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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 (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) in the women's 3000 m, 9:00.82 to 9:00.84.
  • Only 4 people started the women's 5000 m, where Mao Kimura (Meijo Univ.) soloed a 15:36.05 PB to win by almost a minute.
  • Soka University newcomer Benard Kikumbi took the men's 10000 m B-heat in 28:44.98.

Across the river at the MDC Meet in Setagaya, men's 800 m NR holder Ko Ochiai (Komazawa Univ.) continued to benefit from behind-the-scenes foreign coaching as he shaved a fraction of a second off his NR with a 1:43.45 for the win. But it wasn't just him, as 2nd through 6th-placers Yugo Shikata, Hiroki Minamoto, Nanaki Manno, Sho Tanabe and Sota Okamura all got into the all-time Japanese top 10. And overseas Allon Tatsunami Clay (Penn State) ran an all-time Japanese #2 1:44.63 at Friday's NCAA D1 East meet, making it a breakthrough weekend for the men's 800 m. Other MDC highlights:
  • Japan's all-time #2 1500 m runner Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) ran a 3:35.90 SB for the win, with fresh new 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori (Honda) moving up to all-time #3 with a 3:36.53 and Victor Kimutai 3rd in 3:37.36. China's Dezhu Liu ran a 3:37.61 PB for 4th, with Ojiro Honda (Waseda Univ.) narrowly missing the Japanese U20 NR in 3:37.72 for 5th.
  • NR holder Rin Kubo (Sekisui Kagaku) won the women's 800 m in 2:02.76, with China's Chunhui Li taking the women's 1500 m in 4:09.21

U20 and U18 NR did happen at the Asian U20 Championships in Hong Kong. Jeremy Koga (Juntendo Univ.) set a men's 110 mH U20 NR and MR of 13.05 (-0.5) to take gold, with Koki Takajo (Miyazaki Nishi H.S.) scoring silver in 13.24. Taiju Goto (Rakunan H.S.) equalled Koga with an U18 NR and MR of 49.25 to win gold in the men's 400 mH. Other medalists:
  • Hanon Sasaki (Tsukuba Univ.) won the women's 800 m with a 2:05.44 for gold.
  • Ryo Kurimura (Chuo Univ.) won a bizarrely low-key men's 5000 m gold in 14:39.31.
  • Rei Taya (Osaka Kunei Joshi H.S.) took the women's 3000 mSC gold in 10:22.52.
  • Nana Ishihara (Hakuoh Joshi Univ.) was the silver medalist in the women's 100 mH in 13.76 (+0.4).
  • Yu Kato (Kanagawa Univ.) added to the silver haul with a 9:27.30 for 2nd in the men's 3000 mSC.
  • Naoya Inoue (Nittai Univ.) took a solid silver in the men's pole vault, clearing 5.40 m.
  • Leon Iwasaka (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) cleared 70 m for the first time in the men's javelin throw with a 70.46 m for silver.
  • Tsubasa Yasukawa (Toyo Univ.) won bronze in the men's 100 m 10.35 (+0.2).
  • Atsuki Watanabe (Tsukuba Univ.) took men's 800 m bronze in 1:49.29.
  • Yota Mashiko (Waseda Univ.) won men's 3000 m bronze in 8:00.86 just behind Chuo University 1st-year Tzu-Chieh Chien (Taiwan), silver in 8:00.42.
  • Chihiro Obata (Iida H.S.) took the men's 5000 mRW bronze in 20:06.73.
  • Saera Watanabe (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ.) won women's pole vault bronze at 3.80 m.
  • Yuhi Narisawa (Chuo Univ.) added another women's jump bronze to the count with a 5.93 m (+0.6) for 3rd in the long jump.
  • Koko Konda (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ.) threw 49.74 m for bronze in the women's discus throw.
  • Andrew Atuobeng (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) took the men's hammer throw bronze at 70.64 m.
© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Anonymous said…
Ochiai's growth is remarkable and his new record was great to see. That said I really think whoever makes those decisions should have him start running international races: everytime I see him running a race it's the pacers and him running the ideal line. He needs to start to see how it is at the international level, the group, having to overtake outside, being stuck on the inside, change of pace and so on. In my opinion of course.

It's great to see a bit of depth starting to be behind him too.
June 4, 2026 at 8:10 AM
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