japan running news

Jakarta Asian Games men's 3000 m steeplechase bronze medalist, national champion and Rio Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) ended his university track career with one of the better of his many great performances, breaking the National University Track and Field Championships meet record set by Moroccan Aziz Driouch in 1999 by 2 seconds to win in 8:31.98. As at the Asian Games he frontran the entire race, but where he was outkicked in Jakarta over the last lap this time he opened a lead of 13 seconds over runner-up Taisei Ogino (Kanagawa Univ.).

The home to Shiojiri's teammate in Rio and women's meet record holder Anju Takamizawa, Matsuyama University extended its domination of Japanese collegiate women's steeplechase, taking the top three spots in the final. 3rd-year Kako Okado took the national title in 10:02.04 just over 5 seconds off Takamizawa's record, with 1st year duo Manami Nishiyama and Moka Ouchi going 2-3.

Apart from the steeple, the women's…

In front of an almost sellout crowd packing the stadium to see the breakthrough Taiwanese men's sprinters in action, Japan wrapped the final day of athletics competition at the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade with a pair of 4x100 m relay medals that assured it the top spot on the overall medal table.

The women's 4x100 m team, comprised of Ichiko Iki, Miyu Maeyama, Mizuki Nakamura and Sayaka Takeuchi, were well off lead pair Kazakhstan and Switzerland through the race, lagging a relatively short distance behind bronze medal position Poland. Japan crossed the finish line in 4th in 44.56, breaking a collegiate national record that had stood for almost 11 years but short of the medals. That changed on review, though, when winners and defending gold medalists Kazakhstan were disqualified for a lane violation. The DQ bumped Japan up to an unexpected bronze medal.

The atmosphere in the stadium was raucous for the men's 4x100 m featuring Taiwan's very own 100 m gold medalist a…

Toshikazu Yamanishi delivered Japan its first gold medal of the Taipei 2017 Summer  Universiade, covering the men's 20 km race walk in 1:27:30 to win by 50 seconds over Mexico's Julio Salazar Enriquez. Fumitaka Oikawa took bronze in 1:30:11 to follow up on Japan's silver and bronze pair at the London World Championships and further establish Japan's position among the leaders of the sport. Third Japanese man Tomohiro Noda was 7th, bettering Mexico on team scoring.

Japan's other finalists of the day couldn't match the walkers' performances, Jun Yamashita taking 8th in the men's 200 m final and Kenji Ogura 9th in the men's javelin throw final. Both men in the 110 m hurdles made it to the semifinals, however, Taio Kanai winning Heat Three and Shusei Nomoto 2nd in Heat Two.
Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade Day Four Japanese ResultsTaipei, Taiwan, 8/26/17
click here for complete results

Men's 200 m Final(-3.8 m/s)
1. Jeffrey John (France) - 20.93
2. Jame…

Runner-up at June's National Championships, Marina Saito broke through with a women's javelin collegiate national record 62.37 m throw on her last attempt to take silver at the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade. On her second throw Saito marked 61.06 m, the only woman to clear 61 m under Poland's Marcelina Witek threw a PB of 63.31 m on her fifth attempt. Needing a massive throw to retake the top spot, Saito cleared the Japanese university national record by a meter with a PB of 62.37 m and moved up to all-time Japanese #2 but had to settle for silver. The woman whose record she broke, Haruka Kitaguchi, struggled on her first three throws and failed to advance to the top eight, her best throw only 56.30 m.

Another medal came in the men's triple jump. Ranked #1 in the qualifying rounds, Ryoma Yamamoto led off with a jump of 16.80 m (+1.7 m/s) that put him into 2nd behind Azerbaijan's Nazim Babeyev. Unable to improve on that, Yamamoto looked set for silver until Hugues…