japan running news

by Brett Larner The World U20 Championships got moving Tuesday in Bydgoszcz, Poland with medals handed out in three events.  In the women's 10000 m race walk 2015 national high school champ Yukiko Mizoguchi delivered a PB 46:19.49 for 8th, about 45 seconds out of the medals but within the JAAF's much-loved top eight target.   Zhenxia Ma (China) took gold in 45:18.45, with 3rd placers Yehualeya Beletew (Ethiopia) and 4th-placer Valeria Ortuno (Mexico) scoring area records.  An East African making the podium has to be shaking the race walk world. Japan-based Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Kenya), a second-year pro with the Aisan Kogyo corporate team, ran a meet record 27:25.23 to take gold in the men's 10000 m, just outkicking Aron Kifle (Eritrea) and Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda) with Kifle setting a national junior record.  Two athletes each from Kenya, Eritrea, Uganda and Ethiopia made up the top eight, with Tokai University first-year Hayato Seki (Japan) running a...

by Brett Larner Japan sends a team of 44 athletes, 14 women and 30 men, to the rebranded World Junior Championships, hereout known as the World U20 Championships , this week in Bydgoszcz, Poland. 2015 World Youth Championships women's javelin throw gold medalist Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon Univ.) is Japan's best chance for a medal, the only woman in the field to have thrown over 60 m.  Her teammate Mikako Yamashita (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) looks like another medal contender, her 58.59 m ranking her 3rd in the javelin field.  The team features the current national high school champions in fourteen events, a few including Kitaguchi having made the top three at last month's Japanese National Championships and many ranking in the top ten in their events at World U20.  5th in the men's' 3000 m at last year's World Youth Championships, Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) doesn't fit any of those categories, but with new 3000 m and 5000 m bests of 8:01.95 and 13:48.1...

http://www.athleticsasia.org/index.php/k2-component/112-ibrahim-of-qatar-sets-new-record-in-discus-throw-day-3-of-17th-asian-junior-athletics

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 detailed day-by-day National High School Championships coverage: Day One ・ Day Two ・ Day Three ・ Day Four ・ Day Five Despite sometimes extreme conditions with temperatures in the mid-30s throughout the five days of the 2015 Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships at Wakayama's Kimiidera Field performances were at a high level in most events, with thirteen new records set including two junior national records and two high school national records. By far the star of the show was Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai H.S.), who showed outstanding range in everything from 100 m to 800 m.  Including heats and semifinals she ran a total of fourteen races in five different events in five days, sometimes with less than an hour between them, but still produced a 57.06 400 mH junior national record and high school national record, #4 among juniors in the world this year, a 53.30 National High School Championships recor...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 After taking 2nd in the 100 m and 6th in the 4x100 m, 2015 World Youth Championships double 100 m and 200 m gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) scored his first national title at the 2015 National High School Track and Field Championships in Wakayama, winning the boys' 200 m final.  Facing a strong 1.5 m/s headwind Sani Brown took 1st in 20.82, well ahead of runner-up Jun Yamashita (Fukushima H.S.), 2nd in 21.21.  100 m champion Kenta Oshima (Tokyo H.S.) was only 5th in 21.44.  With an even stronger 3.4 m/s in the girls' 200 m, Oshima's teammate and fellow 100 m champion Iyoba Edoba was likewise unable to pick up a double, Tomomi Kawamura (Morioka Daiichi H.S.) taking 1st in 24.57 with Edoba 3rd in 24.71. The showdown of the day came in the girls' 800 m, where 1500 m champion Chika Mukai (Shigakukan H.S.) faced 400 m and 400 m hurdles winner and record-setter Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai ...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 Defending champ Kenta Oshima (Tokyo H.S.) brought the highlight of the second day of the Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships, delivering a big upset in the boys' 100 m final with a win over the fastest boy in the field, 2015 World Youth Championships double gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.).  With Sani Brown holding a PB 0.11 seconds faster and leading his times in both the heats and semifinals, Oshima had a great start in the final, opening an early lead as Sani Brown was slow out of the blocks.  Sani Brown closed throughout the race, but Oshima had enough for the win in 10.29, his second-straight national H.S. 100 m title and a PB by 0.09 seconds despite a -0.8 m/s headwind.  Sani Brown was almost even with him in 10.30, just off his best, with 3rd-placer Kenta Katsuse (Saku Yakonohana H.S.) running a PB 10.48.  Both Oshima and Sani Brown returned later to anchor their teams in...

by Brett Larner videos by Akiko Sani Brown After setting boys' 400 m hurdles world youth leads in the heats and semifinals at the World Youth Championships, Japan's Ryusei Fujii (Kokura Kogyo H.S.) and Masaki Toyoda (Rakunan H.S.) added to the country's medal total in the final to cap the fourth day of competition.  Both delivering PB performances, Fujii and Toyoda were unable to match a brilliant world youth leading 49.11 from Norman Grimes (U.S.A.) but took silver and bronze, Fujii in 50.33 and Toyoda in 50.53.  4th placer Rivaldo Leacock (Barbados) likewise turned in a PB of 51.13, an indication of how good the competition up front was. The other Japanese performance of the day came in the boys' 200 m semifinals.  Despite a 1.7 m/s headwind, 100 m gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) ran 20.62 to win his semifinal, just 0.06 seconds off his best and 0.12 seconds off the Beijing World Championships qualifying standard.  His nearest c...

by Brett Larner Haruka Kitaguchi (Hokkaido Asahikawa Higashi H.S.) unexpectedly became the second Japanese gold medalist of the World Youth Championships , the only athlete in the girls' javelin throw to go over 60 m with a PB of 60.35 m for the win.  Virtually unknown going into the competition, Kitaguchi opened with a PB 56.42 m throw to immediately go into 1st ahead of #3-ranked Laine Donane (Latvia) and #4-ranked Stella Weinberg (Norway).  On her third throw Weinberg delivered a PB of her own, 57.11 m, to move into 1st, but Kitaguchi was quick to respond with a 60.35 m best on her fifth throw to seal gold.  Weinberg stayed in silver, while Donane took bronze with her opening throw of 56.15 m. Kitaguchi was the only Japanese medalist of the day, but from 400 m through 3000 m Japanese athletes performed well, moving on into the finals almost across the board.  Both Masaki Toyoda (Rakunan H.S.) and Ryusei Fujii (Kokura Kogyo H.S.) won their boys' 400 mH sem...

by Brett Larner Japan has entered a team of 41, 22 boys and 19 girls, for this week's World Youth Championships .  Its best medal chances come in the four events where it has the #1-ranked athlete, but 14 Japanese athletes factor into the top ten rankings in nine events to offer hope of a little more action. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) comes into the World Youth Championships ranked #1 in both the boys' 100 m and 200 m hot off finishing 2nd in both distances at last month's Japanese National Championships , the first Japanese high schooler post-war to make the podium in both.  Daisuke Miyamoto (Rakunan H.S.), from the same high school as 2014 World Junior Championships 100 m bronze medalist Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) joins Sani Brown in the top ten rankings in the 100 m, but for Sani Brown the main focus will be the 200 m where his best of 20.56 from Nationals last month is just off the Beijing World Championships qualification standard 20.50.  Should...