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Mori Leads 3 Under Osako's 3000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup


It was a pale shadow of the results at the Keqiao Diamond League meet a day earlier, where Rachid Muratake was the only Japanese athlete in action at 3rd in 13.18 (+0.1) in the men's 110 mH, but the men's 3000 m at Sunday's Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo turned out to be the race of the meet. Collegiate 5000 m, 10000 m and half marathon record holder Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) did pacing duty through 2000 m in 2:33 and 5:07, almost dead-even with Suguru Osako's 2014-era NR of 7:40.09. When Etir stepped off Yu Shibata (Josai Univ.) stepped up as the surprise leader, pushing hard to keep the NR in range and dropping everyone except corporate leaguers Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei) and Nagiya Mori (Honda).

Both had the wheels to run Shibata down over the last 200 m, and Mori had the honor of becoming the first Japanese man under 7:40, winning in a new NR of 7:38.98. Igawa and Shibata both got there too, Igawa 2nd in 7:39.36 and Shibata 3rd in 7:39.51, the fastest-ever by a Japanese-born collegiate runner.

That was the only Japanese national record in Tokyo, but there were 2 other meet records:
  • Yemi Mary John (Great Britain) turned in a meet record in the women's 400 m with a 49.85 for the win, the 5th-fastest time in the world so far this year.
  • Janet Jepkoech (Kenya) led things off with a 2:55 first 1000 m in the women's 3000 m, then came back with a brilliant last 400 m to win by over 8 seconds in a 8:39.24 MR.
Other noteworthy performances:
  • Off a slow start, Noah Lyles (U.S.A.) came back to win the men's 100 m final in a 9.95 (+0.6) SB.
  • Rai Benjamin (U.S.A.) ran a 44.69 SB to win the men's 400 m.
  • Despite NR-level pacing from Atsuki Urushibara (Toenec), nobody in the men's 1500 m went with him. Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) won what ended up being a dense last lap for 1st in 3:37.69, with the top 4 all under 3:39 and the top 10 clearing 3:40. With nobody having come close to the JAAF's standards for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games team this pretty much sets up next month's National Championships to have to be fast.
  • Rhema Otabor (Bahamas) won the women's javelin throw in 61.57 m, but the main story there was the return of NR holder Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL), 5th in 60.36 m in her first competition since last year's Tokyo World Championships and first after a coaching change. Momone Ueda (Zenrin) and Marina Saito (Suzuki) both better Kitaguchi, Ueda 2nd overall at 61.40 m and Saito 4th at 60.45 m. Only 2 athletes will be named to the Asian Games team.
  • Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic) threw a big 85.24 m on his 2nd attempt in the men's javelin, enough for the win and 4th-best in the world this year.
  • Yuki Hashioka (Fujitsu) turned in the 7th-best jump of his career and best since 2024 to win the men's long jump in 8.22 m (+1.9).
  • The men's high jump was a bit of a weird one, with Sanghyeok Woo (South Korea9, Yuan Reath (Australia) and Tokyo World Championships team member Yuto Seko (Yamada Holdings) all failing to clear the opening height of 2.15 m and both So Shibuya (Team Saru Tamashi) and Hirokazu Sakai (Senko) out jumping higher-ranked domestic competition Tomohiro Shinno (Kraftia) and Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex) to go 1st and 3rd at only 2.24 m.
Alongside the GGP meet, corporate league regional championship meets were happening in 3 regions. At the East Japan Region Corporate Championships in Yamagata:
  • Tomoya Karasawa (HNMJ) set a 5.66 m MR and PB to win the men's pole vault, putting him at all-time Japanese #8.
  • The top 3 in the women's 100 m final, Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko), Yuna Miura (Cerespo) and Amika Miyazaki (GK Line) broke the MR, Aoki getting the win in 11.42 (+1.5), Miura next in 11.47 and Miyazaki 3rd in 11.53.
  • Janet Nyiva (Panasonic) set a 31:04.03 MR in the women's 10000 m, with 2nd-placer Dolphine Omare (Uniqlo) also under the old record in 31:05.52. Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) took the 5000 m in 15:29.28.
  • Shu Muraoka (NSD) set a 12.94 (+1.9) MR in the women's 100 mH, Rei Honda (MSK) under the old record too in 13.04 for 2nd.
  • Nagisa Takahashi (Senko) and Yuzuki Ishioka (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ. Staff) likewise both broke the women's high jump MR dating back to 1997, Takahashi winning at 1.85 m and Ishioka 2nd at 1.85 m but taking one more attempt to clear it.
  • Maki Saito (Taihei Dengyo) broke the even older women's discus throw MR from 1994, throwing 55.52 m on her 5th attempt.
  • The women's javelin throw MR fell too, with Aoi Murakami (For-A) turning in a 55.87 m opening throw that ended up being enough for the win.
  • Nao Kurihara (M&ABP) had a good one in the men's 1500 m, winning in 3:40.88 just 0.01 off the MR.
  • Richard Chepsergon (Sunbelx) won the men's 5000 m by 15 seconds in 13:24.53, with Richard Kimunyan (Logisteed) holding off Boniface Mulwa (ND Software) by 0.40 to win the 10000 m in 28:12.16.
  • NR holder Naoto Tobe (JAL) won the men's high jump with a 2.16 m SB.
  • Teresiah Muthoni (Daiso) took almost 4 seconds off the women's 1500 m MR with a win by nearly 30 seconds in 4:07.23. Muthoni also won the 3000 m by 35 seconds, well off the MR but getting the win in 8:59.34.
  • Chika Hirata (USK) tied the women's pole vault MR at 3.80 m.
  • The MJM men set a 4x100 m MR of 41.01.
  • Victor Kipkirui (Chudenko) won the men's 5000 m in 13:43.22.
  • Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) won the women's 10000 m in 32:46.69.
  • Hyoga Watanabe (Niigata Fukushi Iryo Univ.) broke the men's shot put MR at 17.92 m.
  • ALSOK Niigata set a men's 4x100 m MR of 41.18.
  • 2:08:28 marathoner Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) won the men's 10000 m in 29:26.49.
© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Anonymous said…
I have said it before: I have no idea if it's just his form but it's unbelievable how long Mori can keep going when it seems he is about to implode. Lots of heart in that guy. That said, I am surprised to see Osako's record finally being beaten by him and not by a Miura (still baffling how a 8.03 guy on the SC isn't the NR holder) a Keita Sato or one of those guys. Credit where is due, Mori is having consistent results over the past year and a half, shows improvement (despite some limitations in my opinion and I'm not saying it in a negative way) and it's defintely fun to watch. Other very good results overall, Igawa and company. Well done. Now the 13 minutes in the 5k has to go.
May 20, 2026 at 9:47 PM
Brett Larner said…
Shibata was the big revelation in this one for me. Hope to see more from him over the next few years. I have the feeling Mori's record won't last long, whoever breaks it next, including him.
May 22, 2026 at 10:38 AM
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