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 all-time Japanese #2. In other results, veteran Yoshihide Kiryu turned in a 10.03 (+1.5) SB to win his heat in the men's 100 m, but skipped out on the final. Close behind him in the same heat, Shoma Yamamoto ran a 10.04 PB, then went on to take the final in 10.10 (+0.3). Kentaro Shirahata of Toyo University won the 400 m in 45.27, the 6th-best time ever by a Japanese collegiate athlete. Abigail Fuuka Ido just missed her own 200 m NR, winning in 22.81 (+0.5) just 0.02 off the record she set at the same meet last year.
- Not content with her Fuji Hokuriku performance, Nakajima went 0.02 better with another new 100 mH NR of 12.60 (+0.7) to win the Athlete Night Games in Fukui meet on Aug. 15. Yamamoto scored another win too, taking the men's 100 m in 10.05 (+0.9). 400 m specialist Fuga Sato took the men's 200 m with a 20.54 (+1.6) PB. Known more as a discus throw athlete, Shinichi Yukinaga went over 18 m for the first time in the shot put, winning with a 18.15 m PB.
- Men's 1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh came up short of his goal of a new senior NR at the Stumptown Twilight meet in Oregon on Aug. 15, but delivered his third sub-3:40 of the season with a 3:38.59 for 4th. Only national champ Kazuto Iizawa has also gone sub-3:40 three times this season, no small achievement for Satoh only 4 months into his shift back to shorter distances after 4 years of Hakone Ekiden focus in college.
- Masaki Ejima had an off day at the Golden Sand meet in Poland on Aug. 17, placing 9th of 11 with his lowest clearance of the season, 5.15 m.
- Olympic champ Haruka Kitaguchi had the performance of what has been a tough season for her so far, winning the Lausanne Diamond League meet on Aug. 21 with a 64.90 m SB, her best throw since winning the 2024 Diamond League final almost 2 years ago. The only other Japanese athletes in the meet, Tatsuki Abe and Shunsuke Izumiya were 5th and 7th in the men's 110 mH, Abe running 13.39 (-0.5) and Izumiya 13.55 behind American winner Jamal Britt's 13.13.
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