Japanese Results at World Road Running Championships

Japan had a team of 14 at the World Athletics Road Running Championships this weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark, opting not to send any women in the road mile. That was actually where the best Japan-adjacent performance came, as Mirriam Cherop, who returned to Kenya this year after several seasons with the Kansai-based Shin Nihon Jusetsu team, took bronze in 4:25.71.

The best Japanese placing was in the men's mile, where Waseda University's Ojiro Honda was 16th in a PB of 3:57.50, 0.50 off the NR but almost 4 seconds behind what Keita Satoh ran at last weekend's Fifth Avenue Mile in New York.

Top placings in the other events were all in the mid-20s, Kana Mizumoto 24th in the women's 5 km in 15:42, Rui Suzuki 28th in the men's 5 km in 13:38, Yumi Yoshikawa 25th in the women's half marathon in 1:09:34, and Yuma Nishizawa 26th in the men's half marathon in 1:01:17.

In half marathon team scoring, the Japanese men were 6th and the women 8th, disappointing given the heavy focus on the half marathon distance in the Japanese men's development system.

World Road Running Championships

Copenhagen, Denmark, 19-20 Sept. 2026

complete results

Women's Mile

1. Agathe Guillemot (France) - 4:22.74

2. Frewayni Hailu (Ethiopia) - 4:24.35

3. Mirriam Cherop (Kenya) - 4:25.71

Men's Mile

1. Robert Farken (Germany) - 3:51.80

2. Yared Nuguse (U.S.A.) - 3:52.33

3. Ruben Querinjean (Luxembourg) - 3:52.77 - NR

-----

16. Ojiro Honda (Japan) - 3:57.50 - PB

44. Tomoki Nakano (Japan) - 4:09.17 - PB

Women's 5 km

1. Likina Amebaw (Ethiopia) - 14:41

2. Caroline Makadi Girona (Kenya) - 14:48

3. Rose Davies (Australia) - 14:50 - AR

-----

24. Kana Mizumoto (Japan) - 15:42 - PB

28. Rina Kusu (Japan) - 15:48 - PB

Men's 5 km

1. Dawit Seare (Eritrea) - 12:56 - NR

2. Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway) - 12:59 - NR

3. Saymon Amanuel (Eritrea) - 13:00 - PB

-----

28. Rui Suzuki (Japan) - 13:38 - PB

40. Yota Mashiko (Japan) - 13:50 - PB

Women's Half Marathon

1. Agnes Jebet Ngetich (Kenya) - 1:05:15 - WR

2. Veronica Loleo (Kenya) - 1:06:05

3. Florence Niyonkuru (Rwanda) - 1:06:08 - NR

-----

25. Yumi Yoshikawa (Japan) - 1:09:34

44. Yuna Takahashi (Japan) - 1:11:12

52. Wakana Kabasawa (Japan) - 1:11:56

62. Rina Shimizu (Japan) - 1:13:07

Women's Team Scoring

1. Kenya - 3:17:33

2. U.S.A. - 3:19:51

3. Ethiopia - 3:22:40

-----

8. Japan - 3:32:42

Men's Half Marathon

1. Andreas Almgren (Sweden) - 58:06 - AR

2. Nicholas Kipkorir (Kenya) - 58:11

3. Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) - 58:26 - PB

-----

26. Yuma Nishizawa (Japan) - 1:01:17

27. Tomoya Ogikubo (Japan) - 1:01:28

34. Daisuke Sato (Japan) - 1:01:47

69. Neo Namiki (Japan) - 1:03:21

Men's Team Scoring

1. Kenya - 2:56:30

2. Ethiopia - 2:59:47

3. U.S.A. - 3:01:34

-----

6. Japan - 3:04:32

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