japan running news

Indoor track isn't much of a thing in Japan, but there's still a small national team at this weekend's Nanjing World Indoor Championships . High jumpers Naoto Hasegawa and Sota Haraguchi were the only Japanese athletes in action in final on Friday's opening day. Hasegawa became the first Japanese man to make top 8 in a World Indoor Championships high jump final, taking 7th with a 2.20 m SB. Haraguchi was 13th of 13 with a 2.14 m SB clearance. In the men's 400 m Fuga Sato made it through the opening heats with a 46.60 SB for 2nd in Heat 3, while Ryo Yoshikawa ran only 47.47 for 5th in Heat 2 and did not advance. Sato was eliminated in the semifinals after he was last in SF1 in 48.31. Yoshiki Kinashi and Naoki Nishioka both made it through the men's 60 m heats, Kinashi running 6.60 m for 2nd in Heat 8 and Nishioka 6.67 for 3rd in Heat 4. In the semifinals both were eliminated, Nishioka improving to 6.62 for 4th in SF3 and Kinashi running 6.63 for 5th in SF2....

Only one Japanese athlete was in action in finals on the second day of the Lima World U20 Championships . After making it through the heats and semifinals in the men's 100 m, Naoki Nishioka turned in the highest placing by a Japanese athlete so far in Lima, taking 5th in the final in 10.43 (-0.9). South Africans Bayanda Walaza and Bradley Nkoana took gold and bronze in 10.19 and 10.26, with Thailand's Puripol Boonson splitting it down the middle with a 10.22 for silver. In qualifying rounds: Kentaro Shirahata and Ryota Oishi both moved on to the men's 400 m semifinals, Shirahata winning Heat 5 in a 46.45 PB and Oishi only 4th in Heat 3 but picking up a time qualifying spot in 47.46. Shirahata was back in the semifinals with another PB to win SF2 in 46.30, 2nd among the qualifiers for the final behind American Jayden Davis . Oishi was 5th in SF3 in 48.09 and will not join Shirahata in the final. Koki Terada failed to make it out of the men's 1500 m heats, finishin...

  The 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships kicked off Aug. 27 in Lima, Peru. Top-ranked Japanese woman Kana Mizumoto  was a DNS in the Championships' first final, the women's 5000 m, but teammate Yumi Yamamoto  was the top non-African finisher at 6th, running 16:01.54. But with gold medalist Medina Eisa  of Ethiopia running a 14:39.71 championships record Yamamoto was over 36 seconds outside the medals. All three men's 5000 m medalists ran 13:41 with Kenyan Andrew Kiptoo Alamisi  taking gold in 13:41.14. That was slightly faster than the PBs of Yamato Hamaguchi  and Kaito Matsui , but both were far below potential with Hamaguchi 13th in 14:16.29 and Matsui last in 15:31.85. In qualifying rounds, both 800 m national record holders Rin Kubo  and Ko Ochiai  easily made the semifinals, Kubo the fastest overall in the women's heats with a 2:04.53 and Ochiai 2nd in his heat in 1:50.67. Togo Yoshizawa  also advanced, 3rd in Heat 3 in 1:51.49 behi...