japan running news

Domestically the main event on the track this weekend was the 3rd stop on the 2026 Hokuren Distance Challenge tour in Kitami . The race of the day there was the women's 3000 m, where Janet Jepkoech ran a PB 8:38.44 to lead the top 6 under 9 minutes, 5 of them in PBs including Mizuki Michishita in 8:56.75 and Jepkoech's Nitori teammate Rion Furukawa in 8:56.80. The men's 3000 m had similar results, Juda Hyodo running a PB 7:52.61 to lead the top 4 under 8 minutes, with 6 of the top 7 running PBs. Caroline Kariba was the only woman to break 15 minutes in the 5000 m with a 14:52.84 for the win, with Shunya Kikuchi the only man under 13:30 at 13:29.53. Things were busy overseas: The Asian U23 Athletics Championships happened in Ordos, China. Daily highlights here: Day 1 ・ Day 2 ・ Day 3 ・ Day 4 Men's 800 m NR holder Ko Ochiai ran 2:15.24 for 7th in the 1000 m at the Monaco Diamond League meet, 2 seconds better than Allon Clay 's national best from earlier this ...

Sarah Wanjiru of Daito Bunka University  opened the first day of the 2025 National University Track and Field Championships by lapping the field to break the women's 10000 m MR , and day 2 of the meet saw that repeated in the women's 10000 m race walk. Collegiate record holder and Ritsumeikan University 4th-year Ayane Yanai lapped the entire field to win the 10000 mRW by almost 2 minutes, chopping almost 35 seconds off the 2007-era meet record with a 44:18.02 for the win. 2nd-placer Satsuki Ishida of Mukogawa Joshi University had a close one over 3rd-placer Toko Nakajima of Waseda University , finishing just 5 seconds up in 46:14.57 to 46:19.75. The most unexpected result came in the men's 1500 m. Better known as a half marathoner and long distance track runner, Waseda's Tomonori Yamaguchi won his 1500 m heat in 3:44.21 on Thursday to make Friday's final. There he took over after a slow 61-second first lap, cruising the next 2 laps in 57 each before kicking...

They say in Hakone Ekiden circles that the team that wins the summer wins Hakone. Aiming to break a three-year streak of finishing off the podium at the main event, 2019 Hakone winner Tokai University is aiming to take the top position at the Oct. 19 Yosenkai Hakone qualifier half marathon. Led by 4th-year captain Yuto Kajitani , the Tokai team is putting in more mileage this summer than usual. The Shonan-based Tokai's 2019 Hakone title was its first-ever win at Japan's biggest race. Since then it has finished as high as 2nd and 5th, but in the last three years it was 11th, 15th and 11th and missed out on top 10 and a guaranteed place at the following year's Hakone. To try to get back to its winning ways the team is training this summer in Nagano at Lake Shirakaba and at altitude in Sugadaira. "This season our goal is to make top 5 at both the National University Ekiden and the Hakone Ekiden," said Kajitani. Everyone on the team is working actively to make that g...

On June the KGRR released the entry lists for the Kanto Region qualifying race for the Nov. 3 National University Men's Ekiden. Taking place June 23 at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium, the Kanto Region qualifier consists of four heats of 10000 m, with participating school fielding two runners per heat and scored on the total time of its eight entrants. The seven fastest teams will go on to November's Nationals. Going for its 11th-straight Nationals appearance, Tokai University is led by 3rd-duo Hisaya Hanaoka , who was a standout at last month's Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, and Judah Hyodo . Tokai's combined time of 3:48:37.21 for its eight entrants makes it the fastest in the field, an average of 28:34.65 per runner. 4th-year Yuto Kajitani and 3rd-year Makoto Takewari also feature in Tokai's lineup. Missing the podium at Nationals last year, Toyo University is back at the Kanto qualifier for the first time in two years. In the ...

The 103rd edition of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships wrapped Sunday at Tokyo's National Stadium. Kenyans won four of the five long distance events of the day, with 2nd-year Brian Kipyegon (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) defending his won D1 half marathon title and breaking the MR he set last year with a new 1:01:38 MR. That was over a minute and a half better than 2nd-placer Ren Umezaki (Toyo Univ.) and especially impressive given hot early morning temps of 25˚C. 3rd-year Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) put 6 seconds on Hakone Ekiden Third Stage winner Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) over the last km to win the D2 title in 1:02:58. In the D1 women's 5000 m, 2nd-year Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) scored a double title after breaking the 10000 m MR, winning in 15:44.85 by 5 seconds over Risa Yamazaki (Nittai Univ.). 3rd-year Victor Kimutai (Josai Univ.) took the D1 men's 5000 m title in 13:37.62, just over a second up on 2nd-year Shadrack Kipkemoi (Ni...

Three athletes picked up guaranteed spots on the Olympic team in off and on rain on the second day of the National Track and Field Championships and National U20 Track and Field Championships Friday in Osaka. Women's javelin throw national record holder Haruka Kitaguchi  scored her place with a 61.49 m final throw for the win, having already broken the Olympic qualifying standard and meeting the JAAF's criterium of a top 3 placing. That was a tougher job to pull off in the men's 100 m final, where five of the eight men on the starting line had the Olympic standard. The fast-starting Shuhei Tada  did his usual thing, out front early with national record holder Ryota Yamagata  to his left and the rest of the field just behind. But after years of getting run down in the last 30 m, this time Tada pulled it off. holding his position to win his first national title in 10.15 (+0.2). Yamagata faded and was overtaken by Tokai University 's Bruno Dede , who was 2nd in a PB of 10....