Retirement Season

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 Toyo take the overall title.
Kenta Murayama, 32, retired after last weekend's Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon. The U18 10000 m NR holder and until last month the fastest-ever Japanese half marathoner on U.S. soil, Murayama ran the 2013 United Airlines NYC Half Marathon while at Komazawa University along with Otsu.
Takuya Fujikawa, 33, retired from Chugoku Denryoku and the sport after the Marugame Half Marathon 2 weeks ago. A member of Sera H.S.' winning team at the 2009 National High School Ekiden, Fujikawa was captain at Aoyama Gakuin University when it won its first Hakone Ekiden title his senior year.
Kenji Yamamoto, 36, made a post-facto announcement that he was leaving Mazda and the sport after having run last weekend's National Corporate Half Marathon. Yamamoto was another member of Toyo University's 2012 Hakone Ekiden champion team and competed in both the Tokyo Olympics and Paris Olympics marathon trials races.
Ryo Kuchimachi, 31, will retire from competition and Subaru after Sunday's Ome 30 km Road Race. Kuchimachi won his stages at both the Izumo and National University ekidens in 2015, named MVP at Nationals for helping Toyo University claim its first national title.
Kazuma Taira, 31, is retiring from the Kao team and competition after the Tokyo Marathon. A stage winner at the National High School Ekiden, Taira was teammates with marathon NR holder Suguru Osako at Waseda University, his biggest achievement there being a 2nd-place finish on the Third Stage at the 2017 Hakone Ekiden.
Fuminori Shimo, 29, is leaving the sport and Toyota Boshoku after this weekend's Umashikuni Mie Ekiden. His 2nd year at Iga Hakuho H.S. Shimo won the Sixth Stage at the National High School Ekiden, coming back the next year to win the 10.0 km First Stage. Shimo went on to success at Komazawa University and Fujitsu before relocating to Toyota Boshoku in 2022.
4 members of the Nishitetsu corporate team will leave at the end of March, the most prominent among them being yet another member of Toyo University's 2012 and 2014 Hakone champ teams, Keita Shitara, 34, twin brother of former marathon and half marathon NR holder Yuta Shitara who also runs for Nishitetsu. Keita's plans after leaving the team are unclear.

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

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...

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...

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