japan running news

  A 2016 Rio Olympian in the women's 3000 m steeplechase while still in university, Anju Takamizawa , 24, has announced her retirement through a statement issued by her corporate team Shiseido  on Dec. 24. While at Matsuyama University  Takamizawa won the steeplechase at the 2015 and 2016 National Championships. In Rio she was eliminated in the qualifying round. Since then Takamizawa has struggled with injury. On the Shiseido team site Takamizawa commented, "Thank you to everyone who kept supporting me even though I couldn't produce the results I wanted to. I hope that my experiences as an athlete will help inform my future life."  A day later on the 25th, the Japan Post  corporate team announced that Takamizawa's Rio Olympics teammate Hanami Sekine , 24, was also retiring. A native of Tokyo, Sekine ran for Toyokawa H.S.  before joining the brand-new Japan Post team in 2014 as one of its star athletes. She ran the 10000 m in Rio, and in 2018 she made ...

A Rio Olympian in the women's 5000 m, Ayuko Suzuki (26, Japan Post) is planning to run the August 26 Hokkaido Marathon . Japan Post head coach Masahiko Takahashi made the announcement on June 25. It will the first marathon for the proven track talent Suzuki, whose training partner Hanami Sekine  debuted in 2:23:07 in Nagoya this March. Suzuki, who finished 2nd in Friday's 10000 m at the National Track and Field Championships, is aiming to make the marathon team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. At the Hokkaido Marathon her goal is to qualify for the MGC Race Olympic marathon trials event to be held in Tokyo in September, 2019. To qualify, she must win in a sub-2:32:00 time or finish inside the top six Japanese women and under 2:30:00. source article: https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2018062501112&g=spo translated and edited by Brett Larner

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20131001-00000000-spnavi-spo translated by Brett Larner The Japan Post Group held a press conference Oct. 1 in Tokyo to formally launch its new women's distance running team.   Masahiko Takahashi , who helped train Sydney Olympics women's marathon gold medalist and former world record holder Naoko Takahashi  and two-time Olympic marathon medalist Yuko Arimori , was named to the team's leadership position along with the announcement of an initial lineup of five female athletes headed by 2013 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist Ayuko Suzuki (Nagoya Univ.). Scheduled to get underway at the start of the new fiscal year on April 1, 2014, the women's distance team is the first fully sports-oriented team that the Japan Post Group has sponsored since its founding.  The strong and deep parallel between the postal service's mission of faithfully delivering letters and the ekiden's ideal of passing on the tasuki to those ye...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20110204-OYT1T00513.htm translated by Brett Larner "If you want to become a world-class women's marathoner, don't work too hard in junior high school." That is the finding of a study of domestic elite women runners by former Team Toyota Shatai head coach Masahiko Takahashi , 46. Takahashi sent his survey to 383 athletes and alumni of professional corporate and club teams, including 20 women who made the top 8 in the marathon at the Olympics or World Championships. 90.3% responded. Takahashi compared the responses of those who had made a Japanese national team for the Olympics or World Championships with those who had not. With regard to their training in junior high school he found: National team members' off-seasons averaged 2.24 months, while those who did not make national teams averaged 0.87 months. 60% of national team members did morning practice in addition to their main workouts, while 82.3 % of those who did not make n...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/flash/KFullFlash20100405121.html translated by Brett Larner Masahiko Takahashi, former head coach of Team Toyota Shatai which formally disbanded at the end of March, revealed on Apr. 5 that his twin star runners Hiromi and Takami Ominami will return to their hometown of Fukui to start a new club team. The three hope that the provisionally-titled "Team Fukui" will become a new model to help raise the level of track and field within Fukui prefecture. As of this month both athletes have relocated to Tokyo, where they are looking for an office and new sponsors to help them in their mission to improve their hometown athletics. Coach Takahashi commented, "There will always be the Fukui Prefecture Sports Day for many years to come, so we are keen to get started with creating Team Fukui."

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090806/spg0908062034005-n1.htm http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20090807k0000m050038000c.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The Toyota Shattai company, sponsors of top distance women Hiromi and Takami Ominami, announced Aug. 6 that it intends to disband its women's running team effective Aug. 7. The company will, however, continue to sponsor the Ominami twins and their coach Masahiko Takahashi. The Ominami twins joined Toyota Shatai in April, 2005 together with Takahashi after their previous sponsor UFJ Bank disbanded its team. Both sisters are past winners of the Rotterdam Marathon, Hiromi having won in 2007 and Takami in 2002. Hiromi Ominami ran the 10000 m at the 2005 World Championships and won a bronze medal in the 10000 m at the 2006 Asian Games. Takami Ominami ran the marathon at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships and won the 2003 Nagoya International Women's Marathon.

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/chuspo/article/sports/news/CK2008050302008460.html translated by Brett Larner A great new hope joined Team Toyota Shatai in April. Holding a spot in the Japanese women`s 10000 m all-time top 10 is Terumi Asoshina (25). Asoshina grabbed attention as a hope for the future when she won the 2005 All-Japan Jitsugyodan Half Marathon, but an imbalance in her form resulted in a general weakening of condition and loss of motivation which forced her to quit Team Kyocera in February last year. Despite losing her passion at the time, Asoshina explains, "I decided I didn`t want to quit running just because I wasn`t enjoying it." After a period of rest and renewal, she found a chance for a new start with the Ominami twins at Team Toyota Shatai. Planning a career in the marathon, Asoshina has once again found joy in running and is aiming for a rebirth. "I`m truly grateful. My running isn`t finished yet, but still, to get another chance to enter a team........