japan running news

On Apr. 11 the Noritz women's corporate team announced that former Suzuki Hamamatsu AC coach Masayuki Satouchi has been appointed its new head coach effective immediately.

During his time at Suzuki, Satouchi developed two of Japan's top marathon women, Yuka Ando, 25, all-time Japanese #4 at 2:11:36 and currently running for the Wacoal team, and London World Championships team member Mao Kiyota, 25, 2:23:47. After that he left his coaching position, but his ability as a women's coach remained highly regarded.

The Noritz team currently features three-time World Championships team member Mari Ozaki, 43, and 2020 Olympic trials qualifier Madoka Nakano, 27, on its roster. Previous head coach Yoshihiko Morioka retired at the end of January.

source article:
https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/201904110000442.html
translated by Brett Larner

The 2019 Tokyo Marathon is this Sunday. Storylines and subplots of this year’s race:
The Women The Tokyo Marathon has its roots as an elite men-only race. It’s taken twelve years since 18-year-old Hitomi Niiya became its first female winner, for no prize money or recognition (“I got a nice finisher’s medal” she told JRN last week), for the Tokyo women’s race to get up to parity with the men’s. It’s been a slow, step-by-step process, but this year at last parity has been achieved. If anything the women’s field is better than the men’s. Even before the withdrawal of the top two men there were more high-level international women in the field than men, and that’s even more so now.

Ethiopian power trio Ruti Aga, Boru Feyse Tadese and Yebrgual Melese all have the skills to better Sarah Chepchirchir’s 2:19:47 course record and its likely replacement, last year’s 2:19:51 win by Birhane Dibaba, Aga talking 2:18:30 at the pre-race press conference. But with six other women in the field with r…

Hot on the heels of the London Marathon field announcement, the Tokyo Marathon has put its 2019 elite field into the public sphere. With a new date a week later on March 3rd thanks to the impending Imperial succession Tokyo has at last put together a proper elite women's field at parity with the men's field, one including top-level Japanese women for the first time. Change is slow to come, but with this field it looks like it has arrived. 2:18:34 for 2nd in Berlin last year,

Ethiopian Ruti Aga leads 14 women with times 2:23 or better in the last 3 years. Half are Ethiopian, two Kenyan, two Bahraini and three Japanese, with two high-level first-timers, Kenya's Joan Chelimo Melly and Japan's Mao Ichiyama, tacked on. #2 through #4-ranked women Boru Feyse Tadese, Yebrgual Melese and Ababel Yeshaneh all ran 2:19 to 2:20 last year, making the chances of an Ethiopian sweep definitely greater than zero.

The structure of Japanese national team selection and marketing-related f…

For the second year in a row Bahraini Shitaye Habtegebrel found herself knocked down to 2nd in the Saitama International Marathon's home straight, this time to fellow Ethiopian-born emigrant Dalila Gosa.

Part of a group of nine that immediately separated from the main body of the elite women-only race behind three pacers, both Gosa and Habtegebrel stayed at the front of the pack on mid-2:25 to low-2:26 pace as its five Japanese constituents and lone Ethiopian national Fatuma Sado dropped off one by one. When the last pacer stepped off at 30 km Habtegebrel and Gosa took turns leading in a successful effort to drop Kenyan Sylvia Kibet.

Last year Habtegebrel lost out to Flomena Cheych Daniel of Kenya by 3 seconds in the home straight, both of them ultimately having their times disallowed due to poor direction on the final corner. This time both Gosa and Habtegebrel successfully turned at the right spot thanks to improved course marking and marshaling, but Habtegebrel again lacked the…

Ladies and gentlemen, Hitomi Niiya is back.

You might remember Hitomi Niiya from the 2013 Moscow World Championships 10000 m, where she led the entire way only to get destroyed over the last lap and finish 5th in 30:56.70. That made her the third-fastest Japanese woman ever over that distance, but not long after that race she quit the sport entirely, getting an office job as far away from athletics as she could and not running for almost five years.

But the pull of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is strong, and, now 30, early this year she made the decision to try to make a comeback. Under the eye of former men's 800 m national record holder Masato Yokota she ran a 3000 m and two 5000 m time trials on the track between April and October before choosing the East Japan Women's Ekiden for her return to the roads and the longer distances.

The East Japan Women's Ekiden celebrated its 34th running Sunday, 9 stages totaling 42.195 km through the Fukushima countryside with teams from eac…

In its fourth edition the Saitama International Marathon has taken a step up in quality thanks mostly to a move from mid-November to mid-December. Its previous timing meant that no top-level corporate league women could take part due to scheduling conflicts with the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships, but with Saitama now coming afterward there's a noticeable increase in the quantity of domestic talent.

The international field is fronted by current Ethiopian Workneh Debele, 2:19:53 in Dubai earlier this year, and former Ethiopian Shitaye Habtegebrel of Bahrain, winner of this year's Hamburg Marathon in 2:24:51 and last year's Saitama runner-up. 20-year-old Dalila Gosa of Bahrain and Celia Sullohern of Australia add numbers to the sub-2:30 contingent, with Sylvia Jebiwot Kibet the lone Kenyan in the field.

The home crew will be looking to key off the internationals to pull them through Saitama's challenging course full of rolling hills and turnarounds …

Marathon season kicks off this weekend with three races featuring elite-level Japanese marathoners.

Saturday morning the athletics segment of the Jakarta Asian Games gets rolling with the men's marathon. With a 2:06:54 best from February's Tokyo Marathon Japan's Hiroto Inoue is the heavy favorite if he can handle the heat. His nearest competition, Ethiopian Bahraini Abdi Abdo, ran 2:08:32 in Rome this year, and Inoue's teammate Hayato Sonoda is the only other man in the field to have broken 2:10. With Bahrain's second man, the Moroccan El Hassan El Abbassi, ranked 4th at 2:10:57 it's pretty much a Japan-Bahrain dual on the men's side. Should Inoue succeed he'll be the first Japanese man to win Asian Games gold since Takeyuki Nakayama set the still-standing championships record of 2:08:21 at the 1986 Seoul Games. It's unusual to see an A-lister like Inoue run the Asian Games, but considering the weather conditions he'll face if he makes the Toky…

Last year the Hokkaido Marathon saw the first pair of Japanese athletes qualify for the new MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials event, with winners Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) and Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin) winning under the time standards they needed for MGC qualification. Since then the numbers have grown to 13 men and 6 women on the qualifier list with another 16 women and 34 men halfway there thanks to an option for qualifying via a two-race average time standard. As an August event Hokkaido is always on the hot side, but success there might predict success in Tokyo 2020 and easier time standards than any of the other domestic options for MGC qualification there's no shortage of top-level Japanese talent lining up to give it a go this year.

The winning Japanese woman in Hokkaido will qualify for the MGC race if under 2:32:00, with up to 5 more qualifying if under 2:30:00. London World Championships team member Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) leads the women's list w…

The 2018 Hakodate Marathon and Half Marathon took place July 1 in Hakodate, Hokkaido. Despite heavy rain on and off throughout the race, 6767 people out of 7139 starters finished. The third year Hakodate has had a full marathon division, 3147 people started in the full and 3992 in the half.

Both races began and finished at Chiyogadai Field, the half starting at 9:00 a.m. and the full going off at 10:00. As rain fell the runners were cheered on by local supporters lining the streets of the western parts of the city and the coastal areas popular with tourists. Volunteers at aid stations handed out local delicacies like mini sashimi bowls and cold salty ramen to enthusiastic participants.

Yuya Yamashita (26, Sunbelx) took four minutes off the course record to win the men's full marathon in 2:18:27. "The hills in the second half were tough, but I'm really happy to have won it," he said post-race, his face full of smiles. Kenyan Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) won a close rac…

Women's world record holder and defending champion Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) and last year's top man Alexander Mutiso (Kenya/ND Software) return to lead the elite fields for the April 22 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon. The women's field is small but high-quality at the front end, with Eunice Chumba (Bahrain) and Valary Jemeli (Kenya) joining Jepkosgei under the 68-minute mark and additional support coming from sub-70 runners Joy Kemuma (Kenya) and Karolina Nadolska (Poland). The top Japanese woman in last summer's London World Championships marathon, Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) again leads the way as the fastest Japanese woman at 1:10:31.

Most of Gifu's budget clearly went to the women's race, as the men's field is made up almost entirely of Japan-based athletes. Not that it's short of quality. With a 1:00:31 mark Mutiso is only the 5th-fastest athlete in a field led by sub-60 men James Mwangi (Kenya/NTN), James Rungaru (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) and Moses…