japan running news

by Brett Larner The 2011 Japanese National University Track & Field Championships kicked off Sept. 9 in Kumamoto.  2011 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist and Asian junior half marathon area record holder Suguru Osako  (Waseda Univ.) bypassed the 10000 m for the 1500 m, winning his heat to advance to the final.  His teammate Tatsuro Okazaki  (Waseda Univ.) likewise won the faster second heat where the top four all beat Osako's time of 3:51.39, making for an interesting final on tap later this weekend.  After running 13:31.27 earlier this season, the best time in several years by a Japanese university runner, sophomore Osako is also the favorite in tomorrow's 5000 m where he is on the start list. The women's 1500 m heats saw a mix of familiar faces and newcomers advancing to the finals, top-ranked women Chikako Mori  (Daito Bunka Univ.), Akane Yabushita  (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and Risa Shibuya  (Bukkyo Univ.) all advancing through th...

by Brett Larner Click photo for video highlights. Thanks in part to outstanding performances from the identical twin Akamatsu sisters on the final two stages, Kojokan H.S. took its second-ever national title at the 2010 National High School Girls Ekiden , holding off two-time defending champion Toyokawa H.S. by 16 seconds after battling the strong Suma Gakuen H.S . throughout the ekiden. Kojokan's Katsuki Suga got the team off to a good start, winning the 6 km First Stage by a margin of 6 seconds. Suma Gakuen's Risa Yokoe caught up on the Second Stage, running a stage best to finish the leg dead even with Kojokan's Miyuki Oka . Suma Gakuen's Third Stage runner Mika Kobayashi likewise turned in a stage best, giving the school an 8 second lead after Kojokan's Manami Takehisa finished only 9th on the stage. Everything turned around on the 3.0 km Fourth Stage. Kojokan's Hiroka Akamatsu , the lesser-known of its star Akamatsu twins, seized back the lead, taking...

by Brett Larner 2009 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist and 5000 m silver medalist and 2010 National University 5000 m champion Kasumi Nishihara (Bukkyo Univ.) took another step toward the top with a 15:27.94 PB to finish 1st in the final women's 5000 m at the 2010 Nighter Time Trials in Marugame on Oct. 9. With runner-up Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) over 15 seconds behind, Nishihara's solo effort makes her the third-fastest Japanese woman of the year over 5000 m behind national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) and Nishihara's younger teammate Hikari Yoshimoto (Bukkyo Univ.). Nishihara's progression since high school has been impressively consistent: 2006: 15:47.52 2007: 15:41.54 2008: 15:36.72 2009: 15:32.89 2010: 15:27.94 Yoshimoto was also scheduled to run but was a DNS, raising concerns about her condition after several weak performances earlier this fall season. With Bukkyo runners Mai Ishibashi and Rika Kawashima also under 16 minutes in heat...

by Brett Larner Unknown high schooler Risa Shibuya of Hanawa H.S. in the northern city of Akita turned in one of the biggest performances in the 2010 National Sports Festival on the final day of competition on Oct. 5 in Chiba. Running in the high school girls' 3000 m, Shibuya trounced 2010 Asian Junior 3000 m champion Mahiro Akamatsu (Kojokan H.S.) by over 6 seconds to win in 9:08.07, the second-fastest time of the year by a Japanese woman behind only 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki). Shibuya's performance would have put her in 2nd place at last weekend's National Corporate Championships ahead of world-ranked Ethiopian ace Betelhem Moges (Team Denso). With most of the top high school boys opting for the 5000 m the high school boys' 3000 m was relatively unremarkable, won in 8:25.76 by Yusuke Uchikoshi (Kokugakuin Prep Kugayama H.S.). Update: This article reports that Shibuya is a 3rd year who for the last two years placed in t...

by Brett Larner 2010 Asian Junior Women's 3000 m Champion Mahiro Akamatsu of Kojokan H.S. came up agonizingly short of completing the 1500 m and 3000 m double on Aug. 2 at the 2010 National High School Track and Field Championships in Amami. With the 1500 m title under her belt Akamatsu coasted through yesterday's 3000 m qualifying heats, but on the final day of the 2010 Nationals she fell to the last sprint of Toyokawa H.S. Kenyan Beatrice Murugi Wainaina in the final. Wainaina, who had the fastest qualifying time in the three heats, 9:20.78, just clipped Akamatsu at the line as she won in 9:11.51. Akamatsu was 2nd in 9:11.60, 0.54 off her PB but a credible time given the sub-tropical weather. 3rd-placer Mary Wydira of Sendai Ikuei H.S. was the only other runner under 9:15, finishing in 9:12.33. The top 11 finishers all broke 9:30 including the identical twin Kyuma sisters Haruka , who ran last month's World Junior Championships 3000 m, and Moe , who will run this month...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/p-sp-tp0-20100731-660194.html http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/p-sp-tp0-20100731-660197.html translated and edited by Brett Larner At the 2010 National High School Track and Field Championships at Okinawa Prefectural Sports Park on the island of Amami, Kojokan High School's Mahiro Akamatsu (3rd yr.) won the girls' 1500 m, holding up her right hand in victory as she crossed the line. The pace was quick right from the start, but Akamatsu remained calm and composed. "It was windy and hot," she said after the race, "but I was moving well and I was sure I could do it." With one lap to go Akamatsu dropped the rest of the leaders with an aggressive spurt which carried her to the win by a margin of nearly three seconds, clocking 4:19.80. Akamatsu came to the championships confident from her gold medal in the 3000 m at last month's Asian Junior Games in Vietnam. Kojokan H.S. head coach Yoshiji Mo...

by Brett Larner A summary of Japanese results from the final day of the Asian Junior Athletics Championship 2010 in Hanoi, Vietnam: Seiya Kato won the gold medal in the boys' 400 m hurdles in 50.83, with teammate Yuichi Nagano scoring bronze in 51.21. Mahiro Akamatsu likewise won gold in the girls' 3000 m, running 9:36.47, while teammate Naoko Koizumi was only 5th. Ikuto Yufu and Ikki Takeuchi took silver and bronze in the boys' 5000 m, Yufu losing by less than one second to Kenyan-born Bahraini Edwin Chebii Kimurer . Manabu Aoki took the silver medal in the boys' 10000 m race walk in 45:01.73. Taishi Nakayama won bronze in the boys' 200 m in 21.05 after winning his semi-final. Winner Chimdee Suppachai of Thailand set a new Games record of 20.80. Naohiro Yokoyama was eliminated at the semi-final stage. The boys' 4x400 m relay team won silver in 3:12.14, while the boys' 4x100 m relay team won bronze in 40.64. Sho Kawamoto was 5th in the boys' 8...

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20100125k0000m050090000c.html translated by Brett Larner At the last major women's ekiden of the season, the 21st Kita-Kyushu Women's Invitational Ekiden on Jan. 24 in Kita-Kyushu, Team Tenmaya won the five-stage, 32.8 km open division for the first time in 15 years. Top-ranked Kojokan H.S. took its first win the six-stage, 32.8 km high school division. Both teams hail from Okayama Prefecture and carried over the momentum from Okayama's win at last week's National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden. Tenmaya's Second Stage runner Yuka Izumi took the lead which Third and Fourth Stage runners Yoshie Kurisu and Kaori Urata lengthened with stage best runs. Tenmaya's anchor, Beijing Olympian Yurika Nakamura , was never seriously threatened as she cruised home for the win. Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo took 2nd after advancing in the later stages, while early leader Team Juhachi Ginko fell to 3rd. Team Acom, which w...

by Brett Larner click here for JRNLive's detailed race commentary Yurika Nakamura scores Okayama Prefecture's first win at the National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden Jan. 17 in Kyoto. Click photo for video highlights. An Okayama Prefecture team made up primarily of members of the pro Team Tenmaya and the elite Kojokan H.S. derailed hometown hosts Kyoto Prefecture's bid for a sixth-straight National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden win on Jan. 17. Okayama took its first-ever national title, winning the nine-stage, 42.195 km event in 2:16:24 thanks to stage best runs by members Kaori Urata and Katsuki Suga and a new stage record by Kojokan H.S. first-year Mahiro Akamatsu. Okayama's anchor, Olympic marathoner and World Championships track runner Yurika Nakamura, was only 8th on stage time but had a big enough lead to hold off Chiba Prefecture anchor Hitomi Niiya by 15 seconds. Chiba's best-ever 2nd place showing was a surprise and came thanks in large part t...