japan running news

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20120204k0000m050008000c.html
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/02/04/kiji/K20120204002563870.html
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20120203-OHT1T00147.htm
http://www.47news.jp/sports/localsports/2012/02/post_20120204110414.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Feb. 3 Rikuren announced the invited athlete list for the Feb. 12 Chiba International Cross-Country Meet.  Headlining the senior 8 km and 12 km lists are women's 5000 m national champion Megumi Kinukawa (Mizuno) and men's 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), along with others kicking off a season they hope will lead to the Olympics on the track.  Top university talent in the senior men's 12 km include Hakone Ekiden stars Suguru Osako (Waseda University) and Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.).  The women's 8 km also features Ukrainian Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko, the runner-up at last weekend's Osaka International Women's …

by Brett Larner

Update: Start lists for the first day of competition are available here.  National champion Yuki Sato is not running the 10000 m but is still entered for the 5000 m.

The 2011 Asian Athletics Championships run July 7-10 in Kobe, Hyogo, the last major competition for many of the athletes before next month's World Championships in Daegu, Korea. Much of the domestic Japanese attention will be on one of the very first events of the Asian Championships, the men's 10000 m. Two of the top three from this year's Japanese National Championships men's 10000 m, Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) and Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) are on the entry list and hunting for a World Championships qualifying mark, Ugachi to improve his 27:41.97 B-standard mark to the A level and Murasawa to at least get under 28 for the first time. The absence of a Kenyan distance squad from Qatar means that the mostly-Ethiopian team running for Bahrain will be the Japanese men's ma…

by Brett Larner
On the first two days of this weekend's Japanese National Track & Field Championships in Kumagaya, Saitama, five athletes secured guaranteed places on the Japanese national team for this summer's Daegu World Championships. Eight more had the right combination of placing and time to stand a chance of being selected for the team. Below is a summary of results from all event finals held on Day One and Day Two.
In noteworthy performances apart from the men's and women's 10000 m:
-The men's 200 m lived up to expectations as one of the best events of the meet. Beijing Olympics bronze medalist Shinji Takahira (Team Fujitsu) came back from a long injury setback to win the final in 20.49. 2nd and 3rd place Hitoshi Saito (Team Sunmesse) and Yuichi Kobayashi (Hosei Univ.) were both timed at 20.62 and are very likely to join Takahira in Daegu. 2010 world junior champion Shota Iizuka (Chuo Univ.) was 4th in 20.64, just missing a place on the team but with …

by Brett Larner

National record holders Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) and Masato Yokota (Team Fujitsu) led the performances by the Japanese contingent at the July 15 Lappeenranta Games in Finland with wins in the women's 3000 m steeplechase and men's 800 m. The veteran Hayakari led start to finish after setting the race off at national record pace. For Yokota it was his second European win in less than a week, both wins clocking just off his national record.

2010 Lappeenranta Games - Top Results
click here for complete results
Men's 3000 m
1. Geoffrey Kipsang (Kenya) - 7:59.57
2. Matti Rasanen (Finland) - 8:02.18
3. Jukka Keskisalo (Finland) - 8:02.23
-----
6. Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 8:14.92

Women's 3000 mSC
1. Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) - 9:52.10
2. Livia Toth (Hungary) - 9:54.16
3. Valeria Mara (Ukraine) - 9:54.98

Men's 1500 m
1. Kiprono Menjo (Kenya) - 3:38.40
2. Niclas Sandells (Germany) - 3:41.62
3. Mikael Bergdahl (Germany) - 3:42.53
-----
4. Fumikazu K…

by Brett Larner
Three-time 1500 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) had an excellent day at the July 11 Brasschaat meet in Belgium, breaking her four year-old 5000 m PB by 11 seconds to win the women's 5000 m in 15:28.44. Steepler Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) also had a good day as he won the men's 3000 m in 8:02.09. All told, five Japanese athletes won their events at the meet. A summary of results:
2010 Brasschaat Meet - Top Results click here for complete results Women's 5000 m 1. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 15:28.44 - PB 2. Freya Murray (GBR) - 15:31.17 3. Allison Grace (USA) - 15:50.00
Men's 3000 m 1. Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) - 8:02.09 2. Jordan Horn (USA) - 8:03.73 3. Steffen Iliczka (Germany) - 8:09.88
Men's 1500 m 1. Jeff See (USA) - 3:40.94 2. Wouter De Boer (Netherlands) - 3:41.12 3. Andrew Jesien (USA) - 3:41.23 ----- 8. Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team Fujitsu) - 3:41.89
Men's 1500 m B-heat 1. Hiroshi Ino (Team NTN) - 3:45.70 2. Tom Van Rooy (Belgium…

by Brett Larner



Unstoppably talented in university, Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) has had an off-and-on career since joining the corporate world last year. Last year he ran 3 seconds off the Japanese national record for 10000 m to become the all-time #3 Japanese man at that distance, but then went on to miss out on qualifying for the Berlin World Championships. On July 3rd this year he pulled off one of his best accomplishments so far, running 7:44.63 for 3000 m at the Memorial Leon Buyle meet in Belgium. Sato finished 3rd behind Kenyans John Kemboi Cheruiyot and Yusef Biwott, the top two 3000 m runners thus far in 2010. His time, a PB by 9 seconds, was less than 3 seconds off Toshinari Takaoka's 11 year-old national record of 7:41.87 and shows that he is in excellent form as he kicks off a summer stint on the European circuit. A similar improvement over 5000 m would put Sato 1 second off the relatively weak Japanese national record of 13:13.20, a mark which may well fall when S…

by Brett Larner

Toyo University's Ryuji Kashiwabara, who caught the national eye with an epic new stage record on the 5th leg of January's Hakone Ekiden, begins his second year of university competition this Sunday at the 5th Kanto Private School Five University Track and Field Meet at Daito Bunka University. Kashiwabara will be one of four students in the final event of the day, the 3000 m Premium Race, where he will face professional runners from four teams along with three of his university rivals. The strongest contenders for the win on paper are Josai University's Yuta Takahashi and Team Chugoku Denryoku's Yasuhiro Tago, but Takahashi was a DNS at the recent World Cross Country Championships and his fitness may be in question. The Premium Race will also feature as pacemakers two of the best African runners in Japan, Team Komori Corp.'s Josephat Ndambiri and Team Nissin Shokuhin's Gideon Ngatuny. JRN will be on hand to cover the meet.

The Premium Race 3000 m …