Weekend Track Roundup

Domestically the main event on the track this weekend was the 3rd stop on the 2026 Hokuren Distance Challenge tour in Kitami. The race of the day there was the women's 3000 m, where Janet Jepkoech ran a PB 8:38.44 to lead the top 6 under 9 minutes, 5 of them in PBs including Mizuki Michishita in 8:56.75 and Jepkoech's Nitori teammate Rion Furukawa in 8:56.80. The men's 3000 m had similar results, Juda Hyodo running a PB 7:52.61 to lead the top 4 under 8 minutes, with 6 of the top 7 running PBs. Caroline Kariba was the only woman to break 15 minutes in the 5000 m with a 14:52.84 for the win, with Shunya Kikuchi the only man under 13:30 at 13:29.53.

Things were busy overseas:

The Asian U23 Athletics Championships happened in Ordos, China. Daily highlights here: Day 1・Day 2・Day 3・Day 4
Men's 800 m NR holder Ko Ochiai ran 2:15.24 for 7th in the 1000 m at the Monaco Diamond League meet, 2 seconds better than Allon Clay's national best from earlier this season. Clay responded with a 1:44.32 PB for 800 m at the Edmonton Athletics Invitational, bringing himself 0.87 short of Ochiai's NR. Men's 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura was 2nd in 8:10.30, with women's 3000 m NR holder Nozomi Tanaka 2nd to last in 8:37.85. Women's javelin throw NR holder Haruka Kitaguchi lost the momentum of her comeback so far this season, taking last with a best throw of only 56.24 m. In the men's 1000 m B-heat Soma Nagahara was 2nd in 2:21.47 and Yuki Murao 7th in 2:25.49.
Kaisei Okada continued a great season with a 13:19.77 win in the men's 5000 m at the Sunset Tour meet in Los Angeles, joining his former Rakunan H.S. teammate Keita Sato as the only Japanese collegiate men to go under 13:20 twice in the same season. Yu Shibata was 6th in 13:39.07 and Ryo Kurimura last in 14:23.51. Women's 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo was 8th of 9 in 2:03.07 with her Sekisui Kagaku teammate Hitomi Niiya 5th in the 5000 m in 15:49.46. Hayate Sato was 9th in the men's 3000 mSC in 8:32.05, Kazuyoshi Tamogami taking 7th in the 800 m B-heat in 1:48.56.
Another Rakunan H.S. grad, men's triple jump national champion Manato Miyao continued a good European debut tour with another 3rd-place finish, this one a 16.30 (0.0) at the World Jump Day meet in Linz, Austria. Yasser Mohammed Triki of Algeria won by well over a meter at 17.58 m (0.0).
Koki Fujihara took 5th in the men's long jump at the Meeting of Braga in Portugal with a best attempt of 7.79 m (+1.4). American winner Damarcus Simpson was the only one to clear 8 m, winning in 8.03 m (-0.6).
Ippei Takeda ran 10.40 (+0.6) for 6th in the men's 100 m at the Grand Prix Nove Mesto nad Metuji meet in the Czech Republic, but his best performance there was in the first-round heats where he ran 10.38 (+0.7) for 2nd in Heat 3 to make the final.
After two good performances in Europe so far this month Takuho Yoshizu had an off day at the Moore-Guldensporenmeeting in Belgium, running only 47.57 for 6th in the men's 800 m. Next up Yoshizu will race at the Night of Athletics meet next week.

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

Asian Games Competition Schedule

The daily athletics event schedule for September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . Wednesday, Sept. 23 7:30 - Women's / Men's Half Marathon Race Walk Final Thursday, Sept. 24 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon 100 mH 10:20 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats 10:30 - Men's Triple Jump Heats 10:40 - Women's Heptathlon High Jump 19:05 - Men's High Jump Heats 19:13 - Women's Heptathlon Shot Put 19:33 - Women's 100 m Heats 19:44 - Women's Triple Jump Final 20:08 - Men's 100 m Heats 20:55 - Men's Discus Throw Final 21:00 - Women's Heptathlon 200 m 21:25 - Women's 10000 m Final 22:15 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final Friday, Sept. 25 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon Long Jump 10:30 - Men's 400 m Heats 11:25 - Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw 19:05 - Women's Shot Put Final 19:13 - Women's 100 m Semifinal 19:33 - Men's 100 m Semifinal 20:03 - Women's Pole Vault Final 20:11 - Women's Heptathlon 800 m 20:32 - Men's 10000 m Final 20:40 - M...

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