Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday:

800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.
Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete.
Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team.
Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week.
Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden winner Koku Gakuin University at last month's United Airlines NYC Half.
Hakone Ekiden Second Stage CR holder Victor Kimutai joined the SID Group corporate team after his graduation from Josai University.
Two-time Hakone Ekiden stage winner Shunsuke Yoshii follows his older brother Yamato Yoshii in going from Chuo University to the Toyota corporate team.
Last year's top Japanese high jumper at 2.33 m, Yuto Seko joins the Yamada Holdings corporate team.
2025 World University Games half marathon silver medalist Makoto Tsuchiya of 2024 national champion Ritsumeikan University joined the Daihatsu corporate women's team.
2025 Hakone Ekiden Ninth Stage winner Yuga Sakurai of Josai University joined the Kraftia team headed by last year's Berlin marathon runner-up Akira Akasaki.
2025 Kanto Regionals men's 1500 m winner Takumi Shiobara and 2024 National University Track and Field Championships men's 800 m champion Shuta Azuma have joined the Fujisan GX corporate team.
A Paris Olympian in the 4x100 m while still at Toyo University, Hiroki Yanagita becomes the first sprinter at the Honda corporate team in 43 years.
Paris Olympics women's 10000 m team member Yuka Takashima left the Shiseido corporate team, her new home yet to be announced.
2022 World U20 Championships women's hammer throw bronze medalist and last year's national champion Raika Murakami heads to the Zenrin corporate team.
A 27:54.06 runner for 10000 m at Waseda University, Yuhi Nakaya has retired at 26 to become assistant coach back home at Saku Chosei H.S.
2021 Tokyo Olympics men's marathon team member Shogo Nakamura took over as head coach at Meiji Gakuin University.
2021 Tokyo Olympics men's marathon team alternate Ryo Hashimoto was named assistant coach at his alma mater Aoyama Gakuin University after retiring from GMO.
Assistant coach Noriaki Nishide took over as head coach at 2019 Hakone Ekiden winner Tokai University, with previous head coach Hayashi Morozumi stepping back to focus on scouting and recruitment.
2019 men's 3000 mSC national champion and Tokai alumnus Ryohei Sakaguchi announced that he has ended his relationship with On and will continue competing in a TBA new environment.
2015 Asian Games 1500 m silver medalist Maya Iino became assistant coach of the women's long distance team at her alma mater Tokyo Nogyo University.
Having retired from the Chuo Hatsujo corporate team after last month's Tokyo Marathon, 2014 Hakone Ekiden MVP Kento Otsu was named assistant coach at Rikkyo University.
Takahisa Hakozaki, head coach of 2013 National High School Ekiden boys' winner Yamanashi Gakuin H.S., became head coach of 2020-21 National High School Ekiden winner Sera H.S.

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

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