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

complete results

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

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

National Track and Field Championships Entry List Highlights

Entry lists are out for next week's National Track and Field Championships in Nagoya, the main selection event for Japan's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games and Copenhagen World Road Running Championships. Top entries in each event with best time in 2025-26. Asterisks indicate 2025 national champions. Men Men's 100 m *Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 9.99 Sorato Shimizu (Seiryu H.S.) - 10.00 Yuhi Mori (Watanabe Pipe) - 10.00 Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.06 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.08 Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) - 10.08 Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.10 Ryota Suzuki (Suzuki) - 10.11 Naoki Inoue (Osaka Gas) - 10.12 Rikuto Higuchi (Suzuki) - 10.12 Men's 200 m Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.45 Aoto Suzuki (Sumitomo Denko) - 20.49 Kota Uematsu (Chuo Univ.) - 20.50 Yuji Michael Orisa (GK Line) - 20.51 Soshi Mizukubo (Miyazaki T&F) - 20.51 Mitsuhiro Numata (Legalis) - 20.58 Seisho Sasaki (Iwate Univ.) - 20.60 Sota Miwa (Koizumi) - 20.61 Naoki Uemoto (Lega...

japan running news

Search This Blog