japan running news

Japan's 110th National Track and Field Championships kicked off Friday at the same stadium that will host September's Asian Games. From an international point of view the biggest result was the return of Paris Olympics women's javelin throw gold medalist Haruka Kitaguchi . After a rough year Kitaguchi threw 62.86 m on her fifth attempt, her best throw since last June's Ostrava Golden Spike meet and enough to give her the win by over a meter. It was still almost 4.5 m short of Kitaguchi's NR, but it was a big step back in the right direction. On the track there were a lot of surprising results on the first day, with multiple meet records, near-misses on MR, and fastest-ever qualifying rounds. The race of the day was the women's 5000 m final, where 4-time national champ and NR holder Nozomi Tanaka tried to make it 5 in a row. With the race going at 15:15-20 pace Tanaka broke away with 4 laps to go, opening a substantial lead over Aichi local Yuma Yamamoto and t...

The Michitaka Kinami Memorial Meet in Osaka was the weekend's main event on the track, and women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota (Art Home) led the way with its biggest result. After struggling with injuries the last couple of years, Morota was back with a 4.50 m national record on her 1st attempt at the height, bettering the 4.48 m NR she set back in 2023 and outdoing 2nd place by 25 cm. Morota packed it in at that point and didn't try for 4.55 m, but as she looked back to peak form expect to see her try to take the record further this season. Other highlights from Kinami: Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) and Morgan Mitchell (Australia) both broke the meet record in the women's 400 m, Matsumoto getting the win in 52.24 and Mitchell 2nd in 52.27. Jaylah Hancock-Cameron (Australia) outran Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) for the win in the women's 800 m 2:01.85 to 2:04.09, while NR holder Rin Kubo (Sekisui Kagaku) struggled in the start of her corporate league ...

With Kana Kobayashi the top-placing Japanese woman in the Tokyo World Athletics Championships marathon yesterday at 7th, hopes were high that the men would come through with a medal in the event they care the most about. But alas. Yuya Yoshida was clearly nowhere near his Fukuoka CR-breaking form and was off the back of the lead pack by halfway, ultimately finishing 34th in 2:16:58. Paris Olympics marathon trials winner Naoki Koyama lasted longer but could still only manage a 2:13:42 for 23rd. The surprise was debut marathon NR holder Ryota Kondo , who ran 2:10:53 for 11th in only the second marathon of his career. It's back to the drawing board, but with the JAAF having revised the qualifying standards for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials to prioritize time even more over competitive performance ability, there's not much reason to be optimistic that Japanese marathoners are going to be relevant in championship races anytime in the foreseeable future. Anyway, Tanzanian Alp...

Day 3 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships kicks off with what will probably be the most-viewed event on domestic TV. A quick look at Japanese athletes competing throughout the day: 7:30 - Men's Marathon Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 2:05:16 -  1st, Fukuoka Int'l 2024 Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:05:39 -  2nd, Osaka 2025 Naoki Koyama (Honda) - 2:06:33 -  3rd, Osaka 2024 Prognosis : If we had to pick one Japanese athlete we'd most like to see win a medal it's Yoshida, someone who's risen from benchwarmer in college to Fukuoka CR holder. He's been almost invisible this year so it's hard to know where he's at, but if his second half is anything like it was in Fukuoka then he's a contender. Kondo is a wildcard, with a 2:05:39 debut and narrow miss on the win in Osaka this year, but in snow and cold far removed from what Tokyo will be like Monday. Koyama seemed almost no-miss up through his PB in Osaka last year but has struggled since then and controv...

Day two of the Gumi Asian Athletics Championships got started with a pair of Japanese medals in the men's hammer throw . China's Wang Qi built up from an opening throw of 69.80 m, throwing further every attempt until his winning 74.50 m in the last round. Shota Fukuda sat in 2nd at 71.89 m after his second attempt, but teammate Tatsuto Nakagawa overtook him with a final throw of 71.97 m for silver, knocking Fukuda back to bronze. NR holder Misaki Morota took bronze in the women's pole vault , clearing 4.13 m. China's Niu Chunge dominated, tying Morota's NR of 4.48 m for gold, with Xu Huiqin taking silver at 4.23 m. Japan's Akari Osakaya was 6th at 3.98 m. One of Japan's anticipated golds didn't materialize in the men's 400 m , where Qatari Ammar Ismail Y Ibrahim outran NR holder Kentaro Sato for the win in 45.33. Sato held off Sri Lanka's Kalinda Kumarage for silver 45.50 to 45.55, with Fuga Sato 5th in 45.59. But the first Japanese gol...

The grand prix distance events were absent from the program this year at the 73rd Hyogo Relay Carnival , with the top performances in the women's 5000 m and men's 10000 m Asics Challenge races going to steepler Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu) in 15:49.48 and Japan-based Kenyan Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) in 28:12.42. But there were a lot of new meet records, and one national record. Ryosuke Kusumi (Shiga) set a T37-class NR of 58.35 m in the para men's 400 m. Kairi Ikeno (Suma Gakuen H.S.) came less than 2 seconds short of a new high school record in the women's 2000 m , beating her own MR from last year by over 3 seconds in 5:55.36, almost 17 seconds ahead of 2nd place. The top 5 all broke or tied the men's high jump meet record, with both Yuto Seko (FAAS) and Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) clearing 2.25 m and Takashi Eto (Kobe Digital Labo), Chao-Hsuan Fu (Taiwan) and Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex RC) clearing 2.20 m. Yuki Hashioka (Fujitsu) won the men...

With World Athletics' update of its Road to Paris rankings , one male and three female athletes have been added to Japan's team for the Paris Olympics, all in mid/long distance events. Left out are the vertical jumps, with women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota and high jumpers Nagisa Takahashi and Naoto Hasegawa missing by one or two places each. Men 100 m Abdul Hakim Sani Brown - 9.97 PB / 9.99 SB Ryuichiro Sakai - 10.02 PB / 10.10 SB Akihiro Higashida - 10.10 PB / 10.14 SB (4x100 m) - Hiroki Yanagita - 10.02 PB / SB (4x100 m) - Yoshihide Kiryu - 9.98 PB / 10.20 SB (4x100 m) - Shota Yamamoto - 10.16 PB / SB -  alternate 200 m Towa Uzawa - 20.23 PB / 20.26 SB Shota Iizuka - 20.11 PB / 20.46 SB Koki Ueyama - 20.26 PB / 20.47 SB 400 m Yuki Joseph Nakajima - 45.04 PB / 45.16 SB Kentaro Sato - 44.77 PB / 45.21 SB Fuga Sato - 44.88 PB / 45.61 PB (4x400 m) - Takuho Yoshizu - 45.57 PB / SB (4x400 m) - Kaito Kawabata - 45.73 PB / 45.77 SB (4x400 m) - Yudai Nishi - 20.43 PB...

Great conditions on the second day of Japan's National Track and Field Championships , U20 National Championships and Paris Olympics trials helped athletes set new National Championship meet records in the women's pole vault, men's 400 mH, men's and women's 1500 m, and men's 5000 m, with three of the five record setters and guaranteeing themselves places on the Paris Olympics team. Complete results here . Women's Pole Vault Final National record holder Misaki Morota cleared her minimum goal, the win in 4.31 m to score enough points to move from 33rd to 32nd in the 32-deep Paris Olympic quota. Morota took two attempts to get over 4.30 m, but on her first try at a Japanese National Championships meet record 4.41 m she got it done. That gave her enough points to move to 30th, but it would take clearing 4.50, 2 cm higher than Morota's NR, to move to 29th. That proved to be out of range, leaving Morota in good position but still waiting to see the outcome of...

Japan's Olympic trials,  National Championships and National U20 Championships , continue Friday in Niigata at Denka Big Swan Stadium. Live results will be here . What's on the menu: Finals Women's Discus Throw Final - 14:00 2023 national champion Maki Saito is at 45th in the Paris rankings, and even a win around her 58.47 PB from March wouldn't crack the top 40. NR holder Nanaka Kori has been off more than on this season and has only thrown over 57 m three times. The win will pretty much come down to the two of them. Maki Saito (Tokai Univ.) - 58.47 m SB / PB Nanaka Kori (Niigata Albirex RC) - 57.85 m SB / 59.03 m PB Minori Tsujikawa (Uchida Yoko AC) - 53.84 m SB / 54.46 m PB Akane Kawaguchi (Wizas) - 52.03 m SB / 54.05 m PB Mika Yamamoto (Kondotech) - 50.06 m SB / 50.51 m PB Natsumi Fujimori (STAC) - 49.53 m SB / 52.97 m PB Women's Pole Vault Final - 17:00 Coming in off a trio of good performances in Canada, NR holder Misaki Morota currently sits at 33rd in t...

An update on standings for Japan's potential team at this summer's Paris Olympic Games a week out from the National Track and Field Championships. Final team nomination in most cases depends on a top 3 finish there, but as of this writing events where Japan could or will field three athletes having cleared the Olympic standard are the men's 110 mH, men's 400 mH, men's 20 kmRW and women's marathon. Other events that will or are likely to have a complete squad of three athletes include the men's 100 m, men's 200 m, men's 400 m, men's high jump, men's marathon, women's 5000 m, women's 10000 m, women's javelin throw, and women's 20 kmRW. Main changes from last week: Women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota won at the Harry Jerome Track Classic at 4.28 m, improving her spot in the Paris quota from 32nd to 31st. Momone Ueda won the Asian Throwing Championships women's javelin throw at 61.32 m, moving up from 23rd to 22n...

An update on standings for Japan's potential team at this summer's Paris Olympic Games. Final team nomination in most cases depends on a top 3 finish at the National Track and Field Championships, but as of this writing events where Japan could or will field three athletes having cleared the Olympic standard are the men's 110 mH, men's 400 mH, men's 20 kmRW and women's marathon. Other events that will or are likely to have a complete squad of three athletes include the men's 100 m, men's 200 m, men's 400 m, men's high jump, men's marathon, women's 5000 m, women's 10000 m, women's javelin throw, and women's 20 kmRW. Main changes from last week: Koki Ueyama moved up to 36th of 48 in the men's 200 m quota, passing Shota Iizuka for #2 Japanese man. Yuta Sakiyama was 2nd in the men's javelin throw at the Josef Odlozil Memorial in Prague and broke into the Paris quota at 32nd of 32. Misaki Morota was 2nd in the women...