japan running news

After a wild New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships yesterday that saw new CR on 6 of the race's 7 stages and a 7-second miss on the one that wasn't broken, Day One of the 102nd Hakone Ekiden more than lived up to what the pros had done 24 hours earlier. Only one runner, Chuo University 's Yamato Yoshii in 2022, had ever broken 61 minutes for the 21.3 km First Stage , but when Chuo's Daichi Shibata took it out on CR pace the entire field went with him. It took a while for Ageo City Half winner Rui Aoki of Izumo Ekiden champ Koku Gakuin University to move up to the front, but when he did it was decisive. Aoki crushed the CR in 1:00:28, 59:54 half marathon pace, and behind him the next both Shibata and the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team's So Kawasaki from Tsukuba University also went under Yoshii's old 1:00:40 record. 4th through 8th broke 61, setting the tone for the rest of the day. Chuo, KGU, last year's top 2 Aoyama...

This season's Izumo Ekiden winner Koku Gakuin University and National University Ekiden champ Komazawa University brought solid squads to Sunday's Ageo City Half Marathon , pushing the always super-deep race into uncharted territory with almost 50 people under 63 minutes, over 100 under 64, and up front, a new race record courtesy of the favorite for the win. Making his half marathon debut, Komazawa 2nd-year Shunsuke Kuwata did all the work almost the entire way, leading the front pack almost from the gun steadily on low-61 pace, 14:35 through 5 km, 28:55 at 10 km, and 43:27 at 15 km. Just past 15 km the fastest guy in the race, KGU's Rui Aoki with a 1:00:47 PB that exactly matched the Ageo record, took over, and only Kuwata could follow. The lead changed multiple times over the last few km as the projected finish time got closer and closer to the record, and after a 57:44 split at 20 km, inside the last km Aoki kicked. Track resurfacing meant a slightly different cou...

November's National University Ekiden is the second stop of the three-race university men's ekiden season. Even more than the season-opening Izumo Ekiden, it's pretty much a given that however many teams there are in the field from the Tokyo-area Kanto Region, where almost all the best high schoolers go for university in order to have the chance to run the Hakone Ekiden, the top team from outside Kanto will finish behind all of them. Not including two select teams that don't count in scoring, the 15 Kanto teams at last year's Nationals took the top 15 spots in the field of 25 schools. Koku Gakuin University , Komazawa University , Aoyama Gakuin University , Soka University , Waseda University , Josai University , Rikkyo University and Teikyo University filled the 8-podium to earn places at the 2025 National University Ekiden, with the other 7 having to run yesterday's Kanto Region Qualifier alongside 13 other Kanto-area teams to try to make the return trip. ...

The National University Individual Track and Field Championships has always been the lesser cousin to September's National University Track and Field Championships, but in recent years it has started to see quality performances of its own, and with the reshuffling of the calendar this year to account for the Tokyo World Championships enough top-level collegiate talent came to Hiratsuka, Kanagawa to set 9 new meet records. A breakdown of top performances: Hiroki Yanagita (Toyo Univ.) kicked off his senior year with a solid 10.09 (+1.8) to lead the men's 100 m semifinals, but then sat out the final where his 3rd-year teammate Riku Oishi won in 10.19 (+0.8). Genta Iki (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) had a near-miss on the men's 200 m MR, winning easily in 20.65 (+1.2). The top 3 in the men's 800 m all broke the meet record set last year, with NR holder Ko Ochiai (Komazawa Univ.) winning in 1:45.88, just 0.13 shy of the collegiate record at the very start of his collegiate career...

  The 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships kicked off Aug. 27 in Lima, Peru. Top-ranked Japanese woman Kana Mizumoto  was a DNS in the Championships' first final, the women's 5000 m, but teammate Yumi Yamamoto  was the top non-African finisher at 6th, running 16:01.54. But with gold medalist Medina Eisa  of Ethiopia running a 14:39.71 championships record Yamamoto was over 36 seconds outside the medals. All three men's 5000 m medalists ran 13:41 with Kenyan Andrew Kiptoo Alamisi  taking gold in 13:41.14. That was slightly faster than the PBs of Yamato Hamaguchi  and Kaito Matsui , but both were far below potential with Hamaguchi 13th in 14:16.29 and Matsui last in 15:31.85. In qualifying rounds, both 800 m national record holders Rin Kubo  and Ko Ochiai  easily made the semifinals, Kubo the fastest overall in the women's heats with a 2:04.53 and Ochiai 2nd in his heat in 1:50.67. Togo Yoshizawa  also advanced, 3rd in Heat 3 in 1:51.49 behi...

800 m national champions Rin Kubo and Ko Ochiai lead Japan's team for next month's Lima World U20 Championships , Kubo having just broken the NR with a 1:59.93 and Ochiai just off the NR at Nationals last month with a 1:45.82 in the heats. Sherry Drury is another one of Japan's big U20 hopes and will run the 1500 m, and 2023 National High School Ekiden champion Saku Chosei H.S. dominates the men's long distance squad with 3rd-years Yamato Hamaguchi in the 3000 m and 5000 m, Tetsu Sasaki in the 3000 m and 3000 mSC, and 2024 graduate Soma Nagahara in the 3000 m SC. World Athletics U20 Championships Japanese Team Lima, Peru, 27-31 Aug. 2024 complete team listing Women  (14) 800 m Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) - 1:59.93 1500 m Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) - 4:16.69 3000 m Miyu Yamada (Meijo Univ.) - 9:16.12 Miu Suzuki (Tsukuba Univ.) - 9:19.53 5000 m Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 15:31.51 Yumi Yamamoto (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:47.74 100 m Hurdles Ami Takahashi (Tsuku...

With the Kanto Region being the heavy draw for top high school talent thanks to the Hakone Ekiden, it's not a surprise that its schools dominate the national-level university ekidens. Out of 25 universities and two select teams from across the country at last November's National University Ekiden, Kanto Region teams took the top 14 spots, with only Kokushikan University beaten by the National University Select Team which included some Kanto Region runners. The top eight there, Komazawa University , Aoyama Gakuin University , Koku Gakuin University , Chuo University , Josai University , Soka University , Daito Bunka University and Tokyo Kokusai University , auto-qualified for the 2024 Nationals race, with the rest having to run today's qualifying race to make it back. The qualifying race was made up of four heats of 10000 m on the track at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium, each heat with two runners from each of the 20 schools competing, each team scored on the to...

The Japanese U20 men had a near-miss on team bronze at the Belgrade World Cross Country Championships Saturday, taking 4th behind Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. Tomoya Inoue had the best individual performance of the day by a Japanese runner at 16th, with other scoring members Kaito Matsui , Sota Orita and Yamato Hamaguchi all placing in the top 22. Both the U20 and senior women's teams took 6th, Miyu Murakami leading the junior women at 19th and Miku Sakai the senior women at 22nd. The mixed relay team also make single digits, placing 7th, but the senior men were a disappointing 12th. 2:08:20 marathoner Hiroto Fujimagari led the senior men at 48th overall. More video highlights on the World Athletics Youtube channel. Detailed stories and complete results: U20 Women : Alemayo Dominates to Lead Ethiopia to Team U20 Gold in Belgrade Results : individual ・ team U20 Men : Kibathi Outsprints Sime to Secure U20 Title in Belgrade Results :  individual ・ team Mixed Relay : Kenya Runs ...

Running with three returning members of last year's course record-breaking team, Nagano pulled off another CR to win its 3rd-straight National Men's Ekiden title Sunday in Hiroshima thanks in large part to a stellar run from anchor Mebuki Suzuki from Komazawa University . Last year's opening leg 3rd-placer Ryuto Kawahara of Nagasaki got things started with a 2:44 opening km on the 7.0 km First Stage, then let 2023 National High School Ekiden First Stage winner Sota Orita of Hyogo take over. Orita did most of the work through the middle part of the stage, then with 1.5 km to go Kawahara attacked and pulled away to break the 19:39 CR set by Sonata Nagashima last year by 8 seconds. It was one of those runs that makes the National Men's Ekiden great, with someone from a high school that isn't good enough to make Nationals taking down one of the big stars whose team did. In a four-way sprint for 2nd Nagano's Yamato Hamaguchi was 4th and Orita 5th, both one s...

4th overall at the 100th Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2nd and 3rd, Toyo University has recruited a strong incoming class featuring the 2nd and 3rd-placers on the 10.0 km First Stage at December's National High School Ekiden , Kaito Matsui (Saitama Sakae H.S.) and Yu Miyazaki (Toyo Ushiku H.S.). At the National High School Ekiden, Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.) ran 28:48 to tie the fastest-ever Japanese time on the stage set in 2019 by Yachiyo Shoin H.S. athlete Issei Sato , now a member of Aoyama Gakuin University 's 2024 Hakone Ekiden champion team. Right with Orita until the very last straight, Matsui and Miyazaki ran excellent times of 28:54 and 28:57. Matsui and Miyazaki preceded that performance with a 1-2 on the 10.0 km First Stage at November's Kanto Region High School Ekiden, Matsui in 29:10 and Miyazaki in 29:16. Third on the same stage in that race, Yu Uchibori (Koma H.S.) is also Toyo-bound, a major recruiting coup for Toyo to pull in the top three. At both Gakuho...

In distance action on Day 3 of the Sapporo National High School Track and Field Championships , the 5000 m saw 3 boys go sub-14 in the qualifying heats. Duncan Maina (Senshudai Kumamoto H.S.) led the 5 qualifiers from the relatively low-key Heat 1 in 14:25.23. Things escalated in Heat 2, where Kaito Matsui (Saitama Sakae H.S.) led 6 of the 7 qualifiers under 14:08 in 14:02.90. Things went even further in Heat 3, with Samuel Kibathi (Kurashiki H.S.) running 13:56.21, Eliud Kabiga (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) 2nd in 13:56.79, and Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.) 3rd in 13:58.38. The other 3 qualifiers from Heat 3 were all under 14:08, setting up a deep and potentially fast final tomorrow. In the girls' 800 m, Daisy Jerop (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) led the first round in 2:08.47 to win Heat 2, with Heat 1 winner Rin Kubo (Higashi Osakadai Keiai H.S.) running 2:09.20, the top 4 in Heat 3 under 2:10, and the top 2 in Heat 6 both under 2:10. Fresh off running the fastest-ever 1500 m by a 10th grade...