japan running news

Rio Olympics men's 50 km Race Walk bronze medalist Hirooki Arai followed up with Japan's first silver medal of the London World Championships, leading teammate Kai Kobayashi to a Japanese double medal haul. Far behind the championships record pace set by eventual gold medalist Yohann Diniz of France, Arai, Kobayashi and teammate Satoshi Maruo all sat together in the chase pack through 15 km. Maruo began to drop back approaching 20 km, but Arai and Kobayashi stayed up front through 35 km before making a break that took them all the way to silver and bronze medal finishes 2 seconds apart just over 8 minutes behind Diniz. Maruo fought his way back through the pack, ultimately finishing 5th just over a minute and a half behind his medalist teammates. On paper the men's 20 km crew had the potential to repeat the 50 km results, but it wasn't to be. One by one Rio Olympics 7th placer Daisuke Matsunaga and world #2 and #3-ranked Eiki Takahashi and Isamu Fujisawa sli...

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...

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 The big race of the second day of Olympic track and field competition was of course the historic men's 10000 m, which saw training partners Mo Farah  (U.K.) and Galen Rupp  (U.S.A.) go 1-2 to give the U.K. its first-ever Olympic 10000 m gold and the U.S. its first men's 10000 m medal since the Tokyo Olympics.  Ethiopia's Tariku Bekele  claimed bronze over his brother Kenenisa Bekele , with Saitama-based  Bitan Karoki , a graduate of Hiroshima's Sera H.S. who now runs for Team S&B, taking 5th to land as the top Kenyan after losing out to the superior closing speed of the top four.  Two-time Japanese 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato  (Team Nissin Shokuhin), the only Japanese man in the race, ran up to expectations, sitting mid-pack through the slow early stages before falling away once the true action began and crossing the finish line in 28:44.06 for 22nd place. 100 m national champion Takayuki Kishimoto  (Keio Univ....

by Brett Larner Top results from part four of this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge series, held July 10 in Kushiro, Hokkaido. 2010 Hokuren Distance Challenge Kushiro Meet Results click here for complete results Men's 10000 m 1. Shunsuke Nomura (Team Osaka Gas) - 29:27.53 2. Jee Young-Joon (S. Korea) - 29:33.97 3. Kim Min (S. Korea) - 29:36.21 Women's 5000 m 1. Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) - 16:20.25 2. Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) - 16:36.82 3. Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) - 16:55.89 Men's 5000 m 1. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:28.69 2. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 13:52.65 3. Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 13:55.82 4. Tomoya Onishi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:57.78 5. Daisuke Shimizu (Team Kanebo) - 14:00.99 6. Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) - 14:03.66 7. Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) - 14:04.13 8. Samuel Kariuki (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 14:04.74 9. Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei) - 14:06.51 10. Noriaki Takahashi (Team S&B) - 14:09...

by Brett Larner Yuzo Kanemaru wins the men's 400 m at the 2009 World University Games. Click photo for larger version. What's in a name? Five-time 400 m national champion Yuzo Kanemaru (Hosei Univ.) scored his first world-level title at the 2009 World University Games on July 9th. Kanemaru, whose name can be translated as 'gold circle,' won his heat in each round before taking the final in 45.68, half a second ahead of Austrian Clemens Zeller and Canadian Daniel Harper. In a post-race interview Kanemaru said, "Winning here was the least of my goals, but I'm still feeling it. I don't need any silver or bronze. To me if it isn't gold it doesn't mean anything. This win opens the door to Worlds." Kanemaru will run the 400 m at next month's World Championships in Berlin and hopes to achieve his goal of a sub-45 clocking this season. Hurdler Kazuaki Yoshida turned in another solid run in the men's 400 m hurdles, finishing 2nd in the semifin...