japan running news

Tough conditions at the Oda Memorial Meet Friday, heavy rain in the first half of the meet and strong winds in the second, held back the times, but most of the favorites still rose to the top. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) ran as the top Japanese man throughout the 5000 m A-heat, shrugging off brief challenges from Tokyo Olympian Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) and Takuma Sunaoka (Konica Minolta) in the last 1000 m to kick past Cosmas Mwangi (Chugoku Denryoku) for the win in 13:32.42. The other Tokyo Olympian in the race, Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) was a distant 10th in 13:47.35. Nganga Waweru (Chugoku Denryoku) won the B-heat in 13:57.60 over teammate Taira Omori , 2nd in 13:59.19. Agnes Mukari (Kyocera) took the win in the women's 5000 m A-heat, easily dropping Tabitha Njeri (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) over the last lap to win in 15:22.90 after being part of a Kenyan lead trio the entire way. Mukari, Njeri and eventual 4th-placer N...

Postponed from early summer, this year's 104th National Track and Field Championships have been sliced and diced into different segments held over the course of four months this summer in an effort to minimize the number of people in one place and one time and, in the case of long distance, to wait until World Athletics' window for turning out Olympic qualifying marks opens up in December. Sprints, middle distance, hurdles, jumps and throws happen this week Thursday through Saturday at Niigata's enormous Denka Big Swan Stadium. 24 events are set to have their defending champs back, with Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko), #2 worldwide in the men's high jump this year, Yuki Hashioka (Nihon Univ.) #3 worldwide in the men's long jump, leading the way. The men's 100 m looking especially good despite the absence of U.S.-based national record older Abdul Hakim Sani Brown . Aska Cambridge (Nike) has been in his best shape ever so far this fall with a 10.03 PB last mo...

Even more than in Osaka , top-level Japanese athletes turned out in big numbers for the 83rd Tokyo Track and Field Championships , stretched out over a leisurely four-day schedule this weekend at Komazawa Stadium. Despite terrible weather conditions throughout the long weekend they brought new meet records in eighteen events, breaking some records that had stood for over 50 years. All three men's sprints saw new meet records. 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics men's 4x100 m relay silver medalist Aska Cambridge (Nike) ran a meet record 10.29 (+0.3) to win his 100 m opening heat, improved that to 10.26 (-0.3) to take his semifinal, then took the record further again with a 10.22 (-0.8) win in the final. Keigo Yasuda (Daito Bunka Univ.) tied the men's 200 m meet record at 20.97 (-1.0) to win the final. Daichi Inoue (Nihon Univ.) ran 46.81 to break the previous men's 400 m meet record of 47.05, set in 1996 before he was born. Men's middle distance also had new meet r...

Masateru Yugami (Toyota) and Taio Kanai (Fukui Pref. Sports Assoc.) wrapped up the last day of the 2018 Japanese National Track and Field Championships in style, delivering national records in the men's discus throw and men's 110 m hurdles. Coming into Nationals with a best of only 59.30 m, Yugami threw PBs on five-straight throws, breaking the national record set last year by rival Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) on his last three. By the time the dust settled he held a new record of 62.16 m, an improvement of almost a minute and a half over Tsutsumi's record. "I'm happy to get this," he said afterward, "but I know other athletes are coming up too and I hope that we can take it further together." With a 0.7 m/s tailwind, the #4-ranked Kanai won the 110 mH final in 13.36, a PB by 0.17 and bettering both the year-old meet record and 2004-era national record. 3000 mSC winner Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) came up short of the national record, but his...

by Brett Larner click here for part two Japan's 71st National Sports Festival cleared the midpoint of its five days of athletics competition Sunday.  Meet records have fallen in five events so far, the highlight being the men's 10000 m race walk where Rio Olympians Eiki Takahashi (Team Fujitsu) and Daisuke Matsunaga (Toyo Univ.) dueled to push each other under the meet record, national record holder Takahashi setting a solid new mark of 38:21.88 but national junior record holder Matsunaga also more than 25 seconds under the old record set two years ago by 20 km world record holder Yusuke Suzuki (Team Fujitsu). Another Rio Olympian, women's 100 m national record holder Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tech AC) duly took the 100 m final in 11.66 ( +0.5 m/s ).  Two members of the Rio silver medal-winning Japanese 4x100 m men's relay team, national champion Asuka Cambridge (Dome) and Ryota Yamagata (Seiko), were scheduled to run the 100 m, but while Yamagata won h...

by Brett Larner National record holder Daichi Sawano (Team Fujitsu) was the lone Japanese athlete in action in a final on Day Four of athletics competition at the Rio de Janeiro, waiting out heavy rain before getting started in the men's pole vault.  Sawano easily cleared 5.50 m on his first attempt but struggled at 5.65 m, seeming to clear it on his third attempt but brushing the bar just enough to be eliminated.  His 7th-place overall finish in the final checks only the second box in the JAAF's modest goal of one medal and five top eight placings in Rio, a goal that at this point looks tough to achieve despite widespread Japanese success in a variety of other sports. National champion Keisuke Nozawa (Mizuno) blasted a 48.62 PB to win Heat 4 of the men's 400 m hurdles, frontrunning the entire race to make the semifinals.  Teammate Yuki Matsushita (Mizuno) was the first non-qualifier in 49.60.  In one of two men's 110 m hurdles heats run as heavy rain set in, ...

by Brett Larner With the rest of the Japanese national team doing well, ranked 3rd behind the U.S.A. and China in the  medal count at the end of the first week of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, members of its athletics squad face modest expectations of one medal and five top eight finishes , the medal expected to come somewhere between the men's 4x100 m relay, the women's marathon and the men's 20 km and 50 km race walks.  No dice in the 20 km on the first day of athletics competition.  Toyo University student Daisuke Matsunaga was the best of the Japanese men at 7th in 1:20:22, 45 seconds out of the medals but, on the upside, scoring one of the JAAF's hoped-for top eight placings. No such luck in the world record-breaking women's 10000 m.  With national champion Ayuko Suzuki a scratch it fell to her junior Japan Post teammate Hanami Sekine and Yuka Takashima  (Shiseido) to try to make a dent.  Both ran the second-fastest times of their careers to date...

by Brett Larner videos c/o JAAF click here for Day One results, video and report click here for Day Three results, video and report The prospect of seeing Japan's first sub-10 100 m packed the house on the second day of the Japanese National Championships , an almost sold-out crowd of over 26,000 braving rain to fill Nagoya's mostly uncovered Paloma Mizuho Stadium.  Athletes in the other events responded to the energy, and two university students went beyond themselves to find what it took to make it to Rio. The race of the day was the women's 3000 m steeplechase.  Right from the gun collegiate and junior national record holder Anju Takamizawa (Matsuyama Univ.) was out fast, going through 1000 m in 3:08 with a sizable lead over a chase group of four.  Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku), winner of last month's East Japan Corporate Championships 3000 mSC, dropped the pack to chase Takamizawa down over the next 1000 m, making contact right at 2000 m in 6:24.  T...

http://news.biglobe.ne.jp/entertainment/0827/mnn_150827_4806869453.html http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2015/08/26/220/ http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2015/08/24/379/ translated and edited by Brett Larner At 9:39 p.m. on Aug. 26 during the TBS network's exclusive live broadcast of the Beijing World Championships , the men's 200 m Semifinal 2 featuring Japan's 16-year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown recorded an instantaneous viewership rating of 25.5%, the highest so far during these World Championships.  The high ratings continued during Semifinal 3, Japan's Kei Takase and Kenji Fujimitsu pulling in ratings of 24.5% at 9:47 p.m.  For comparison, Sani Brown's opening heat on Aug. 25 where he placed 2nd generated 23.1% viewership ratings, with world record holder Usain Bolt 's 200 m heat attracting only 19.9% ratings.  Bolt's 100 m title defense over rival Justin Gatlin on Aug. 23 scored 24.2% viewership ratings. Average ratings for the men's 200 m semifina...

Beijing, China, 8/26/15 click here for complete results Men's 200 m Semifinal 2 -0.2 m/s 1. Justin Gatlin (U.S.A.) - 19.87 - Q 2. Alonso Edward (Panama) - 20.02 - Q 3. Femi Ogunode (Qatar) - 20.05 - NR - q ----- 5. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Japan) - 20.47 Men's 200 m Semifinal 3 +0.8 m/s 1. Usain Bolt (Jamaica) - 19.95 - Q 2. Anaso Jobodwana (South Africa) - 20.01 - Q 3. Ramil Guliyev (Turkey) - 20.10 - q ----- 7. Kenji Fujimitsu (Japan) - 20.34 8. Kei Takase (Japan) - 20.64 Women's 200 m Heat 5 +0.1 m/s 1. Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica) - 22.79 - Q 2. Semoy Hackett (Trinidad and Tobago) - 22.89 - Q 3. Margaret Adeoye (Great Britain) - 23.10 - Q ----- 5. Chisato Fukushima (Japan) - 23.30 Men's 5000 m Heat 1 1. Hagos Gebrhiwet (Ethiopia) - 13:45.00 - Q 2. Ben True (U.S.A.) - 13:45.09 - Q 3. Edwin Cheruiyot Soi (Kenya) - 13:45.28 - Q 4. Tom Farrell (Great Britain) - 13:45.29 - Q 5. Imane Merga (Ethiopia) - 13:45.41 - Q ----- 7. Suguru O...

Bejing, China, 8/24/15 click here for complete results Women's 100 m Semifinal 2 +0.9 m/s 1. Tori Bowie (U.S.A.) - 10.87 - Q 2. Kelly-Ann Baptiste (Trinidad and Tobago) - 10.90 - Q 3. Natasha Morrison (Jamaica) - 10.96 - PB - q ----- 7. Chisato Fukushima (Japan) - 11.32 Women's 10000 m 1. Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (Kenya) - 31:41.31 2. Gelete Burka (Ethiopia) - 31:41.77 3. Emily Infeld (U.S.A.) - 31:43.49 4. Molly Huddle (U.S.A.) - 31:43.58 5. Sally Jepkosgei Kipyego (Kenya) - 31:44.42 ----- 13. Kasumi Nishihara (Japan) - 32:12.95 20. Yuka Takashima (Japan) - 32:27.79 22. Rei Ohara (Japan) - 32:47.74 Men's Long Jump Qualification Group A 1. Jianan Wang (China) - 8.12 m +0.4 m/s - q 2. Kafetien Gomis (France) - 8.09 m +0.9 m/s - q 3. Aleksandr Menkov (Russia) - 8.08 m +0.4 m/s - q ----- 5. Yohei Sugai (Japan) - 7.92 m -0.6 m/s Men's Javelin Throw Qualification Group A 1. Ryohei Arai (Japan) - 84.66 m - Q 2. Braian Toledo (Argentina) - 83...

Bejing, China, 8/23/15 click here for complete results Women's 100 m Heat 7 -0.5 m/s 1. Rosangela Santos (Brazil) - 11.14 - Q 2. English Gardner (U.S.A.) - 11.16 - Q 3. Chisato Fukushima (Japan) - 11.23 - Q Men's 400 m Heat 3 1. LaShawn Merritt (U.S.A.) - 44.51 - Q 2. Javon Francis (Jamaica) - 44.83 - Q 3. Kevin Borlee (Belgium) - 45.01- Q ----- 6. Yuzo Kanemaru (Japan) - 45.65 Men's 400 mH Semifinal 3 1. Michael Tinsley (U.S.A.) - 48.47 - Q 2. Nicholas Bett (Kenya) - 48.54 - Q 3. Kariem Hussein (Switzerland) - 48.59 ----- 8. Yuki Matsushita (Japan) - 51.10 Men's 20 km RW 1. Miguel Angel Lopez (Spain) - 1:19:14 - PB 2. Zhen Wang (China) - 1:19:29 3. Benjamin Thorne (Canada) - 1:19:57 - NR ----- 14. Isamu Fujisawa (Japan) - 1:21:51 48. Eiki Takahashi (Japan) - 1:28:30 DNF - Yusuke Suzuki (Japan)

by Brett Larner On Aug. 4 the JAAF released the full Japanese team for the 2015 Beijing World Championships later this month.  Men's 20 km racewalk world record holder Yusuke Suzuki (Team Fujitsu) leads the team along with national record holders Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC, women's 100 m and 200 m), Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ., women's 100 m Jr. NR), Asami Chiba (Toho Ginko, women's 400 m), Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project, men's 5000 m), Yuki Yamazaki (SDF Academy, men's 50 km racewalk), Yuki Ebihara (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC, women's javelin throw) and Keisuke Ushiro (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC, men's decathlon) plus 2015 World Youth Games record-setting double 100 m and 200 m gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.), at 16 the youngest-ever member of a Japanese World Championships team.  Full team roster: Sprints and Relays Men's 100 m, 200 m and 4x100 m Relay Kei Takase (Team Fujitsu) - 10.09 -0.1 m/s / 20.14 +1....

by Brett Larner click here for Day One and Day Three results videos by 陸上競技動画集 and naoki620 Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) joined the list of athletes scoring guaranteed places on the Beijing World Championships with a solo 28:18.53 win in the men's 10000 m on Day Two of the Japanese National Track and Field Championships June 27 at Niigata's Big Swan Stadium.  Past 1500 m and 5000 m national champion Yuichiro Ueno (DeNA) and Kenyan pacer William Malel (Team Honda) took it out fast with a 2:41 opening 1000 m, 26:50 pace, before settling down, with Yuta Shitara (Team Honda), 27:42.71 last month in Nobeoka, leading the main pack several seconds back.  Shitara did much of the work once the pack regained contact, but in the second half Yoroizaka abruptly surged and pulled away to run alone all the way to the finish. Shitara and Malel likewise pulled away from the pack, Shitara finishing alone in 28:31.32.  Former Hakone Ekiden fan favorite Akinobu Muras...

by Brett Larner click here for Day Two and Day Three results  videos by 陸上競技動画集 and naoki620 As expected, the men's 200 m brought a lot of the excitement to the opening day of the 2015 Japanese National Track and Field Championships.  The three favorites Kei Takase (Team Fujitsu), Kenji Fujimitsu (Zenrin) and Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) all won their heats, Fujimitsu bringing the fastest time of the day in 20.37 +0.9, but the biggest news came just behind Iizuka in Heat Three as 16-year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) ran a world youth lead 20.56 +1.4 for 2nd, making the final.  Sani Brown's time put him well ahead of teen sprint sensation Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) on the all-time world youth lists , coming in at #7.  And the final is yet to come. The women's 10000 m was another highlight as defending champion Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) kept her head through a turbulent race and letting the people who still needed to chase a Wor...