japan running news

Yuya Yoshida 's story is really the kind you love to read. A guy who never got to run the big races at Aoyama Gakuin University until his very last chance his senior year, when he dropped a course record at the 2020 Hakone Ekiden in what he was thinking of as his last race. Then a 2:08:30 marathon debut for 3rd at Beppu on his coach's advice. Then a 2:07:05 win at the Fukuoka International Marathon later the same year after deciding to keep going and joining the GMO corporate team. A few years of setbacks, then a 2:06:37 PB in Osaka this spring. And now this. A 2:05:16 CR for the win in Fukuoka, 1:02:58 at halfway and a smoking 1:02:18 mostly solo 2nd half, 2 seconds under the old record set back in pre-super shoe days in 2009 by the great Tsegaye Kebede . Really, what else is there to say? Yoshida was great. In the pack through 25 km, then throwing down at dropping 2:06:31 man Yusuke Nishiyama and everyone else except Israeli Tadesse Getahon , who lasted another 5 km befor...

Five elite Japanese athletes were at Sunday's London Marathon. In the women's race, Ai Hosoda (Edion) followed up on her 2:24:26 from Nagoya this spring with a 2:21:42 for 9th, over a minute faster than the previous best-ever by a Japanese woman in Great Britian run 20 years ago in London by the great Reiko Tosa . In Nagoya Hosoda went with the leaders at sub-2:21 pace and faded after 20 km. Here she ran steadily at 2:21 pace and survived to come home with the fastest Japanese time overseas so far this year. Reia Iwade (Adidas) dropped out after 25 km, tweeting later that she had had leg pain that forced her to stop. In the men's race, 2019 Doha World Championships team member Kohei Futaoka (Chudenko) was the top finisher at 11th in 2:14:18, just ahead of veteran Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku). Futaoka's teammate Naoki Aiba (Chudenko) went out fastest and died hardest, finishing 27th in 2:22:45, one second slower than Tosa's previous Japanese women's GBR...

On May 26 the Chudenko  corporate men's team posted video from their track season training camp in Sugadaira, Nagano, one of Japan's main training locales at around 1500 m elevation. Chudenko's roster includes 2:08:44 marathoner Naoki Aiba , 2:09:14 marathoner Kohei Futaoka  and 59:34 half marathoner Amos Kurgat . Workouts detailed in the video: Group morning jog at 4:10~4:20/km. 400 m x 10 for Aiba, Kurgat and Donald Mitei  with two Kenyan athletes from another team, building up from 64 to 61 sec with 65 sec walking recovery. The next day, 400 m x 10 by the rest of the team split into two groups. The next day, 25 km at 3:42/km. On the 7th day of the training camp, 1000 m x 8 targeting 2:45/km for Aiba, Kurgat and Mitei with the same two athletes from another team. Actual times are given on-screen. The rest of the team did 600 m x 10 and 400 m x 5, split into two groups, a fast group at 68 sec/lap and a slow group at 70 sec/lap. The final track workout at the camp was 200...

Tweaking its lineup to replace the ailing Yuki Koike with fast starter Shuhei Tada , the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay team pulled off a bronze medal on the second-to-last day of the Doha World Championships. In a fast race that saw the top four teams set national and area records, Japan ran an Asian record 37.43 for 3rd behind winner U.S.A. in 37.10 and 2nd-place Great Britain in 37.36, a shot of confidence ahead of next summer's Tokyo Olympics where the 4x100 will be one of the country's best chances of medaling. Along with its pair of men's race walk gold medals the team's bronze brought Japan's medal count to three for the Championships. After running an 11-second PB to move up to all-time Japanese #3 in the women's 5000 m heats, Nozomi Tanaka improved again with a 15:00.01 in the final to advance to all-time #2. With the race going out well below Japanese national record pace Tanaka was just hanging on the entire time, part of the first group to ...

Following the end of the qualification period for the 2019 Doha World Championships , the JAAF announced additions to the initial Japanese National Team roster released earlier in the summer. Along with the additions, the JAAF made public that Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Univ. of Florida) will not run the 200 m in order to focus on the 100 m and relay, and that Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu), the only Japanese man to have cleared the Doha standard, will not race due to an apparent injury following a fall last week in Zagreb . Final changes to the team roster, if any, are expected to be announced Sept. 17. Japanese National Team, Doha World Championships as of Sept. 11, 2019 times listed are best within qualifying window Women Hurdles 100 m Hurdles  - Asuka Terada (Pasona Group) - 12.97 100 m Hurdles - Ayako Kimura (Edion) - 13.11 Long Distance 5000 m  - Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki TC) - 15:15.80 5000 m - Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) - 15:19.99 5000 m /  10000 ...

The JAAF announced the lineups today for the Japanese women's and men's marathon teams for this fall's Doha World Championships . Having scheduled Japan's new MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials event for two weeks before the World Championships the JAAF has specified that nobody can double, meaning that, including alternates, three of the four women and all four men named would have to give up a chance at being part of the Tokyo Olympics in order to get a guaranteed spot on a lesser national team. That means a team drawn from the middle and lower end of the list of trials qualifiers, a good mix of relatively inexperienced younger athletes likely to develop further for the 2024 Paris Olympics, mid-career runners without much chance of making the top few spots at the trials, and aging veterans who've shrewdly sussed out that being on a national team is better for their brands than going for a higher-level one they know they can't make. It's a B-team t...

The Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon is known for its winds, but at today's 68th running they held off until almost the end of the race, setting the stage for Beppu-Oita's deepest-ever field to go hard from the start. A lead pack of around 40 hit 5 km in 15:00, 2:06:36 pace, backing off a bit from there but staying on high-2:07 to low-2:08 pace until the final pacer stepped off at 30 km. As in Osaka last week and Marugame earlier today, one of the favorites fell early in the race and had to drop out, in this case 2018 Hokkaido Marathon winner Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku), already qualified for the 2020 Olympic trials but in great shape and going for a fast time. Okamoto broke his left elbow in the fall, which will reportedly take two months to completely heal. Qualification for the trials event, September's MGC Race, weighed heavily on the minds of the Japanese men, dozens of whom stayed with the pace as long as they could. A short way back 2:16-level American Andrew...

The Ageo City Half Marathon , which saw new men's and women's course records and a Swedish national record, was the biggest race of the weekend, but across the country and abroad were a half dozen other events with quality Japanese athletes. Saturday morning in Kyoto was the Tango University Ekiden , the 80th edition of the Kansai Region's university men's ekiden championships. Last year's runner-up Ritsumeikan University finished up a strong season with a decision win, leading start to finish to cover the 8-stage, 84.1 km course in 4:16:00. 2017 winner Kwansei Gakuin University got off to a slow start, 44 seconds behind Ritsumeikan in 5th after the first stage and spending the rest of the race trying to catch up. After six stages it was only 26 seconds behind, but a 35:00 stage record for the 11.7 km anchor leg by Ristumeikan's Shinji Koiwa meant the end of Kwansei Gakuin's hopes. Kyoto Sangyo University was 3rd, briefly threatened mid-race by Hyogo...

A wet and windy Saturday night featured high-level track time trial action all across the country. With the approach of the powerful Typhoon #24 the Saga Long Distance Time Trials meet was canceled, leaving Kyushu's runners home to wait the storm out. To the northeast, Hiroshima's Chugoku Jitsugyodan Long Distance Time Trials meet was far enough away to still be ahead of the worst of the wind and rain. Takuya Fujikawa (Chugoku Denryoku) ran the fastest 5000 m time their in 13:55.73, with up-and-coming marathoner  Kohei Futaoka (Kyudenko) leading the 10000 m results in 29:12.00. Further to the northwest, Yuma Hattori (Toyota) returned from a solid 1:01:40 PB at the Czech Republic's Usti nad Labem Half Marathon two weeks ago to win the Tokamachi Distance Carnival 's 10000 m. Hattori outkicked Kenyan teammate David Muhuhu (Toyota) to win in 28:39.57, the fastest time by a Japanese runner in Tokamachi's 30-year history. His alma mater Toyo University was a ma...

http://www.saga-s.co.jp/news/saga_sports.0.2638394.article.html http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/aomori/news/20140223-OYT8T00881.htm http://www.komaspo.com/4630 http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/kyoto/news/20140223-OYT8T00902.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner A total of 1700 men and women of all ages ran in the half marathon, 10 km, 3 km and 2 km divisions at the 63rd running of the Kashima Yutoku Half Marathon on Feb. 23.  In the men's open half marathon division, Masaya Taguchi  (Toyo University) took 47 seconds off the course record to win in 1:03:05.  Taguchi was responsible for getting Toyo off to a good start on the First Stage at last month's Hakone Ekiden, playing a big part in the team's win.  Bringing the same intensity to his course record run, he thoroughly dominated the men's half marathon. Olympian and university 5000 m national record holder Kensuke Takezawa  (Team Sumitomo Kaijo) was also in the race.  "He has been an inspir...