3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course.
Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners Hiromichi Nonaka and Arata Iiguni both breaking the old CR on their stages and anchor Itsuki Takaishi 3rd-fastest. Koku Gakuin was 2nd in 2:06:54, nearly a minute under its own CR.
Back as far as 10th off a slow start, the Ivy League Select Team built on its best-ever 4th-place finish to come on strong over the second half and take 3rd in 2:07:24, 27 seconds under the old CR. 4 of its 6 runners made the top 5 on their stages and 5th runner Derek Amicon missing the stage win by just 1 second, well under the old CR in 17:36 for 6.4 km. Only lead runner Nick Bendtsen and 3rd runner Graham Blanks seemed off their game, and anchor Acer Iverson delivered a great run to move up from 5th to 3rd.
Juntendo University, #1-ranked Chuo University, Teikyo University and Komazawa University took the next 4 spots, and all beat the CR. Ultimately 8th after Kipkemei put them briefly out front, Nihon University was just off the previous CR too in 2:08:15, 5th man Tatsuro Nagasawa stopping Nihon from being a one-man show by breaking his stage's CR.
Soka University and Josai University were 9th and 10th, a bit of an underperformance by the #5-ranked Soka, but nothing compared to 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University which landed 11th off a #3 ranking. As expected, top-ranked non-Kanto Region team Kansai University took 12th over 6 minutes behind Aoyama Gakuin, winning what is effectively the JV race.
What do today's results mean for the rest of the season? The last time Waseda won in 2010 it broke the CR too, then went on to become the only team ever to win all 3 major university ekidens in CR time in a single season. Seeing them break the CR here is enough to get people excited about the chances of it happening again, but realistically that's probably not going to happen. The 2010 lineup was a lot more accomplished over longer distances, whereas this year's Waseda team is heavy on 1st and 2nd-year students focused on 1500 m and 5000 m. Give them another 2 years and they should be pretty close, but while Waseda could manage a National University Ekiden win in November don't expect a miracle at Hakone.
Koku Gakuin, Juntendo and Teikyo were solid, and at least Koku Gakuin and Teikyo should be in good positions by Hakone. Juntendo will lose half of its Izumo team this time to graduation at the end of the year, in particular its best runner Hiroto Yoshioka, so if it's ever going to have another good Hakone it's got to be this time.
Chuo, Soka and especially Aoyama Gakuin underperformed, although Chuo wasn't as bad as they were last year. Aoyama Gakuin puts everything into Hakone, so it's probably not worth reading too much into it being the last Kanto Region team at Izumo. But last year it was 7th at Izumo before going on to another Hakone title. With an 11th-place finish this time other coaches have to be feeling that that represents at least a tiny little glimmer of hope the Aoyama Gakuin will be breakable come January.
7th is where Komazawa ended up this time off a #11 pre-race ranking. That's not bad, and given its coaching focus it tends to do better as the distance increases. It's not likely this year's Komazawa roster can be a serious contender over Hakone's half marathon-length stages, but the main test for that will be Nationals next month, where Komazawa has won more titles than any other program.
38th Izumo Ekiden
Izumo, Shimane, 12 October 2026
22 teams, 6 stages, 45.1 km
Top Team Results
1. Waseda University - 2:05:56 - CR
2. Koku Gakuin University - 2:06:54 (CR)
3. Ivy League Select Team - 2:07:24 (CR)
4. Juntendo University - 2:07:33 (CR)
5. Chuo University - 2:07:36 (CR)
6. Teikyo University - 2:07:41 (CR)
7. Komazawa University - 2:07:45 (CR)
8. Nihon University - 2:08:15
9. Soka University - 2:08:31
10. Josai University - 2:09:22
11. Aoyama Gakuin University - 2:09:53
12. Kansai University - 2:15:55
Individual Stage Results
First Stage (8.0 km)
1. Hiroto Suzuki (Komazawa Univ.) - 22:42
2. Koki Ishikawa (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 22:48
3. Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) - 22:51
4. Yuta Asano (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 22:52
5. Keita Amano (Nihon Univ.) - 22:54
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10. Nick Bendtsen (Ivy League) - 23:05
Second Stage (5.8 km)
1. Ojiro Honda (Waseda Univ.) - 15:42
2. Takumi Orihashi (Soka Univ.) - 15:45
3. Hiroto Yoshioka (Juntendo Univ.) - 15:47
4. Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.) - 15:51
4. Myles Hogan (Ivy League) - 15:51
Third Stage (8.5 km)
1. Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) - 22:56 - CR
2. Yoshihiro Kusuoka (Teikyo Univ.) - 23:29 (CR)
3. Ryuki Suzuki (Waseda Univ.) - 23:31 (CR)
4. Yuto Miyake (Chuo Univ.) - 23:36
5. Tomoya Inoue (Juntendo Univ.) - 23:48
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7. Graham Blanks (Ivy League) - 23:50
Fourth Stage (6.2 km)
1. Haruki Niizuma (Waseda Univ.) - 17:10 - CR
2. Hiromichi Nonaka (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 17:14 (CR)
3. Yuta Asakawa (Teikyo Univ.) - 17:23
4. Shoya Koyama (Komazawa Univ.) - 17:24
5. Tyler Berg (Ivy League) - 17:25
Fifth Stage (6.4 km)
1. Shunpei Yamaguchi (Waseda Univ.) - 17:35 - CR
2. Derek Amicon (Ivy League) - 17:36 (CR)
3. Arata Iiguni (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 17:39 (CR)
4. Daichi Shibata (Chuo Univ.) - 17:41 (CR)
5. Tatsuro Nagasawa (Nihon Univ.) - 17:42 (CR)
Sixth Stage (10.2 km)
1. Shinsaku Kudo (Waseda Univ.) - 29:00
2. Haruka Yamamoto (Juntendo Univ.) - 29:19
3. Itsuki Takaishi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 29:20
4. Yudai Hara (Teikyo Univ.) - 29:27
5. Acer Iverson (Ivy League) - 29:37
© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
AGU wasn't surprising, I think they will perform way better at Hakone but this year I don't see them having enough to storm the field again there.
Juntendo seems like it's putting together another solid Ekiden season after the last one. Chuo disappointed but we are used to that.
Komazawa similarly to AGU has had lots of changes over the past couple of years, for both it's hard to replace all the amazing runners they've had over the past few years. But they'll be back sooner than later.