japan running news

There's already been a lot going on on the track since the start of July, so let's get to it. The women's 100 mH was the main event at the July 5 Fuse Sprint meet in Tottori, with Hitomi Nakajima turning in the 3rd-fastest time of her career, 12.75 (-0.4), for the win, a time only one other Japanese woman has ever beaten. Yumi Tanaka and Masumi Aoki both turned in quality performances too at 12.89 and 12.97 for 2nd and 3rd. All-time Japanese #4 Midori Mikase had a good one in the women's 100 m too, winning in 11.36 (+0.7). The Hokuren Distance Challenge series kicked off July 4 in Chitose . Tuning up for her 1500-5000-10000 triple at September's Nagoya Asian Games, Nozomi Tanaka won the 1500 m in 4:08.53, then came back to win the 5000 m in a 15:00.61 season best. Bigger news was 3000 mSC NR holder Miu Saito in 2nd, running a PB 15:02.68 to come in at all-time Japanese #8. Collegiate record holder Richard Etir led the men's 5000 m in a 13:08.44 SB, with ...

The performance of the 2nd day of Japan's 110th National Track and Field Championships came c/o the latest monster to come out of Kyoto's Rakunan H.S. , 400 m hurdler Taiju Goto . In the opening round heats Goto, who turned 17 last month, closed hard to win his heat in 48.31, a PB by nearly a second and the fastest-ever U18 time anywhere in the world. And at only 0.42 off the senior NR held by the great Dai Tamesue , there's a lot of optimism for more in the final and the rest of the season. Another great performance came in the men's 200 m heats, where Soshi Mizukubo moved up to all-time #2 on the Japanese lists with a 20.07 (+0.5) PB to win Heat 3, 0.04 off another antique NR held by another legend, Shingo Suetsugu . By comparison the 100 m seemed pretty tame, with veteran Shuhei Tada scoring his first national title in 5 years in only 10.17 (+0.1) in what seems like an off-year for the event in Japan. After leading the women's 200 m heats in 23.01 (+0.1) Abiga...

It was a pale shadow of the results at the Keqiao Diamond League meet a day earlier, where Rachid Muratake was the only Japanese athlete in action at 3rd in 13.18 (+0.1) in the men's 110 mH, but the men's 3000 m at Sunday's Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo turned out to be the race of the meet. Collegiate 5000 m, 10000 m and half marathon record holder Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) did pacing duty through 2000 m in 2:33 and 5:07, almost dead-even with Suguru Osako 's 2014-era NR of 7:40.09. When Etir stepped off Yu Shibata (Josai Univ.) stepped up as the surprise leader, pushing hard to keep the NR in range and dropping everyone except corporate leaguers Ryuto Igawa (Asahi Kasei) and Nagiya Mori (Honda). Both had the wheels to run Shibata down over the last 200 m, and Mori had the honor of becoming the first Japanese man under 7:40, winning in a new NR of 7:38.98. Igawa and Shibata both got there too, Igawa 2nd in 7:39.36 and Shibata 3rd in 7:39.51, the fast...

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...

Both heats of the women's 5000 m saw the expected sight of Japanese athletes trying to fronton their way to the final. In Heat 1 both Yuma Yamamoto and Nozomi Tanaka went out hot on sub-15 pace. Yamamoto eventually faded to 18th of 20 finishers in 15:36.29, but NR holder Tanaka managed to ride the momentum to 5th in 14:47.14 to make the cut of 8 qualifiers. After a good run in the 10000 m Ririka Hironaka tried to frontrun Heat 2 solo on sub-15 pace, but while she a lead of 7 seconds at 2000 m and all 8 qualifiers ran between 14:56 and 14:57 Hironaka dropped to 13th in 15:10.68. 1.88 m was what it took to make the women's high jump final, but even though Nagisa Takahashi hit that mark her missed attempts ranked her 11th in qualification group A and 22nd overall, not enough to make the list of 16 qualifiers. The NR holder while still in high school and the only Japanese woman to have broken 2 minutes, Rin Kubo took 7th in Heat 3 of the 800 m in 2:02.84 in her first major int...

A couple of unexpected qualifiers add to the numbers of Japanese athletes in action on day 6 of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships . 19:05 - Women's 5000 m Heats Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 14:31.88 -  1st, Nationals Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:12.97 -  7th, Nationals Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 15:05.69 -  2nd, Nationals Prognosis : NR holder Tanaka should make it through to the final, but the decline in her last kick this season and evident in the 1500 m heats decreases her chances in a slower race. Yamamoto is in the same heat as Tanaka and doesn't have a realistic chance, but Hironaka could get through in the second heat after a great run in the 10000 m. 19:15 - Women's High Jump Qualification Nagisa Takahashi (Senko) - 1.92 m -  2nd, Nationals Prognosis : Takahashi was a host country addition to the field and is ranked near its bottom, so it would probably take at least a PB for her to make the final. 19:55 -  Women's 800 m Heats Rin Kubo ...

Without an in-country Diamond League meet Sunday's Seiko Golden Grand Prix at the Tokyo Olympics stadium is the main event of the Japanese outdoor season. Along with the Asian Championships in South Korea in 2 weeks and July's National Championships, this is one of the best chances for Japanese athletes to score some serious world rankings points to boost their chances of making the home team for September's Tokyo World Championships. Set to be sunny in the morning, for most of the meet it looks like it'll be cloudy but hot and humid with temps peaking at 30˚ and high humidity after rain most of the day on Saturday. TVer is streaming the first part of the meet , the women's and men's javelin throw and 3000 m, men's 100 m, women's high jump and men's long jump, here starting at 10:46 a.m. Japan time, with the rest of the meet streaming here starting at 10:51 a.m. and broadcast on TBS starting at 1:00 p.m. If you've got a VPN you should be good ...

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...

Japan's National Track and Field Championships and U20 National Track and Field Championships, doubling as its trials for the Paris Olympics team, got rolling Thursday at Niigata's Denka Big Swan Stadium. Highlights below, complete results here . Finals Men's 3000 m SC Final One of the favorites, Seiya Sunada fell on the barrier coming into the home straight on the second lap and ultimately finished 2nd to last. Yutaro Niinae took over after a 2:52 first 1000 m and led the rest of the way, pushing the pace until by the bell it was just him, Chuo University 's 19-year-old Daichi Shibata and mile NR holder Ryoma Aoki . All three were still together in the last 100 m, but Aoki had the gear to win it in 8:24.21, his first time under 8:30 since last October. Shibata was next in 8:24.68, a PB by 18 seconds, and Niinae 3rd in 8:25.45, a 3-second PB. Already 27th of 36 in the Paris quota, Aoki is pretty much a lock to make the Paris Olympics along with NR holder Ryuji Miura...

Japan's Olympic trials, doubling as the National Championships and National U20 Championships , start tomorrow at Niigata's massive Denka Big Swan Stadium. In a lot of events it's more of a question of whether anyone is going to make the Paris team than who is going to fill the three spots, but it's still a National Championships and there's a lot of good competition ahead. Live results will be here . Breaking down the senior events on Thursday's schedule with top people making the starting lists: Finals Men's Hammer Throw Final  - 15:00 Defending national champ Shota Fukuda  is the only one close to the Paris quota of 32, currently at 39th. A win close to his 73.91 m season best would put him just 2 or 3 points out of the quota. Ryota Kashimura  and Tatsuto Nakagawa  have both thrown over 72 m recently and could take the national title away if Fukuda is off his best. Shota Fukuda (Sumitomo Denko) - 73.91 m SB / PB Ryota Kashimura (Yamada Holdings) - 72.92 m...

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...