japan running news

After dropping out of a shot at the world record at last month's Shibamata 100 km , 2022 World Championships silver medalist Jumpei Yamaguchi (Eldoreso) was back to give it another go at Sunday's Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon in Hokkaido. Running into a 1~2 m/s headwind for much of the race, Yamaguchi started fast, splitting 35:55 at 10 km, just on track for sub-6 hours. '22 gold medalist and Shibamata winner Haruki Okayama (Comodi Iida), two-time world champ Hideaki Yamauchi (Hamamatsu Hotniks), 2017 Lake Saroma winner Tatsuya Itagaki (Tokinosumika) and others went with him, but by 30 km it was down to just Yamauchi, Itagaki and Okayama in 1:47:48. After hitting the marathon point in 2:31:39, still sub-6 pace, Okayama fell off and ultimately dropped out. Itagaki stayed with Yamaguchi until 60 km in 3:37:09 before letting go. As the temperature hit 20˚ under cloudless skies and climbed on to 22˚ Yamaguchi's 10 km splits slowed into the 37-minute range, and the m...

Relative newcomers Haruki Okayama and Jumpei Yamaguchi ran big PBs to take the top two spots in the men's race at the IAU 100 km World Championships Saturday in Berlin. 2018 world champ Hideaki Yamauchi was a last-minute scratch after testing positive for COVID-19, leaving Okayama, Yamaguchi and world record holder Nao Kazami to take things out hard in a quintet with Brazilian Felipe Silva and French athlete Guillaume Ruel . Ruel soon broke away to open a lead of around 2 minutes by halfway. Behind him, a South African trio caught up to the Japanese group, prompting Yamaguchi to take off in pursuit of the lead. On every 7.5 km lap he closed around 30 seconds on Ruel, finally coming within 20 seconds at around 70 km. But just as he was about to take the lead, Yamaguchi ran into trouble, at exactly the time that Okayama drove by hard to move into 1st instead of him. Running the 100 km distance for only the second time, by 77.5 km he had almost a minute lead over Ruel and never ...

The IAU 100 km World Championships are this Saturday in Berlin, Germany, and Japan has sent strong teams with every woman under 7:40 and 2 of the 3 men under 6:20 for the 100 km distance. 2018 gold medalist Hideaki Yamauchi (Hamamatsu Hotniks RC) is out after testing positive for coronavirus, but world record holder Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo) remains to lead the men. The fastest non-Japanese athlete on the entry list is American Rajpaul Pannu at 6:28:31. Considering that 3rd Japanese man Junpei Yamaguchi (Eldoreso) has run 6:22:35 it looks like the potential for a Japanese men's podium sweep is there, but things are never that easy. 2018 bronze medalist Mai Fujisawa (Sapporo Excel AC) and 7:27:46 runner Miho Nakata (Chiba T&F Assoc.) lead the women. Only three other women in the field, European record holder Dominika Stelmach (Poland), Radka Churanova (Czech Republic) and Camille Chaigneau (France), have broken 7:30, giving Nakata a good shot at an individual medal if ...

On June 17 the JAAF announced its team of four men and four women for the 31st IAU 100 km World Championships to be held Aug. 27 in Berlin, Germany. Held every two years, the last edition of the 100 m World Championships was scheduled for 2020 in  Winschoten, the Netherlands, but was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. 2018 gold medalist Hideaki Yamauchi  (Hamamatsu Hotniks RC) and world record holder Nao Kazami  (Aisan Kogyo) lead the Japanese men's team, with 2018 bronze medalist Mai Fujisawa  (Sapporo Excel AC) leading the women's team. The full team rosters: Men Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo) - 6:09:14 (Lake Saroma 2018) Haruki Okayama (Comodi Iida) - 6:16:47 (Shibamata 2022) Hideaki Yamauchi (Hamamatsu Hotniks RC) - 6:18:22 (Los Alcazares, 2016) Junpei Yamaguchi (Eldoreso) - 6:22:38 (Shibamata 2021) Women Mai Fujisawa (Sapporo Excel AC) - 7:37:56 (Lake Saroma 2018) Aiko Kanematsu (Team RxL) - 7:38:41 (Shibamata 2022) Miho Nakata (Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 7:40:06...

With two big ekidens, a half marathon, two track meets and previews for two major ekidens in the first three days of 2022 still to come this year, we're going to take advantage of a bit of a lull in the action to take care of some year-end stories.  First up is a list of JRN's 10 most-read stories this year, from an inside look at life in the corporate leagues to a cool new indoor track to the end of the elite men-only marathon format in Japan. Thanks as always for your support and for making these your picks.   1.  Letting Go of Preconceived Ideas - Australian Melissa Duncan on Her Time in the Corporate Leagues - Mar. 8 Australian Melissa Duncan  ran for the Shiseido  women's corporate team for two years. After her contract was up and she returned to Australia she wrote about the highs and lows of her experience. Her article provoked strong reactions both in Japan and abroad. In the following season Shiseido finished 2nd in the Queens Ekiden corporate women's ...

This weekend sees the last big marathon of the year, the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon . A longtime lesser cousin to the dearly departed Fukuoka International Marathon, Hofu is set to step up in importance after the demise of both Fukuoka and the Saitama International Women's Marathon. The Kobe Marathon may come back, but especially for women Hofu should take on a bigger role on the calendar in the years to come. The women's race is still small at this stage but has some decent talent led by Japan's fastest woman of 2019, Reia Iwade  (Adidas). 7-time winner Hisae Yoshimatsu  (Shunan City Hall) is on the list but tells JRN that she is injured and will not run, instead refocusing on February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon. The men's race, featuring pacing by Fukuoka winner Michael Githae  (Suzuki) is mostly about whether former Hakone Ekiden uphill great Daichi Kamino (Cell Source) can finally pull off a good marathon. Now coached by Olympian and 2:07 marathoner Arata Fuji...

Nao Kazami  (Aisan Kogyo), the undisputed world record holder in the men's 100 km, took another title Saturday in Tokyo with a win at the Shibamata 100 km . Running two laps of a 25 km out-and-back course along the Edo River in high humidity but moderate temperatures, Kazami had company from Hiroki Takashima  (GASC) and the debuting Junpei Yamaguchi  (Eldoreso) through 60 km, all three passing halfway in 3:17 flat and keeping the pace steady for the next 10 km.  Takashima was the first to fall off just after 60 km, and a surge from Kazami just before 65 km was enough to put Yamaguchi away. Kazami covered the 5 km from 65 to 70 km in 18:34, about a minute faster than his splits up to that point, and while he slowed incrementally the rest of the away he still had it in him to drop a negative split of over two minutes to win in 6:31:47.  柴又100K、JP2位でゴールしました！皆様、応援ありがとうございました🙌 pic.twitter.com/Z9JVVL1LQX — ELDORESO (@eldoreso) October 9, 2021 After getting dropped ...

American Jim Walmsley  gave the men's world record set two and a half years ago by Japan's Nao Kazami  a serious scare this weekend at the Project Carbon X 2 100 km. A quick look at their splits shows two different race strategies, Kazami essentially going out hard and slowing the second half and Walmsley running the first half more conservatively and then trying to negative split. Both had relatively slow starts before zeroing in on their first half target pace, Kazami settling in around 36:20 per 10 km and Walmsley around 36:50 until they hit halfway. At that point Kazami was projecting a 6:04:10 world record, with Walmsley's 50 km split projecting to a record of 6:08:30. From there they swapped, Kazami going 36:52 from 50 km to 60 km and Walmsley 36:22. That proved Walmsley's fastest split of the day, as although he stayed close to that pace through 80 km  he began to slow for every remaining 10 km split until the finish. In Kazami's case he hit a rough patch bet...

Race director Tad Hayano wanted records at the 2020 Tokyo Marathon , and records he got. Despite the withdrawal of almost the entire international women's and men's wheelchair fields, both races saw Japanese athletes solo new course records.  Tsubasa Kina and Tomoki Suzuki  tuned up for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics with new records of records of 1:40:00 and 1:21:52, reaping the rewards of a doubled prize money purse. In the women's marathon, Kenyan-born 2019 Prague Marathon winner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (Israel) kicked away from a tight pack race at 30 km to win in 2:17:45, a course record and new Israeli national record. With three Japanese men controlling the pace through 30 km the race stayed right on the hot end of the planned 3:17~18/km pace up to that point, burning off competitors including defending champion Ruti Aga (Ethiopia) and Frankfurt Marathon winner Valary Jemeli Aiyabei (Kenya) one by one until it was only Salpeter, two-time Tokyo winner Birhane Diba...

100 km world record holder Nao Kazami finished 3rd in his Comrades Marathon debut, the best-ever Japanese placing in the event's 94-year history. Complete results and more here .

https://www.iol.co.za/sport/athletics/japans-kazami-better-than-comrades-sixth-place-24573234

JRN's ten most-read stories in the best year in Japanese men's marathoning history and one of the best for Japanese women . 1. How it Happened - Apr. 20 Inside the first Japanese men's  Boston Marathon  win in 31 years. JRN's all-time most-read story. Based on actual events. Preview . 2. Kazami Breaks 100 km World Record at Lake Saroma - June 24 Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo) broke the longstanding men's 100 km world record on the same course where it had been set previously. The top five all broke 6:30, with 3rd and 4th-placers Takehiro Gyoba and Hideaki Yamauchi going on to medal at the 100 km World Championships . 3. Kawauchi Breaks Sub-2:20 World Record in Sub-Zero Temperatures - Jan. 1 Running solo in below-freezing temperatures, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) became the first person to run under 2:20 in the marathon 76 times with a 2:18:59 course record win at the Marshfield Road Runners New Year's Day Marathon. 4. Guinness Certifi...

It was a pretty good year for the Japanese men, in the marathon at least. Not so much on the track and less so in the half marathon, but very decent in the marathon. On the track, the fastest 5000 m time was only 13:29.11 by national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) and in the 10000 m 27:55.85 by all-time #2 man Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei). With the IAAF announcing 13:22.50 and 27:40.00 standards for next year's Doha World Championships after doing an about-face on its plans to base everything on world rankings it's pretty likely that, for the second World Championships in a row, there won't be a single Japanese man running either distance. Of the 4 still-active Japanese men to have ever bettered the 5000 m standard nobody has done it in the 3 and 1/2 years since Osako and Yoroizaka did in July, 2015. Likewise in the 10000 m, where none of the 5 currently active men to have cracked 27:40 has done it since 2015. Neither distance saw any me...

The JAAF is asking for fan votes on the MVP of Japanese athletics in 2018. Vote here . Fill out the voting form by Friday Japan time as follows: e-mail address username male (男性) or female (女性) age If you follow the JAAF, select how. You have a chance to win prizes. Choose A for tickets to the JAAF Athletics Awards Dec. 17 in Tokyo. Choose B for a JAAF calendar. Choose C for a personalized message if your pick wins. Choose the athlete you're voting for (see below). Enter your reason for choosing that athlete. submit Worthy contenders among JAAF-nomiated long distance athletes include: Hiroto Inoue:   井上大仁（MHPS）  - 2:06:54 at Tokyo Marathon and first Asian Games marathon gold medal by Japanese man in 32 years, neither in Vaporfly 4%. Yuki Kawauchi:   川内優輝（埼玉県庁）-  First-ever Japanese winner of an Abbott World Marathon Majors race and first Japanese Boston Marathon winner in 31 years. Nao Kazami:   風見尚（愛三工業） - Men's 100 km world record. Suguru ...

The Japanese men and women dominated the 2018 IAU 100 km World Championships in Sveti Martin na Muri, Crotia on Saturday, winning both team gold medals and the individual men's gold and silver and women's bronze medals. Finishing in the inverse order they did at June's historic Lake Saroma 100 km , the men went 1-2-4-6, Lake Saroma 4th placer and defending world champion  Hideaki Yamauchi winning the race outright in 6:28:05 and Lake Saroma 3rd-placer Takehiro Gyoba taking silver in 6:32:51. Two-time Comrades Marathon champ Bongmusa Mthembu of South Africa, 2nd to Yamauchi last time out, was the only non-Japanese athlete to make the men's podium, beating Lake Saroma runner-up Koji Hayasaka by just over two minutes to take bronze in 6:33:47 to Hayasaka's 6:36:05. All three scoring Japanese men broke 4:00/km to give the men's an incredible score of 19:37:01, nearly an hour faster than the silver-earning South Africa team. Germany had the distinction of ta...

Higashiura resident and Aisan Kogyo employee Nao Kazami , 35, will represent Japan at the September 8 IAU 100 km World Championships ultramarathon in Croatia. An amateur runner with a regular full-time job, Kazami set the 100 km world record in June. "I'm ready for the next challenge," he says. "I'm not satisfied with just the time. I want to win the title too." The term ultramarathon refers to any race longer than the standard 42.195 km distance. On June 24 at the 33rd Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon Kazami beat the world record for the distance which had stood unbroken for 20 years by 4 minutes and 19 seconds. That performance was enough to earn him a place at the World Championships. It was only his second time to finish a 100 km race. Born in Tokyo, Kazami began to run long distance while in junior high school. He went to ekiden powerhouse Komazawa University but never made its starting team for any of the major competitions. After graduating in...

It's Sunday, June 24. At the western end of Japan's main island of Honshu the competition at the Yamaguchi National Track and Field Championships has been heating up. On this day alone, the final day of the Championships, the national records have fallen in both the men's 110 m hurdles and men's discus throw. On the very same day, far to the northeast of Yamaguchi at Lake Saroma, Hokkaido, another new record was born . After standing for 20 years, the 100 km ultramarathon world record has finally fallen. The man who accomplished this deed is Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo). The previous world record of 6:13:33 was set at Lake Saroma by Takahiro Sunada (Sekisui Kagaku) in 1998. Kazami improved that mark by more than four minutes with a new record of 6:09:14.  "I was targeting place more than time," said Kazami of the race where he needed to finish in the top four to have a chance of being selected for the Japanese national team for this year's Croatia World ...

Running on the same course where Japan's Takahiro Sunada set the road 100 km world record of 6:13:33 twenty years ago, 2:17:23 marathoner Nao Kazami   bested a deep and competitive field to win the Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon in a world record 6:09:14. Part of a front group of at least five that went through the marathon split in 2:33:36, on pace for 6:04:01, Kazami lost touch with the lead as rivals Koji Hayasaka and Takehiko Gyoba surged just before halfway to open a roughly 30 second lead that lasted until nearly 75 km. But in the last quarter of the race Kazami, a graduate of Hakone Ekiden powerhouse Komazawa University , was the only one who could sustain anything close to the early pace, overtaking Hayasaka and Gyoba before pulling away to open a lead of over 11 minutes. Kazami's mark took more than 4 minutes off the world record, and he also bettered the 100 km track world record of 6:10:20 set in 1978 well before he was born by the late Don Ritchie . ...