, Asian CC
3. Anna Suzuki (Shimamura) - 33:49
4. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 33:55 - 2nd, Asian CC
5. Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu) - 33:55
6. Mitsu Ozaki (Sysmex) - 34:01
7. Amisa Murayama (Japan/Tohoku Fukushi Univ.) - 34:05 - 3rd, Asian CC
8. Yumi Yamada (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 34:10
9. Airi Tajima (Juntendo Univ.) - 34:16
10. Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) - 34:25

Team Results
1. Japan - 6
2. China - 17
3. India - 22

Senior Men's 10 km
1. Ryuji Miura (Japan/Subaru) - 29:20 - 1st, Asian CC
2. Harman Jot Singh (India) - 29:21 - 2nd, Asian CC
3. Yuma Nishizawa (Japan/Toyota Boshoku) - 29:24 - 3rd, Asian CC
4. Hiromichi Nonaka (Japan/Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 29:26 - 4th, Asian CC
5. Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei) - 29:30
6. Katsuhiko Suzuki (Subaru) - 29:32
7. Haruka Yamamoto (Juntendo Univ.) - 29:34
8. Kaisei Okada (Japan/Chuo Univ.) - 29:42 - 5th, Asian CC
9. Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) - 29:50
10. Riito Ikema (Juntendo Univ.) - 29:53

Team Results
1. Japan - 8
2. Kyrgyzstan - 23
3. China - 34
4. Thailand - 40
5. Bangladesh - 67
6. Singapore - 68

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Another classic XC championship Miura win: all his 3 wins at this event have come the same way, by 1 second or less with him just waiting for the final 200 to kick and bring the win home.

With the race this year being 1 minute slower than last year it was likely easier for him this time. Good showing by his former Juntendo teammate Nishizawa which turned out a very good corporate runner. Solid showing by other Juntendo guys showing consistency after their surprise performance at Hakone. Igawa showed up again too, Good win team Japan!
February 23, 2026 at 8:07 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...
1 comment
Read more

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...
1 comment
Read more

Asian Games Competition Schedule

The daily athletics event schedule for September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . Wednesday, Sept. 23 7:30 - Women's / Men's Half Marathon Race Walk Final Thursday, Sept. 24 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon 100 mH 10:20 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats 10:30 - Men's Triple Jump Heats 10:40 - Women's Heptathlon High Jump 19:05 - Men's High Jump Heats 19:13 - Women's Heptathlon Shot Put 19:33 - Women's 100 m Heats 19:44 - Women's Triple Jump Final 20:08 - Men's 100 m Heats 20:55 - Men's Discus Throw Final 21:00 - Women's Heptathlon 200 m 21:25 - Women's 10000 m Final 22:15 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final Friday, Sept. 25 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon Long Jump 10:30 - Men's 400 m Heats 11:25 - Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw 19:05 - Women's Shot Put Final 19:13 - Women's 100 m Semifinal 19:33 - Men's 100 m Semifinal 20:03 - Women's Pole Vault Final 20:11 - Women's Heptathlon 800 m 20:32 - Men's 10000 m Final 20:40 - M...
Post a Comment
Read more