japan running news

  On June 12 the Kyudenko corporate team announced that it is terminating its contract with longtime team member Benard Koech of Kenya as of June 30. On June 11 the Athletics Integrity Unit had issued a provisional suspension against Koech on charges of violation of doping regulations. The charges were based on abnormal values in his biological passport data, which suggested use of a banned substance or method rather than actual detection of one. After receiving notification from the AIU, Kyudenko questioned Koech, who responded that he had "not done anything that would break doping rules." Kyudenko said that while it believed Koech's statement, the provisional suspension would interfere with a period in which he was expected to compete, and as a result, "with deep regret we have decided to terminate his contract with us on June 30, 2025." Japanese Olympic silver race walker Koki Ikeda was in the same way provisionally suspended by the AIU last November due ...

  Following 400 m hurdler Masaki Toyoda 's suspension for a violation of anti-doping regulations , the Fujitsu corporate team published a statement on its website, including comments from Toyoda's legal team , explaining the ruling and the circumstances surrounding the case. Toyoda was a member of the 2019 Doha World Championships team and holds a best of 48.87. Early in the morning of May 19, 2022, the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) conducted a doping test of Toyoda. The prohibited substance trenbolone was detected in urine taken during the test, resulting in a two-year suspension that began May 21, 2022. He did not compete at the National Track and Field Championships the next month. The amount of trenbolone detected in Toyoda's urine sample was 1.4 ng/ml, well below the minimum analytical precision of 2.5 ng/ml required by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for analytical equipment. As a general rule, if a non-specified prohibited substance such as trenbolone is dete...

  On April 8 the Japan Sports Arbitration Agency upheld a two-year doping suspension against 2019 Doha World Championships team member Masaki Toyoda , 26, of the Fujitsu corporate team, rejecting an appeal from the Japan Anti-Doping Agency for a stricter sentence. Metabolites of the prohibited substance trenbolone were detected in a urine sample taken from Toyoda during a drug test in May, 2022. After a hearing, on Jan. 5 this year the Japan Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel determined that Toyoda would be given a two-year suspension back-dated to start on May 21, 2022.  JADA filed a complaint with the JSAA arguing that Toyoda's use of prohibited substance had been intentional and that a four-year suspension beginning on June 21, 2022 would be appropriate. In response, the JSAA ruled that since trenbolone would be of no benefit to a 400 m hurdler Toyoda's intake of the substance had been unintentional, and upheld the original two-year suspension. source article: https://www.jiji...

Following up the pair of silvers and single bronze medal on the first two days of track and field competition at the 2019 Napoli Summer Universiade , women's javelin national champion Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon Univ.) was the only Japanese athlete to win a medal on the third and fourth day of the international competition, throwing 60.15 m to take silver behind Lithuanian gold medalist Liveta Jasiunaite 's winning 60.36 m throw. A gold medalist in the men's 4x100 m at the 2017 Universiade, Jun Yamashita (Tsukuba Univ.) was 0.03 from a bronze in the men's 200 m this time around, running 20.58 (+0.5 m/s) behind Ireland's Marcus Lawler . Paulo Andre Camilo (Brazil) won gold in 20.28. Masaki Toyoda (Hosei Univ.) was also 4th in the men's 400 m hurdles, running 49.27. Alison Santos (Brazil) led all three medalists under 49 seconds with a 48.57 for gold. The three other Japanese finalists over the third and fourth days all finish 6th through 8th in their event...

The sprints and hurdles are where Japan is at its strongest outside the marathon. With everything pointing toward next year's Tokyo Olympics it's an interesting repetition of history that the two most exciting events right now are the same ones that saw Japan's first-ever Olympians back in 1912, the men's marathon and the men's 100 m. And all hail the new king in the 100 m. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Univ. of Florida) is the national record holder and heavy-duty favorite to take the win at this weekend's National Track and Field Championships . If he wins he's guaranteed a spot at the Doha World Championships. Likewise for his predecessor as NR holder, Yoshihide Kiryu (Nissay) and the newest addition to the top level of Japanese sprinting, Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko). The currently #2-ranked Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) is sadly a DNS, leaving it pretty much up to these three guys. But there's so much depth these days that even if one of them craps out Ja...

The JOC has announced a team of 42, 16 women representing 11 universities and 26 men from 13 universities, for track and field competition at next month's 30th anniversary Napoli Universiade . Jun Yamashita (Tsukuba Univ.) is the only returning medalist from the 2017 Universiade on the Japanese team, part of last time's gold medal-winning men's 4x100 m lineup. But medal chances are good in the men's and women's half marathons, both areas of traditional strength, in the men's 20 km race walk, where Masatora Kawano (Toyo Univ.) and Koki Ikeda (Toyo Univ.) have the 2nd and 3rd-best times in the world so far this year, the men's long jump, where Yuki Hashioka (Nihon Univ.) is tied for 4th-best in the world, the women's javelin throw, with Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon Univ.) throwing 8th-best in the world this season, the men's 400 m hurdles, where Masaki Toyoda (Hosei Univ.) is ranked 18th in the world this season, and the men's pole vault, with M...

by Brett Larner live streaming courtesy of Inter-High School Television The 68th National High School Track and Field Championships kick off today in Wakayama.  All four Japanese medalists from this month's World Youth Championships, girls' javelin gold medalist Haruka Kitaguchi (Hokkaido Asahikawa Higashi H.S.), boys' 100 m and 200 m championships record-setting double gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) and boys' 400 m hurdles silver and bronze medalists Ryusei Fujii (Kokura Kogyo H.S.) and Masaki Toyoda (Rakunan H.S.), are on the entry lists along with 2014 Youth Olympics girls' 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Musembi Takamatsu (Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.), boys' 10000 m race walk gold medalist Minoru Onogawa (Tokyo Jitsugyo H.S.) and boys' 100 m silver medalist Kenta Oshima (Tokyo H.S.). Most eyes will be on Sani Brown, who is set to run at the Beijing World Championships next month aged just 16, but with just 0.10 separating ...

by Brett Larner videos by Akiko Sani Brown After setting boys' 400 m hurdles world youth leads in the heats and semifinals at the World Youth Championships, Japan's Ryusei Fujii (Kokura Kogyo H.S.) and Masaki Toyoda (Rakunan H.S.) added to the country's medal total in the final to cap the fourth day of competition.  Both delivering PB performances, Fujii and Toyoda were unable to match a brilliant world youth leading 49.11 from Norman Grimes (U.S.A.) but took silver and bronze, Fujii in 50.33 and Toyoda in 50.53.  4th placer Rivaldo Leacock (Barbados) likewise turned in a PB of 51.13, an indication of how good the competition up front was. The other Japanese performance of the day came in the boys' 200 m semifinals.  Despite a 1.7 m/s headwind, 100 m gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) ran 20.62 to win his semifinal, just 0.06 seconds off his best and 0.12 seconds off the Beijing World Championships qualifying standard.  His nearest c...