japan running news

With Japanese men oddly absent from the 10000 m, the only Japanese athletes in action in finals on the third day of the 2025 FISU World University Games were in the men's 400 m and 400 mH. The chances for a medal looked good in the 400 mH, but Ryosuke Takahashi (Hosei Univ.) came up 0.15 short of bronze with a 49.60 for 4th after coming into the home straight in the lead. Teammate Shota Fuchigami (Waseda Univ.) was 6th in 50.45, with Turkey's Berke Akcam winning gold in 49.29. Kira Hirakawa (Toyo Univ.) had a rough one in the 400 m, finishing last in 46.68 over a second out of the medals after fading in the home straight. South African Lythe Tyresse Pillay turned in a season best 44.84 for gold. In qualifying rounds, Miku Takino (Ritsumeikan Univ.) missed a spot in the women's 400 mH final, running 57.58 for 5th in SF1. Tatsuki Abe (Juntendo Univ.) led the men's 110 mH with a 13.61 (+0.2) to win Heat 1. Hayato Higuchi (Hosei Univ.) made it through on time in 13...

The 2025 FISU World University Games started Monday in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. In the Games' first final, the women's 10000 m, Daito Bunka University 's Sarah Wanjiru of Kenya shaved just over 6 seconds off her PB with a 31:41.80, but it wasn't enough for gold as Slovenian 5000 m and road 5 km and 10 km NR holder Klara Lukan dropped a 31:25.84 Games record and PB for the win. In the race for bronze Spain's Alicia Berzosa Martin outran Meijo University 1st-year Mei Hosomi by a second, 32:00.72 to 32:01.91. Ayaka Maeda (Kansai Univ.) and Wakana Hashimoto (Meijo Univ.) were far back in the field, Maeda running 33:13.83 for 15th and Hashimoto 33:49.84 for 19th. The 18-year-old Hosomi's time was good enough to crack the all-time Japanese U20 top 10 and put her 2nd in the world this year on the U20 lists. In qualifying rounds on the opening day, Shota Fuchigami (Waseda Univ.) and Ryosuke Takahashi (Hosei Univ.) took the top 2 spots in the men's 400 mH heats...

The National University Track and Field Championships wrapped up Sunday with another collegiate record. Following Mao Shimano 's 100 mH hurdle record Saturday , the Toyo University men dominated in the 4x400 m relay final. Running with a completely different lineup from when it set the 3:04.08 meet record 2 years ago, the Toyo team of Rui Yamasaki , Kira Hirakawa , Kentaro Shirahata and Katsuo Tsujiura ran 3:03.64 for the win, 0.07 under the old collegiate record set by Nihon University in 2000 before any of them had been born. The women's 4x400 m final wasn't quite up to collegiate record level, but the top 2 teams still both broke the meet record. Sonoda Gakuen University scored the win in 3:35.41 with a lineup that included Hinata Tochio and Yuzuki Nakao from its 2023 MR-setting lineup with the addition of 2nd-year twins Ayu Yoshii and Mayu Yoshii . Ritsumeikan University was 2nd in 3:36.28, but that was good enough to break SGU's old record of 3:36.71. Af...

Opposite the Hangzhou Asian Games and World Road Running Championships, the Continental Tour Bronze Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup meet took place this weekend in Niigata. The highlight on Saturday came in its last race, the men’s 5000 m A-heat, where 20-year-old Shunsuke Yoshii , a 2nd-year at Hakone Ekiden runner-up Chuo University , ran 13:22.01 for the win after getting quality pacing almost the entire way from pacer Amos Bett (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.). Chuo 4th-year Shota Nakano was 2nd in 13:28.04 and Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) 3rd in 13:29.12. Combined with their older brothers Yamato Yoshii and Kazuki Tamura , Yoshii and Tamura now stand as the fastest and 3rd-fastest brothers over 5000 m in Japanese history. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) handled pacing work in the women’s 5000 m, where Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was the last one left standing at Akidor’s pace with a 15:36.47 for the win. 2nd-placer Yuna Takahashi ran 15:42.37, with 3rd and 4th-place Mikun...

The second day of U20 Asian Championships took place June 5 in Yecheon, South Korea. In the men's triple jump, Minato Miyao (Toyo Univ.) set a new U20 NR of 16.38 m to win the gold medal. The previous U20 record of 16.35 m had stood for 20 years. Miyao began his first year at Toyo in April after graduating from Kyoto's Rakunan H.S. Last summer he took 2nd at the Tokushima National High School Championships, then followed up in November with a 16.13 m high school NR jump at the Kyoto Private Schools Championships. Despite the changes to his lifestyle that came with going to college, at April's Oda Memorial Meet Miyao placed 5th overall and 3rd among Japanese men with a jump of 15.76 m +0.7 m/s. At May's Kanto Regionals he won at 16.12 m +2.8 m/s. At the U20 Asian Championships, Miyao's first jump was 16.08 m into a 2.7 m/s headwind. He duplicated that distance on his fourth attempt and was in the top position at the end of the fifth round. A Chinese athlete moved ...