Skip to main content

Weekend Track and Road Update


Kanto Regionals were the big domestic meet this weekend, but there were other important results here and overseas. At the Xiamen Diamond League meet:
  • 110 mH NR holder Rachid Muratake (JAL) was 2nd in 13.13 (+0.5) behind winner Jamal Britt (U.S.A.) in 13.07.
  • The only other Japanese athlete in Xiamen, women's javelin throw NR holder Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) was 7th at 60.08, down from her performance last week at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix Meet in Tokyo and eclipsed by the brilliant all-time #2 71.74 m throw by China's Ziyi Yan.
4 Japanese athletes ran at the Sound Running L.A,.Track Fest meet, 3 of them graduates of Kyoto's Rakunan H.S. like Kanto Regionals D1 men's 5000 m winner Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.).
  • The only non-Rakunan guy there, Hibiki Obara (GMO) ran only 8:33.21 for 9th in the men's 3000 mSC A-heat. Daichi Shibata (Chuo Univ.) was last in the same heat in 8:49.91.
  • Itta Tameike (SG Holdings) had a great run in the men's 5000 m B-heat, breaking 13:20 for the first time with a 13:19.24 PB for 3rd.
  • Relegated to the C-heat in the men's 1500 m, U20 NR holder Keita Sato (Nike Swoosh TC) continued his improvement since moving to Flagstaff last month, going under 3:40 for the first time since 2021 with a 3:39.59 for 5th after being pushed to longer distances in university. Sato led the move to pass the debuting Cooper Lutkenhaus mid-race, something that cost him in the last 300 m but ensured that the C-heat stayed a sub-3:40 race. Next up Sato races the 1500 m at next month's National Championships.
Two corporate league regions held their spring track and field championship meets. In the Kansai Region:
  • 3 sprint veterans, Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko), Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) and Naoki Inoue (Osaka Gas) broke the 2007-era meet record held by the great Nobuharu Asahara, Koike getting the win in 10.06 (+1.4), Tada 2nd in 10.10 and Inoue next in 10.15. Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) won a separate non-scoring race in 10.02 (+2.6).
  • Aiko Iki (Osaka Gas) won the women's 200 m with a 23.41 (+1.6) MR. Women's 100 m MR holder Midori Mikasa (Sumitomo Denko) set a new MR of 11.39 (+0.7), with Iki coming back to tie Mikasa's old record of 11.53.
  • Yugo Shikata (4 Directions) set a 1:48.48 MR in the men's 800 m, over 1 second off his own MR from last year.
  • Lucy Nduta (Ehime Ginko) took almost 10 seconds off Kayako Fukushi's 2002 MR in the women's 5000 m, winning in 15:15.60. Marathoner Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) was 2nd in 15:42.54 after having won the 10000 m a day earlier in 32:25.48.
  • Satsuki Umehara (Sumitomo Denko) beat her own 400 mH MR by over half a second in 57.46.
  • Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu) took down another old MR by half a second, winning the women's 3000 mSC in 9:59.61.
  • The Iwatani Sangyo women set a new 4x400 m MR of 3:51.87.
  • A 1996-era MR fell in the women's triple jump, Akari Funada (Niconiconori) winning with a 13.44 m (+2.2) on her 4th attempt, her best legal attempt of 13.11 m (+1.8) clearing the old MR of 13.06.
  • Takuto Sano (Biwa Seikei AC) threw 16.97 m on his first attempt in the men's shot put, beating the old MR by 14 cm.
  • A new transplant to the Kansai Region this season, Nanaka Kori (Niconiconori) better the women's discus throw MR from 1992 with a 58.17 m 2nd attempt, and doubled with a shot put win in 14.96 m.
  • Tatsuto Nakagawa (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) and Shota Fukuda (Sumitomo Denko) both crushed the men's hammer throw MR of 67.10 m from 1989, Nakagawa dropping a 72.38 m 5th attempt and Fukuda coming close to that with a 72.01 m final attempt but taking 2nd.
  • Tomoki Matsuoka (Universal Field) set a 46.90 MR in the men's 400 m.
  • Women's 400 m winner Shizuha Moriyama (Ichigo) also set a MR of 53.17 on top of winning the 200 m in 23.83 (+2.6).
  • Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) pulled off a solid double, winning the 1500 m in 3:41.92 and setting a 13:28.98 MR in the 5000 m.
  • Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) outkicked teammate Kiprono Sitonik to go 1-2 in the men's 10000 m in 27:38.32 and 27:39.22, with Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) cracking 28 minutes in 27:59.10 for 3rd.
  • Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) turned in the performance of the meet in the women's 10000 m, lapping the entire to field to win by almost a minute and a half in a 30:34.33 MR.
  • Rintaro Ozono (Togami Denki) broke the men's 3000 mSC in 8:46.41.
  • Yuka Komatsu (Kraftia) also took the women's 3000 mSC in 10:25.29.
  • The Athlete Link men set a 39.83 MR in the 4x100 m, with 2nd-placers Global Arena also under the old MR in 40.18.
  • Taisei Aibara (Miyazaki Sports Assoc.) threw a 74.74 m MR to win the men's javelin throw by 8 cm over 2nd-placer Tatsuki Minami (Fustar), who also cleared the old MR.
The Setagaya Time Trials meet in Tokyo was relatively low-key this time around, with the performance of the day being a 13:37.62 win in the men's 5000 m A-heat by Shunpei Tomita (Logisteed).

Tomita's teammate Kiyoto Hirabayashi was the top Japanese finisher at the high-altitude Bolder Boulder road 10 km in the U.S., taking 9th overall in 30:14. Japan's all-time top 2 marathoners Suguru Osako (Li Ning) and Kengo Suzuki (Kemmy) were also in the race, Osako 14th in 30:38 and Suzuki 17th in 31:08. Elsewhere on the roads, Yudai Fukuda (Ishikawa T&F Assoc.) ran the Ottawa Marathon, finishing 13th in 2:14:34.

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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."...
82 comments
Read more

Akasaki 2nd, Maeda 9th - Berlin Marathon Japanese Results

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/PhotoRun Even with a few withdrawals there was a massive group of Japanese athletes at the Berlin Marathon this year, most of the group that typically goes to the Chicago Marathon seeming to opt for Berlin instead. With men's winner Sebastian Sawe taking a shot at the world record, Akira Akasaki , Yuhei Urano and NR holder Kengo Suzuki sat back in a 3rd group targeting the JAAF's 2:06:30 standard for 2028 Olympic marathon trials qualification. The group held steady on that pace, quickly passing and leaving behind Hakone fan favorite Aoi Ota , who went out with a 14:26 opening 5 km only to finish in 2:14:02. Suzuki dropped off, but Akasaki and Urano were together through 30 km until Urano did the same. The top Japanese finisher in the Paris Olympics last year, from there Akasaki had what had to have been an incredibly fun last 12 km, picking faster people off one by one as he rolled on. Ultimately he made it all the way up to 2nd in a 2:06:15 PB. ...
2 comments
Read more

Watching Japanese Race Broadcasts Online

One option for watching Japanese races online from overseas is Keyhole TV .  The quality and reliability of the streaming varies, but it is usually at least watchable.  A paid premium key usually results in significantly better quality.  Go here or here  to get the Keyhole TV player, or just Google it to find up-to-date sites offering it. If you have downloaded Keyhole before, make sure you have the most recent version of the player for optimal performance.   Another option that looks promising is http://www.jpplayer.com/ This also looks good but takes time to set up so might be a better long-term option: http://www.nihonnamaterebi.com/ A list of these and other options: http://www.d-addicts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=73546 This site  sometimes has some channels not available elsewhere.    JRN also offers live English race commentary for some races via Twitter  @JRNLive . To use Keyhole, once you have downloaded, installed and o...
8 comments
Read more