16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda, announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month.

Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so far at 3 qualifiers, Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori in Nagoya and Mizuki Matsuda at Osaka Women's. It's a great achievement for head coach Miwako Yamanaka, one of the few female head coaches in the industry in Japan.

Mitsubishi Juko also has 3 qualifiers on the men's list, Ichitaka Yamashita getting there in Osaka, Ryota Kondo in Tokyo, and Hiroto Inoue at Beppu-Oita. But 3 independent runners not belonging to corporate teams are on the list too, the 2 fastest Suguru Osako and Kengo Suzuki and the slowest, Yudai Fukuda. Sora Shinozakura on the women's list is also an independent athlete, bringing the total to 4 out of 42 overall.

The Otsuka Seiyaku team has 3 qualifiers total so far, Rie Kawauchi and Kana Kobayashi on the women's list and Daisuke Uekado on the men's, and there are also 3 collegiate runners on the men's list, Asahi Kuroda of Aoyama Gakuin University, Shinsaku Kudo of Waseda University, and Itta Tameike of Chuo University. Other teams with 2 qualifiers so far include Tokyo Metro, Kurosaki Harima, and Toyota.

Interestingly, and a bit entertainingly, former Takushoku University roommates and multiple Olympic and world championships teammates Kentaro Nakamoto and Arata Fujiwara, both have 2 people on the corporate teams they now coach, in the field, Nakamoto's Yasukawa Denki having the edge with Ryo Goda running 2:06:51 in Osaka and Kiyoshi Koga 2:07:46 in Beppu-Oita, and Fujiwara's Suzuki having Tomohiro Fujimura, 2:08:49 in Tokyo, and Takumi Oishi, 2:08:51 in Fukuoka.

We'll follow up with an updated list as things evolve.

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...

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

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