japan running news

Opposite the Hangzhou Asian Games and World Road Running Championships, the Continental Tour Bronze Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup meet took place this weekend in Niigata. The highlight on Saturday came in its last race, the men’s 5000 m A-heat, where 20-year-old Shunsuke Yoshii , a 2nd-year at Hakone Ekiden runner-up Chuo University , ran 13:22.01 for the win after getting quality pacing almost the entire way from pacer Amos Bett (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.). Chuo 4th-year Shota Nakano was 2nd in 13:28.04 and Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) 3rd in 13:29.12. Combined with their older brothers Yamato Yoshii and Kazuki Tamura , Yoshii and Tamura now stand as the fastest and 3rd-fastest brothers over 5000 m in Japanese history. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) handled pacing work in the women’s 5000 m, where Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was the last one left standing at Akidor’s pace with a 15:36.47 for the win. 2nd-placer Yuna Takahashi ran 15:42.37, with 3rd and 4th-place Mikun...

The 91st National University Track and Field Championships got underway in Kyoto Friday. Shion Ono  (Juntendo Univ.) was the first athlete to take a national title on the track, beating Yuiri Ogata (Nittai Univ.) by 0.20 to win the women's 1500 m final in 4:22.75. The men's 1500 m looked like it would go the same way, with favorites Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) and Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.) side by side with 400 m to go. But on the back straight Chuo University duo Tomohiro Chimori and Tomoki Nakano made contact, and when Iizawa responded Sato was left behind. Iizawa hung on to the win in 3:45.33 with both Chuo runners within 0.90. Sato fell to 7th in 3:47.61. The women's 10000 m was one of the most anticipated races of the weekend, with collegiate NR holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) entered after an Achilles injury in January that kept her out of the spring season and the Oregon World Championships. Saying that she was at about 40% fitness, Fuwa took the lead af...

The Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships returned to Tokyo's National Stadium Thursday for the first of four straight days in its 101st edition. Favorite Noah Kiplimo (Nihon Yakka Univ.) won the meet's first track final, taking the D2 men's 10000 m in 28:28.58. Kiplimo led most of the race, alternating first with Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) and then Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) before pulling away with only Hironori Kishimoto (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) left behind him. The 1st-year Kamau couldn't match the two 4th-years' closing speed and dropped to the 3rd in 28:31.41, but Kishimoto nearly pulled off an upset as he took 2nd in 28:28.94. Hirabayashi and Shinohara dropped to 6th and 8th, but both went home with new PBs of 28:36.32 and 28:41.13. The women's 10000 m was pretty similar, with Mao Kuroda (Nittai Univ.) leading most of the way on 33 minute-high pace in a pack including teammate Momoko ...

The 90th National University Track and Field Championships kicked off Friday at Saitama's Kumagaya Sports Park Field. The biggest result came in the women's 10000 m ,, where favorite Yuka Suzuki  (Daito Bunka Univ.) soloed a 32:04.58 meet record for the win, taking 19 seconds off the previous record set in 2003 by Emi Ikeda . 2nd-placer Rinka Hida  (Ritsumeikan Univ.) was the only other runner under 33 minutes at 32:56.71,  Yui Komatsu  (Matsuyama Univ.) 3rd in 33:01.16. Kenyans swept the top four spots in the men's 10000 m . Pre-race favorite Charles Kamau Wanjiku  (Musashino Univ.) faded mid-race to leave it to come down to a sprint finish between James Bunuka  (Surugadai Univ.) and Philip Muluwa  (Soka Univ.). Bunuka took the win in 27:58.60, less than 6 seconds off the meet record, Muluwa 2nd in 28:00.36 and Wanjiku 3rd in 28:29.48. Sota Ueda (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) unexpectedly took the top Japanese spot at 5th in 28:52.63, beating all his Kanto-...

The sprints, middle distance, hurdles, jumps and throws segment of Japan's 104th National Track and Field Championships kicked off Thursday in Niigata. The best competitions of the opening day were the women's and men's javelin throws. Defending women's champ Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) got off to a slow start, taking until her fourth throw to take over the top spot from Yuka Sato (Nikonikonori), throwing 59.30 m to Sato's opening 59.03. Only throwing 57.45 m on her fifth attempt, on her final throw Sato dropped her biggest throw of the day. When the measurement came up it was 59.32 m, Kitaguchi falling to her hands and knees when she saw it before getting up laughing to congratulation Sato on her national title. In the men's javelin throw, 2019 national champ Ryohei Arai (Suzuki) was relentless, throwing farther with each attempt except for a foul in the fourth round. Back in form this season after years of struggles and having cleared 80 m for the first t...

Japan picked up three meals in the first two days of athletics competition at the 2019 Napoli Summer Universiade  in Italy, including silver medals in both the women's and men's 10000 m. After three aborted starts thanks to problems with the starting gun  Rino Goshima (Chuo Univ.) got things moving on July 8 in the women's 10000 m, losing out in a close finish 34:03.31 to 34:04.65 to China's Deshun Zhang , with teammate Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) just as close behind her in the bronze medal position. Sub-28 man Hiroki Abe (Meiji Univ.) kept it going on the 9th with a silver in the men's 10000 m in an even closer finish behind South African Mokorane Milton Kekana , 29:29.43 to 29:30.01. Hakone Ekiden First Stage king Kazuya Nishiyama (Toyo Univ.) was off his game, finishing just 8th over 40 seconds back from Abe in 30:10.65. In the other two finals featuring Japanese athletes on the first two days of the Universiade, Japan's finalists both too...

Two-time national high school champion Ayaka Kora kept Japan's medal count moving on Day Three of the Tampere World U20 Championships  with a silver in the women's long jump. A 6.37 m (+1.2  m/s) on her second attempt was good enough to move her into the silver position behind only Germany's Lea-Jasmin Riecke , whose PB of 6.51 m (+0.4 m/s) on her own second attempt gave her the top spot. There the two remained through the rest of the final, American Tara Davis giving Kora a bit of a scare on her final attempt with a jump of 6.36 (+0.0 m/s) that earned Davis bronze. The women's 3000 m steeplechase final was the only other final to feature a Japanese athlete. Already having moved in the all-time #4 Japanese U20 position in the heats, Manami Nishiyama improved on that with a 10:00.49 for 9th, well out of the medals but just missing a JAAF-coveted top eight position. After her performance Matsuyama University , where Nishiyama is a student, now owns five of the te...

Returning from her stellar 2:22:44 marathon debut in Osaka in January, Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) delivered the highlight of the opening day of competition at the 102nd Japanese National Track and Field Championships in Yamaguchi. Starting with a conservative 3:20 for the first 1000 m the pace gradually picked up thanks in large part to National Corporate Half Marathon runner-up Yuka Hori (Panasonic). Anxious to avoid a repeat of last year when she was outkicked by Matsuda over the last lap, 2016 national champ Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) launched a long surge from four and a half laps out, a move only Matsuda could follow. With one lap to go Suzuki had opened a 2 second lead, but it was nowhere near a margin of safety. Summoning up the same winning move as last year, Matsuda blew by Suzuki to win by 5 seconds in 31:52.42. Hori held on to 3rd in 32:05.52. The day's other track final was the men's 10000 m. On a roll since his 2:06:54 breakthrough at the Tokyo Marathon in Fe...

Day Three of the 18th Asian Junior Athletics Championships saw yet another pair of championships records, one by the home team and another by visitors. Yuiri Yoshida delivered the goods in the girls’ 100 m hurdles, tying the old record with a mark of 13.45 (+0.9 m/s) for gold. Ayaka Kawata and Ayano Shiomi took gold and silver in the girls’ 800 m, traditionally an area of weakness for Japan, with Ayaka Kora adding to Japan’s gold medal haul with a PB jump of 6.44 m (+0.8 m/s). Yuka Nosue was a distant bronze in the girls’ 3000 m steeplechase, 17 seconds behind gold medalist Maristela Parami Wasanthi of Sri Lanka who set a PB of 10:21.54 to win. Japan’s girls’ 4x100 m picked up silver well back from winner China’s 45.06 gold medal run. Jumps and throws are for the most part another area of Japanese weakness, especially on the girls’ side, and in both the pole vault and discus throw they came up empty-handed. China earned gold in both, Zuo Cheng Wu clearing 4.00 m and Hu...