japan running news

The National Corporate Track and Field Championships happen in Gifu over the next three days, a late-season meetup for non-distance runners in Japan’s corporate leagues and a chance for distance runners to see where they’re at after summer base training just before ekiden season kicks off. The entry lists always promise a lot that the start lists can’t deliver, and especially with the Asian Games starting next week it’s inevitable that a lot of the big names won’t really be there.  Complete meet schedule here . As of this writing only the distance event start lists have been released. The junior women’s 3000 m at 17:00 Friday is pretty much a head-to-head between Janet Nyiva (Panasonic), 8:49.32, and Esther Wangui (Starts), 8:53.21, the main question being whether they can hit Tokyo Marathon winner Rosemary Wanjiru ’s 8:48.44 meet record from 2014. The women’s 10000 m starts at 18:45 Friday and features Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) as its top seed at 30:20.97. All sub-31...

Three big pre-ekiden season meets happened this weekend and produced some big results. Saturday at the Nittai University Time Trials in Yokohama, Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu) and Benard Koech (Kyudenko) pushed each other under Josphat Ndambiri 's longstanding 10000 m Japan all-comers record of 26:57.36, Kimunyan setting the new record at 26:54.76 and Koech next in 26:55.04. Those times made them the only Kenyans under 27 minutes this year worldwide, with the Hachioji Long Distance meet still to come next month. Three others were under 27:30 led by Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) in 27:12.84, with Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) the top Japanese man at 6th in 27:53.00. Justus Soget (Honda) took the 5000 m A-heat in 13:24.01, the top five all under 13:30 and another Fujitsu runner, Olympian Hiroki Matsueda , filling the top Japanese spot at 8th in 13:34.62. Harumi Okamoto (Yamada Holdings) won the women's 5000 m A-heat in 15:49.72, and Kenyan Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Ji...

The Hokuren Distance Challenge 20th Anniversary Meet , a last chance set up by the JAAF for Japanese athletes to hit 2022 World Championships standards ahead of Sunday's deadline, produced two new qualifier. Pacing the men's 5000 m, Justus Soget (Honda) kept going when the rest of the field dropped off and crossed the line in a new PB of 13:12.90, the 18th Kenyan to qualify for Worlds in the 5000 m. Men's 10000 m pacer Benard Koech (Kyudenko) did the same, getting under the standard in 27:20.66 and also becoming the 18th Kenyan to qualify. Half marathon great Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) almost joined Koech but came up just short in 27:29.85 for 2nd. Among Japanese men the performance of the day was former 1500 m NR holder Nanami Arai (Honda), who ran an all-time JPN #3 PB of 3:36.63 for the win, short of the Worlds standard but adding further to the incremental step up this season for Japanese middle distance as a whole. Hironori Tsuetaki (Fujitsu) gave the 8:22.00...

Japan's biggest time trial meet was back for its 296th edition this weekend, with everything except the men's 5000 m on Saturday and 20 heats of that distance on Sunday at Yokohama's Nittai University Time Trials . In Saturday's main event, the men's 10000 m Heat 7, Justus Soget (Honda) just missed hitting the 27:28.00 qualifying mark for July's Oregon World Championships, running a 27:30.31 PB for the win. 2nd through 6th were all under 27:40 and 7th-place Nicholas Kosimbei (YKK) coming through in 27:44.68, making it one of the deepest races on the books at Nittai. Minato Oishi (Toyota) was the fastest Japanese man, 11th in 28:27.52. Helen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) had an easy win in the women's 5000 m Heat 2, the only runner under 15:30 in 15:27.96. 2nd in 15:52.14, Haruka Kokai (Daiichi Seimei) was the only other runner under 16:00. Desta Burka (Denso) won the women's 3000 Heat 4 in 9:01.75 by almost 5 seconds over Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota J...

There was a lot of distance action this weekend, but the biggest performance in Japan came at the Fuse Sprint meet in Tottori. Lucking out with a maxed out legal tailwind of 2.0 m/s, Ryota Yamagata  (Seiko) took 0.02 off the national record in his first sub-10 clocking to win in 9.95. 2nd-place Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) also scored a PB of 10.01, with sub-10 man Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) 3rd in 10.13. Despite a scratch from former NR holder Yoshihide Kiryu  and a weak run from relay regular Aska Cambridge , the Japanese men's 4x100 m looks to be in a stronger position than ever. Fuse also produced a national record in the women's 100 m hurdles thanks in part to an ideal +1.8 m/s tailwind. Masumi Aoki  (77 Ginko) equalled the 12.87 NR held by Asuka Terada  (Japan Create) for the win, with Terada running 12.89 for 2nd. Both women are still short of the Olympic qualifying standard, but the solid runs will push them up further from their current positions of 32...

Four out of five corporate regional championship meets went off as schedule this weekend, with the 5 1st Hokuriku Region meet in Ishikawa the only one to cancel amid the latest COVID-19 wave hitting Japan.  The 63rd East Japan Region meet in Saitama was the biggest and fastest of those that did happen. The biggest news was in the T11-T13 men's 5000 m, where T11-class  Kenya Karasawa  (GSWC) won in 15:09.94, going a second and a half under the previous world record for his class.  Sitonki Kiprono  (Komori Corp.) turned in the only sub-28 men's 10000 m of the weekend, winning Saturday's A-heat in 27:47.69. Justus Soget  (Honda) was likewise the only one to go sub-3:40 for 1500 m, winning Saturday's A-heat in 3:39:12. Soget doubled to win Sunday's men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:29.43 going close to 55 seconds for the final lap and ending up the only man under 13:30 for the weekend. Pauline Kamulu  (Route Inn Hotels) won the East Japan women's 10000 m in 32:...

In what looked to have been his official 10000 m debut, Justus Soget (Honda) survived constant turnover to take the top spot in the fastest heat at this year's Hachioji Long Distance meet, winning it in 27:35.57. With everyone focused on getting ready for January's New Year Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden, 15 other men followed him under 28 minutes in the same heat. Among them, Shinobu Kubota (Toyota) following up his comeback run at last week's Chubu Region Corporate Ekiden with a 27:55.07 for 14th, his first time under 28 in six years..  Justus Soget being interviewed by JRN's Mika Tokairin post-race. Two other men went sub-28 in the previous heat, Silas Kingori (Hiramatsu Byoin) leading the way in 27:49.38. Kubota was the only Japanese man to go under 28, but nine others were under 28:15 including collegians Shunya Kikuchi (Josai Univ.), 5th behind Kingori in 28:08.25, and Shoya Kawase (Kogakkan Univ.), 21st in the fast heat in 28:10.41. Along with the 18 men to brea...