Early July Track Roundup

There's already been a lot going on on the track since the start of July, so let's get to it.

The women's 100 mH was the main event at the July 5 Fuse Sprint meet in Tottori, with Hitomi Nakajima turning in the 3rd-fastest time of her career, 12.75 (-0.4), for the win, a time only one other Japanese woman has ever beaten. Yumi Tanaka and Masumi Aoki both turned in quality performances too at 12.89 and 12.97 for 2nd and 3rd. All-time Japanese #4 Midori Mikase had a good one in the women's 100 m too, winning in 11.36 (+0.7).

The Hokuren Distance Challenge series kicked off July 4 in Chitose. Tuning up for her 1500-5000-10000 triple at September's Nagoya Asian Games, Nozomi Tanaka won the 1500 m in 4:08.53, then came back to win the 5000 m in a 15:00.61 season best. Bigger news was 3000 mSC NR holder Miu Saito in 2nd, running a PB 15:02.68 to come in at all-time Japanese #8. Collegiate record holder Richard Etir led the men's 5000 m in a 13:08.44 SB, with Waseda University's Shunpei Yamaguchi running 13:17.19 for 4th, the 4th-fastest ever by a Japanese-born collegiate runner and overall all-time collegiate #9.

Held in conjunction with the Chitose meet, the National Corporate Championships 10000 m men's title went to Shota Nakano in 28:17.07, Momoka Kawaguchi taking the women's title in 32:14.00.

The 2nd stop in the HDC series was July 8 in Abashiri. Janet Jepkoech had the best individual performance of the meet, winning the women's 5000 m by 40 seconds in 14:52.74. On the men's side, Tokai University had a great team result with Junpei Nakano, Yuta Minamisaka and Shu Nagamoto all breaking 13:40 for 5000 m across 3 different heats. In Heat 2, Miyazaki Nichidai H.S. student Yuta Fujii ran an 11-second PB of 13:47.07 for 3rd. In the women's 10000 m Deborah Chemutai ran a 31:39.52 PB for the win, leading Rika Kaseda and 5000 m national champion Yuma Yamamoto under 31:45. Emmanuel Maru won the men's 10000 m in 27:35.59, with Koku Gakuin University's Hiromichi Nonaka 2nd in 27:41.33, Chuo University's Yuto Miyake 3rd in a 27-second PB 27:44.45, and KGU's Itsuki Takaishi getting under 28 for the first time in 27:57.71 for 4th.

A lot of people are racing the Europe and the U.S. right now too. Highlights:

Japan's first runner sub-10, Yoshihide Kiryu ran a heavily wind-aided 9.99 (+4.1) for 4th at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open Eisenstadt meet on July 1.
Yuki Hashioka jumped 7.97 m (+1.4) for 5th in the men's long jump at the July 3 Meeting Stanislas Nancy in France.
Also July 3, men's 2-mile Asian record holder Keita Sato stepped up from his focus on the 1500 m to run the 2-mile at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meet. Ranked last, he finished 18th of 19 in 8:27.79.
At the July 4 Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto in Portugal, Koki Fujihara was 6th in the men's long jump at 7.46 m (0.0).
The July 4 Meeting National Est Lyonnais in France had Waseda's Soma Nagahara in the 3000 mSC, where he was last in 8:30.30 in his European debut. Yuki Murao was 14th in the B-heat in 8:48.72.
Better luck for Toyo University's 2026 men's triple jump national champ Manato Miyao, who took 3rd in 16.19 (+1.1) at the Meeting International Bouvet-Bionda despite a canceled flight that saw him arrive a day late just a few hours before the start of the meet.
A member of Japan's mixed 4x400 m relay team at last fall's Tokyo World Championships, Takuho Yoshizu made his European debut with a 46.42 for 5th at the Meeting voor Mon Polsstokgala in Belgium on July 4, then improved on that with a 46.38 for 2nd at the Joensuu Motonet GP meet in Finland on the 8th. Men's javelin throw national champ Yuta Sakiyama was in Joensuu too, turning in his weakest performance of the season with a throw of 76.17 m for 5th.
Women's high jump national champion Nagisa Takahashi was at the July 5 Opolski Festival Skokow in Poland, finishing only 11th with a 1.80 m clearance.
At the Folksam Grand Prix Karlstad meet in Sweden on the 8th, Shunta Inoue was 5th in the men's 400 mH in 50.06. Men's high jump NR holder Naoto Tobe cleared 2.05 m to take 5th as well.

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...

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