japan running news

On July 21 the Uniqlo women's team announced that 2-time Olympic 10000 m runner Yuka Takashima had joined its lineup as of July 16. Born in Yamaguchi in 1998, Takashima anchored Okayama's Kojokan H.S. to its first-ever National High School Ekiden win in 2005. After graduating she joined the Denso corporate team, playing a key role in its 3-straight National Corporate Women's Ekiden titles. In 2015 she ran the 10000 m at the 2015 Beijing World Championships. In the spring of 2016 Takashima transferred to the Shiseido corporate team, where she made the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics team in the 10000 m. She played an important role for the team in its ekidens, and in 2022 anchored Shiseido to its first national title in 16 years. In 2023 she was 2nd in the 10000 m National Championships, securing her place on her 2nd Olympic team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Takashima's PBs are 15:26.33 for 5000 m, 30:57.26 for 10000 m, and 2:26:13 for the marathon. In March this year T...

5th last year, Edion led almost start to finish to win its first-ever national title at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championship race Sunday in Sendai. Its lead-off runner Kana Mizumoto opened up a 16-second lead that it held until the 4th leg, when the talented Caroline Kariba from 2024 winner Japan Post ran down Edion's Saya Nakajima . It's hard to fault Nakajima, who was still the fastest Japanese woman on that leg, and in any case Edion's 5th runner Ai Hosoda , 6th at August's Sydney Marathon, caught Japan Post's Kotoka Ota late in the 10.0 km leg to put Edion out front again by 7 seconds. Both Edion anchor Miho Hiraoka and Japan Post's Mao Kogure ran identical times for the 6.795 km 6th leg, 21:24, Hiraoka bringing Edion in to its first-ever win in 2:13:50. It had to have been frustrating for Kogure, who just couldn't close the gap and had to accept 2nd in 2:13:57. 2023 winner Sekisui Kagaku was almost a minute back in 3rd...

Championship ekiden season kicks off Sunday with the Queens Ekiden , the corporate women's national championship race in Sendai, 42.195 km in 6 legs with 24 teams competing to make the 8-deep podium. TBS has the live broadcast starting at 11:50 a.m. local time, with streaming starting on Youtube at 12:10 p.m. Japan Post won its 4th national title last year, running down 2023 winner Sekisui Kagaku and CR holder Shiseido over the 2nd half of the race to take the win. Its entire lineup from last year returns, with a new addition to its 10-runner entry roster in former Meijo University captain Nanase Tanimoto . Sekisui Kagaku is missing one of its strongest people from last year, First Stage winner Erika Tanoura , but has picked up 2023 World University Games 5000 m bronze medalist Risa Yamazaki from Nittai University . A surprise 3rd last year, Shimamura also returns its entire lineup led by Anna Suzuki and Yuna Takahashi . Shiseido ended up 8th last year, the last place earnin...

  Japan Post  was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku  over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura  and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido  briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka  returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba  ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's  Ayuko Suzuki  and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...

Sunday is the first big race of championship ekiden season, the Queens Ekiden in Sendai, the season-ending national championship for corporate women. 24 teams race 42.195 km in 6 legs, with the top 8 scoring places for 2025. TBS' live nationwide broadcast starts at 11:50, with multi-camera streaming on Youtube above. Last year Sekisui Kagaku won by almost a minute and a half, and with Paris Olympian Yuma Yamamoto , 2023 World Championships marathoner Sayaka Sato on its entry list and collegiate 1500 m record holder Mizuki Michishita having come on board this season it looks like a contender for another win. But last year's runner-up Japan Post got a big boost this season with the addition of its first non-Japanese member, two-time double 1500 m and 3000 m high school champion Caroline Kariba . The Queens Ekiden limits non-Japanese athletes to a 3.8 km leg, so it'd be tough for Kariba to bridge a 1:25 gap by herself with that little ground to work with. But what she can...

In some ways there weren't really any surprises at this year's Queens Ekiden , the corporate women's national championships. Favorite Sekisui Kagaku , the 2021 national champ, moved into the lead by the 3rd of the 42.195 km race's six legs and stayed there the rest of the way, taking the 2023 national title in 2:13:33. The other three teams that have won every national title the last seven years, 2016, 2019 and 2020 winner Japan Post , 2017 and 2018 champ Panasonic , and 2022 winner Shiseido , took the next three spots with only a 9-second spread between them. Most of the people who ran last month's Paris Olympic marathon trials looked tired. Princess Ekiden qualifier winner Iwatani Sangyo made the podium for the first time. Last year's 6th-placer Toyota Jidoshokki plummeted from grace to finish last. All pretty predictable. But there were some great highlights. Women-only half marathon NR holder and 5th leg CR holder Rino Goshima (Shiseido) was stellar on th...

Sunday's Queens Ekiden is the season-ending national championship race for corporate women's teams, 6 legs totaling 42.195 km through the Sendai countryside. It's a pretty interesting race up front this year. Last year Shiseido shook off revelations of a toxic team culture to win for the first time since 2006, with 2021 winner Sekisui Kagaku 2nd and 2020 champ Japan Post 3rd. Shiseido has had an exodus since then, including head coach Yoshitaka Iwamizu and star runner Tomoka Kimura , who jumped ship to go to Sekisui Kagaku. It still has at least half a quality team, including Olympic marathon trials runner-up Mao Ichiyama , Kenyan Judy Jepngetich , women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima and veteran Yuka Takashima , but the win will be tough. Sekisui Kagaku has the lineup to win, although that's due more to its budget that head coach Hidenori Noguchi 's abilities. Most of its A-team was either poached from other teams, Kimura from Shiseido and Rina Ku...

The favorites took the top spots in most of the races at Sunday's National Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka. The front end of the U20 women's 6 km was like a replay of the 6.0 km First Stage at December's National High School Ekiden, and it couldn't have been closer. Both Kanoko Nawa , leadoff runner for ekiden winner Nagano Higashi H.S. , and Akari Matsumoto , the first runner from 7th-place Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. , clocked 20:20 with Nawa getting the win in the photo finish. Narumi Okumoto , first runner from ekiden 8th-placer Kojokan H.S. , was 3rd in 20:23, and Aya Kotajima , first runner from 5th-place Hakuho Joshi H.S. , was 4th in 20:28. Soma Nagahara , the first runner from Saku Chosei H.S. ' runner-up team at the National High School Ekiden, won the U20 men's 8 km in another photo finish, both he and Sota Yamasaki , first runner from 12th-place Yamaguchi Kenritsu Saikyo H.S. , clocking 24:01. Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.) was a close 3rd ...

2nd last year, the Shiseido team won today's Queens Ekiden , its first victory at the National Corporate Women's Ekiden  since 2006. First the entire way except for a brief drop to 3rd after a mediocre run from new recruit and women-only marathon NR holder Mao Ichiyama on the race's longest stage, Shiseido was more than 2 minutes ahead of last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku in a course record 2:12:28 for the complete 6-stage, 42.195 km course. Sekisui Kagaku was never better than 2nd, where it finished in 2:14:29. 2021 champ Japan Post was the only team to get into the lead ahead of Shiseido thanks to a brilliant run from Olympian Ririka Hironaka on the 10.9 km Third Stage, ultimately finishing 3rd in 2:15:15. 5th last year, Daihatsu was the only other team from last year's 8-deep podium to make it there again, 5th once more in 2:15:49. Edion , Toyota Jidoshokki , and Daiichi Seimei all moved up from double-digit placings last year onto the podium, with Panaso...

The 41st edition of the 6-stage, 42.195 km National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships took place Nov. 28 in Sendai, Miyagi. 28 teams took part, with Sekisui Kagaku  running a course record 2:13:03 to win its first national title. Shiseido was 52 seconds behind in 2nd and Denso  3rd, with 2-time defending champ Japan Post  coming up short of a three-peat at 4th. On the race's longest and most competitive stage, the 10.9 km Third Stage, Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  took over the lead, and solid runs from the rest of its runners helped protect the team's lead all the way to the end.  Queens Ekiden 41st National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships Sendai, Miyagi, 28 Nov., 2021 28 teams, 6 stages, 42.195 km complete results Top Individual Stage Performances First Stage  (7.6 km) - Harumi Okamoto (Yamada Holdings) - 23:52 Second Stage  (3.3 km) - Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) - 10:07 - CR Third Stage  (10.9 km) - Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 3...

On Mar. 5 the organizers of the Mar. 14 Nagoya Women's Marathon announced that invited athlete Ayuko Suzuki  (Japan Post), a member of Japan's marathon team for this summer's Tokyo Olympics,  has withdrawn due to inflammation of a tendon in her left leg. Nagoya was to be Suzuki's first marathon since finishing 2nd at the September, 2019 Marathon Grand Championship Olympic trials race. Suzuki suffered injury last year as well but was able to run the 5th Stage at November's National Corporate Women's Ekiden, helping lead Japan Post to a second national title. Translator's note: The other two members of the Tokyo Olympics women's marathon squad, trials winner  Honami Maeda  (Tenmaya) and women-only marathon NR holder Mao Ichiyama  (Wacoal) both ran Osaka in January. On the men's side trials winner  Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) withdrew from last weekend's Lake Biwa Marathon with injury and 2nd placer Yuma Hattori (Toyota) withdrew from December's...

  A 2016 Rio Olympian in the women's 3000 m steeplechase while still in university, Anju Takamizawa , 24, has announced her retirement through a statement issued by her corporate team Shiseido  on Dec. 24. While at Matsuyama University  Takamizawa won the steeplechase at the 2015 and 2016 National Championships. In Rio she was eliminated in the qualifying round. Since then Takamizawa has struggled with injury. On the Shiseido team site Takamizawa commented, "Thank you to everyone who kept supporting me even though I couldn't produce the results I wanted to. I hope that my experiences as an athlete will help inform my future life."  A day later on the 25th, the Japan Post  corporate team announced that Takamizawa's Rio Olympics teammate Hanami Sekine , 24, was also retiring. A native of Tokyo, Sekine ran for Toyokawa H.S.  before joining the brand-new Japan Post team in 2014 as one of its star athletes. She ran the 10000 m in Rio, and in 2018 she made ...

The 2020 Queens Ekiden , the season-ending national championships race for Japan's corporate women, was about as good an example as you could ask for of why it takes an entire team to win a top-level ekiden, not just a couple of star runners. Princess Ekiden qualifying race winner Sekisui Kagaku hoped that the addition of middle distance national champion Ran Urabe and half marathon national record holder Hitomi Niiya to its roster would be enough to knock out defending champ Japan Post and take its first-ever national title. Over the first half of the six-stage, 42.195 km race things went according to plan, leading runner Sayaka Sato putting Sekisui Kagaku in 3rd, Urabe moving them up to 2nd, and Niiya delivering a 33:20 course record for the 10.9 km Third Stage, splitting 30:31 for 10 km en route, taking 1:10 off the CR and putting Sekisui 55 seconds out front. Japan Post stayed steady after losing the leading position that its first runner Ririka Hironaka had given it, st...

2016 national champion Japan Post led start to finish to win the 2019 Queen's Ekiden , the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships in one of the closest finishes in the event's history. Running on her 19th birthday, Japan Post's star rookie Ririka Hironaka took control early, pushing the pace and kicking from 2 km out on the 7 km First Stage to open 20 seconds on two-time defending champ Panasonic and break the course record by 18 seconds. Miyaka Sugata more than doubled the lead on the 3.9 km Second Stage, with third runner Ayuko Suzuki , one of the two women to have qualified so far for the 2020 Olympic marathon team, losing only 6 seconds to Panasonic's Yuka Hori . Hori brought Panasonic back into 2nd after a rocky Second Stage, but further back last year's 2nd and 3rd place teams Tenmaya and Daihatsu got off to slow starts, Daihatsu 8th on the opening stage and only up to 7th by the end of the Third Stage, and Tenmaya going from 11th to 18t...

It's yet another big weekend of racing in Japan. Saturday sees two of the year's biggest 10000 m meets, both in the greater Tokyo area. At Kanagawa's Keio University the Kanto Region University 10000 m Time Trials will have two tiers of scholarship money from the KGRR for any men who break 29 minutes or 29:20 and for women who go under 34 minutes or 34:20. Most of the top Hakone Ekiden programs will have big numbers of people there, with one of the most notable entries being the return of Meiji University's Hiroki Abe , 27:56.45 this time last year but out with injury so far this season. Most of the top collegians though will be out in Tokyo's western suburbs at Hosei University for the Hachioji Long Distance Meet . 2019 World University Games half marathon medalists Akira Aizawa (Toyo Univ.) and Tatsuhiko Ito (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) are entered, along with #1-ranked 1st-yr Ren Tazawa (Komazawa Univ.) who is also entered at Keio. All three won their stages e...

Scheduled to compete in the MGC Race, Japan's Tokyo Olympics marathon trials event, on Sept. 15, Hanami Sekine (23, Japan Post), is likely to withdraw from the race. According to a source involved in the situation, Sekine is believed to be suffering from a stress fracture in one of her legs. Sekine graduated from Toyokawa H.S. in Aichi prefecture and went straight to the new Japan Post corporate team. She ran the 10000 m at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. In March last year she ran 2:23:07 to qualify for the MGC Race as the top Japanese woman at the Nagoya Women's Marathon, the fourth-fastest debut in Japanese women's history. She had been training domestically for the all-important Olympic trials event. source article: https://www.chunichi.co.jp/chuspo/article/sports/news/CK2019091202100080.html translated by Brett Larner

Hanami Sekine age: 23 sponsor: Japan Post graduated from: Toyokawa H.S. best time inside MGC window: 2:23:07, 3rd, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon PB: 2:23:07, 2nd, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 15:24.74 (2016) 10000 m: 31:22.92 (2016) half marathon: 1:11:32 (2018) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019): 2:23:07, 3rd, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon other major results: 8th, 2018 National Corporate Women’s Ekiden 6th Stage (6.795 km), 22:01 4th, 2018 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:12:42, 20th, 2016 Rio Olympics 10000 m, 31:44.44 2nd, 2016 National Championships 10000 m, 31:22.92 3rd, 2016 National Championships 5000 m, 15:24.74 One of three women in the field who graduated from Toyokawa H.S. and along with Ayuko Suzuki one of two Japan Post runners in the twelve-strong MGC women's race, Sekine has been one of Japan’s highest-potential young talents in the last few years. She represented Japan in the 10000 m ...

Ayuko Suzuki Age: 27 sponsor: Japan Post graduated from : Jishukan H.S., Nagoya University best time inside MGC window: 2:28:32, 1st, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon PB: 2:28:32, 1st, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 15:08.29 (2015) 10000 m: 31:18.16 (2016) half marathon: 1:07:55 (2019) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019): 1st, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:28:32 other major results: 2nd, 2019 National Championships 10000 m, 31:46.25 2nd, 2019 Kagawa Marugame Int’l Half Marathon, 1:07:55 2nd, 2019 National Women’s Ekiden 9th Stage (10.0 km), 31:08 2nd, 2018 National Corporate Women’s Ekiden 3rd Stage (10.9 km), 34:46 2nd, 2018 National Championships 10000 m, 31:57.82 10th, 2017 London World Championships 10000 m, 31:27.30 2nd, 2017 National Championships 10000 m, 31:41.65 2nd, 2017 National Championships 5000 m, 15:20.50 12th, 2016 Rio Olympics 5000 m H2, 15:41.81 2nd, 2016 National Championships 5000 m, 15:24.47 1st, 2016 National ...

The team rosters for the 22 teams entered in the Nov. 25 National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships were announced on Nov. 7. The field includes last year's top 8 plus the teams who placed in the top 14 at the Oct. 21 qualifying race . Among the each team's 10 entrants are some of the country's best distance runners. Last year's national champion Panasonic features 2018 Jakarta Asian Games national team member Yuka Hori . Going for its second national title ever, 2016 winner Japan Post will field 2018 Hokkaido Marathon winner Ayuko Suzuki and 2018 Nagoya Women's Marathon 3rd-placer Hanami Sekine . In quest of its first national-level win, 2017 runner-up Daihatsu counts 2018 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Mizuki Matsuda among its lineup. 38th National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships Field Sendai, Miyagi, 11/25/18 Panasonic Daihatsu Japan Post Daiichi Seimei Tenmaya Yamada Denki Shiseido Toyota Jidoshokki Wa...

A Rio Olympian in the women's 5000 m, Ayuko Suzuki (26, Japan Post) is planning to run the August 26 Hokkaido Marathon . Japan Post head coach Masahiko Takahashi made the announcement on June 25. It will the first marathon for the proven track talent Suzuki, whose training partner Hanami Sekine  debuted in 2:23:07 in Nagoya this March. Suzuki, who finished 2nd in Friday's 10000 m at the National Track and Field Championships, is aiming to make the marathon team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. At the Hokkaido Marathon her goal is to qualify for the MGC Race Olympic marathon trials event to be held in Tokyo in September, 2019. To qualify, she must win in a sub-2:32:00 time or finish inside the top six Japanese women and under 2:30:00. source article: https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2018062501112&g=spo translated and edited by Brett Larner