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Kipyegon and Yamaguchi Win Kanto Regionals D1 and D2 Half Marathon Titles


The men's half marathon component of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships relocated this year away from the main part of the meet in May to be held as part of the Yaizu Minato Half Marathon in Shizuoka, a longstanding part of the collegiate half marathon calendar with its Pair Marathon team competition.

At Kanto Regionals D1 and D2 teams are usually split into 2 separate starts with a time stagger and run on a loop course. This time around they started together, giving people who wouldn't usually be racing together the chance to go head-to-head. Soka University 3rd-year Shoki Yamaguchi was the only one to try to go with Yamanashi Gakuin University 4th-year Brian Kipyegon, both hitting 5 km in 14:28 before Kipyegon said goodbye.

Kipyegon rolled on solo to take the D1 title in 1:01:23, just 9 seconds off his own meet record on a different course. Yamaguchi hung on well enough for 1st in the D2 field in 1:02:55, runner-up Kuranosuke Yoshida of last year's Izumo Ekiden winner Koku Gakuin University closing on him after 10 km but coming up short in 1:03:17. Teikyo University 4th-year Yuta Asakawa was 3rd in 1:03:25, with Daisuke Sato of Chuo University and Junpei Nakano of Tokai University taking 2nd and 3rd in the D1 race in 1:03:50 and 1:03:54.

YGU 4th-year Tsubasa Hirai was 5th in 1:04:07, together with Kipyegon giving them the team title in 2:05:30. Soka was 2nd in 2:06:40 off Yamaguchi and a solid D2 5th-place run by 4th-year Yuta Kinugawa in 1:03:45. KGU was 3rd in 2:07:15 thanks to Yoshida and 2nd-year Kenshin Noda, 6th in 1:03:58.

105th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships

Men's Half Marathon
Yaizu, Shizuoka, 5 April, 2026

D1 Men
1. Brian Kipyegon (4th yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:23
2. Daisuke Sato (3rd yr., Chuo Univ.) - 1:03:50
3. Junpei Nakano (3rd yr., Tokai Univ.) - 1:03:54
4. Atsuyuki Kodaira (4th yr., Waseda Univ.) - 1:03:56
5. Tsubasa Hirai (4th yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:07
6. Yuto Kobayashi (4th yr., Juntendo Univ.) - 1:04:17
7. Yuki Kani (4th yr., Tokai Univ.) - 1:04:25
8. Shitaka Kumai (4th yr., Josai Univ.) - 1:04:32
9. Tatsuya Furukawa (4th yr., Juntendo Univ.) - 1:04:54
10. Gensuke Sema (3rd yr., Waseda Univ.) - 1:05:00

D2 Men
1. Shoki Yamaguchi (3rd yr., Soka Univ.) - 1:02:55
2. Kuranosuke Yoshida (4th yr., Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:17
3. Yuta Asakawa (4th yr., Teikyo Univ.) - 1:03:25
4. Kenta Torii (4th yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:32
5. Yuta Kinugawa (2nd yr., Soka Univ.) - 1:03:45
6. Kenshin Noda (2nd yr., Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:58
7. Kosei Niitani (4th yr., Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:06
8. Ryoga Mihara (4th yr., Kanagawa Univ.) - 1:04:41
9. Sho Fukutomi (3rd yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:46
10. Rintaro Enoki (3rd yr., Soka Univ.) - 1:05:05

Pair Marathon Team Scoring
1. Yamanashi Gakuin University - 2:05:30
2. Soka University - 2:06:40
3. Koku Gakuin University - 2:07:15
4. Aoyama Gakuin University - 2:08:18
5. Tokai University - 2:08:19
6. Waseda University - 2:08:56
7. Teikyo University - 2:09:03
8. Juntendo University - 2:09:11
9. Chuo University - 2:09:22
10. Josai University - 2:09:54

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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