japan running news

With a roster somewhat depleted of top-level talent Japan took no gold but managed to pick up five silver and nine bronze medals at the July 6-9  Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, India. Japanese women scored the majority of the medals, taking three silver and eight bronze medals to the men's count of two silver, one bronze. Women's 10000 m national champion Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) and men's 110 m hurdles national champ Shunya Takayama (Zenrin) were the only athletes already named to Japan's London World Championships team to participate. Matsuda took the bronze medal in the 10000 m behind Daria Maslova (Kyrghizstan) and national championships 5th-placer Yuka Hori (Japan), while Takayama missed out on bronze by 0.04 seconds as he took 4th in 13.65 (-0.6 m/s). With none of the Japanese medalists clearing London standards at the Asian Athletics Championships there were no additions beyond Matsuda and Takayama to the London team from among those wh...

by Brett Larner videos by aoshin0507 and ekiden news The 2014 Japanese National University Track and Field Championships wrapped up Sunday with a pair of new meet records and some great races.  The day started with early morning men's and women's 5000 m postponed from Saturday after a thunderstorm hit the area.  1500 m champion Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) faced off against 10000 m champ Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Nihon Univ.) in the men's race, battling each other all the way to the end with Omwamba getting the double by less than a second in 13:40.21. The women's 5000 m was equally close, Natsuki Omori (Ritsumeikan Univ.) winning in 15:46.94 with both Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) and Saori Noda (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) within a second of her. Daito Bunka University had better luck in the women's 3000 mSC, where it took three of the top four places and its top runner Chikako Mori beat national university record holder Mayuko Nakamura ...

by Brett Larner videos by aoshin0507 Following up on Koji Murofushi 's epoch-marking 20th-straight men's hammer national title yesterday, Yuzo Kanemaru  (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) led a phalanx of other long-lasting champions in adding to their legacies on the final rainy day of competition at the 2014 Japanese National Track and Field Championships  in Fukushima. Kanemaru had a 10th-straight men's 400 m national title on the line, and with no genuine competition he cruised in for the win in 45.69, only the second Japanese track athlete in history to get the ten-peat.  Women's 400 mH national record holder Satomi Kubokura  (Niigata Albirex RC) ran 56.39 for an eighth-straight national title, while 100 m national record holder Chisato Fukushima  (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) picked up the sixth national title of career in 11.69 (-0.3), a fifth-straight win and fourth-straight 100 m/200 m double title.  Following Fukushima and 10000 m champion Yuki Sato  (Team...

Fukushima, 6/6-8/14 click here for complete entry lists in Japanese marks given are best within qualification period / PB Men's 100 m Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) 10.01 / 10.01 Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) - 10.11 / 10.07 Takumi Kuki (Waseda Univ.) - 10.19 / 10.19 Asuka Cambridge (Nihon Univ.) - 10.21 / 10.21 Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 10.22 / 10.22 Masashi Eriguchi (Team Osaka Gas) - 10.24 / 10.07 Naoki Tsukahara (Team Fujitsu) - 10.31 / 10.09 Men's 200 m Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.21 / 20.21 Kei Takase (Team Fujitsu) - 20.34 / 20.34 Akiyuki Hashimoto (Waseda Univ.) - 20.35 / 20.35 Shota Hara (Jobu Univ.) - 20.41 / 20.41 Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) - 20.41 / 20.41 Kenji Fujimitsu (Team Zeirin) - 20.48 / 20.38 Shinji Takahira (Team Fujitsu) - 20.50 / 20.22 Men's 400 m Yuzo Kanemaru (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 45.46 / 45.16 Hiroyuki Nakano (Aichi T&F Assoc.) - 45.62 / 45.62 Nobuya Kato (Waseda Univ.) - 45.69 / 45.69 Kazuya Watanabe (Mizuno) - 45.71 / 45...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620  and 陸上競技動画集 With the rest of the world busy discovering the joy of the relay that makes the Hakone Ekiden , the Kanto Region university men's road relay championships, the most-watched annual running race in the world, Japan spent the weekend focused on Hakone's stars at the 93rd edition of it's most exciting track meet, the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships .  Imagine an NCAA national championship held in a major stadium packed with ear-splitting cheering squads from each university and thousands of enthusiastic fans, average folk who actually care about "the sport," and you begin to approach the vibe at the Kanto Regionals.  Plus a half marathon. Yes, the half marathon, the most entertaining event of the meet, D2 running with a 3-minute head start over D1 over nine loops of a course like this: Child's play, or only in Japan? Either way, despite humid conditions both the D2 and D1 turned i...