japan running news

There was a lot of action on the track over Japan's Golden Week holidays. Highlights: Shizuoka International Meet - Fukuroi, 3 May Men's 800 m NR holder Ko Ochiai (Komazawa Univ.) broke his own record with a 1:43.90 win. Daigo Usuki (18 Ginko) and Gakuto Mishima (Nippatsu) both broke the NR in the T20 men's 400 m, Usuki getting the win in 49.08 and Mishima 2nd in 49.15. Lauren Bruce (New Zealand) threw a meet record 67.44 m on her final attempt in the women's hammer throw, but even her shortest throw of 64.31 m was over 3 m better than the rest of the field. Kazuki Kurokawa (Sumitomo Denko) got the men's 400 mH meet record with a 48.50 for the win. Women's 3000 mSC NR holder Miu Saito (Panasonic) won the steeple in 9:31.83, the 2nd-best time in her career so far, despite falling. 2nd through 4th all broke 10 minutes. National University Men's Ekiden Kanto Region Qualifier - Hiratsuka, 4 May The top 8 teams at November's National University Men...

Entry lists are out for the 102nd Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2-3. Performances exploded in the 10000 m and half marathon this year, and Japan's university teams are better than ever. With 21 teams of 16 entrants and 10 starters each, 12 teams have a 10-man 5000 m average under 14 minutes and 3 under 13:45, with 11 teams having at least one runner with a PB under 13:30. In the 10000 m 19 teams have a sub-29 average, 3 are under 28:30, and one, Chuo University , averages an incredible 27:55.98. 13 teams have at least one runner with a PB under 28 minutes, Chuo having 6 and Aoyama Gakuin University 5. 5 teams have a runner under 27:30. 19 of the 21 teams average under 63 for the half marathon and 3 sub-62, with 10 teams having at least one runner under 61 minutes and 2 with someone under 60 minutes. Koku Gakuin University  was ranked 4th at October's Izumo Ekiden , where it won, and 1st at November's National University Ekiden , where it was 4th. At Hakone it's ranked #1, th...

Popular opinion was that 2024 national champion Koku Gakuin University was down on strength this year following the graduation of its two best runners Kiyoto Hirabayashi and Ayumu Yamamoto . But the season-opening Izumo Ekiden earlier this month set people straight. Ranked #4, KGU took the lead early in the 2nd half of the race there and led the rest of the way to win Izumo for the 2nd year in a row. At Sunday's National University Ekiden they're coming into the race ranked #1, the only team in the field with 8 men having 5000 m bests under 14 minutes, 8 under 29 minutes for 10000 m, and 8 under 63 for the half marathon. 7 of those half marathoners are under 62, and an incredible 4 are under 61. With Nationals having 8 legs averaging 13.35 km, the last 2 close to the half marathon in length, chances are good of another KGU win. On paper Chuo University is KGU's closest competitor, but at Izumo Chuo was ranked #1 and finished only 10th. Maybe they'll pull it togethe...

With the best half marathon credentials in the field of 42 Kanto Region university teams, 11 runners with half marathon bests under 64 minutes, Chuo Gakuin University took the top spot at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon, the official qualifying race for January's 102nd Hakone Ekiden. With a 1:00:45 best Hiro Konda let the way for CGU as the top Japanese finisher in the race, running 1:02:04 for 7th overall. Taisei Ichikawa was next at 18th in 1:02:16 and Kotaro Osabe next in 1:02:57 for 38th, and CGU's other 7 scoring members all came through with a good run to give CGU the win in a combined time of 10:32:23, a 10-man average of 1:03:14.30. That was a bit on the slow side given the excellent conditions which were thanks in part to the race starting an hour earlier this year. An all-African lead group took it out hard, splitting 14:25 and 28:43 at 5 km and 10 km. The projected finish time was 1:00:35 at that point, in range of the best Japanese athletes in the filed...

January's Hakone Ekiden has a big impact on the shape of the fall season for Japanese collegiate men. The top 10 teams at Hakone run this past Monday's Izumo Ekiden , where 6 runners per team run an average of 7.5 km. 11th-place and lower run Saturday's Yosenkai, the half marathon used to fill the 10 remaining slots in the Hakone field and the lineup of the select team made up of top-placing individuals from universities that don't qualify as a team. The 42 teams at the Yosenkai can run up to 12 people, with the times of their first 10 finishers adding up to a team score and the 10 fastest teams going on to the big show. At Izumo a lot of the top teams were down on track times this season . At the Yosenkai it's really noticeable how much the level has come up. In 2023 only 2 teams, Daito Bunka University and Tokyo Kokusai University , had a 10-runner 10000 m average under 29 minutes. Last year there were 3, Chuo University , Tokai University and TKU again. This ...

November's National University Ekiden is the second stop of the three-race university men's ekiden season. Even more than the season-opening Izumo Ekiden, it's pretty much a given that however many teams there are in the field from the Tokyo-area Kanto Region, where almost all the best high schoolers go for university in order to have the chance to run the Hakone Ekiden, the top team from outside Kanto will finish behind all of them. Not including two select teams that don't count in scoring, the 15 Kanto teams at last year's Nationals took the top 15 spots in the field of 25 schools. Koku Gakuin University , Komazawa University , Aoyama Gakuin University , Soka University , Waseda University , Josai University , Rikkyo University and Teikyo University filled the 8-podium to earn places at the 2025 National University Ekiden, with the other 7 having to run yesterday's Kanto Region Qualifier alongside 13 other Kanto-area teams to try to make the return trip. ...

Ekiden season rolls on, and for everyone who didn't make the top 10 at the Hakone Ekiden's 100th running this past January that means a trip to western Tokyo's Showa Linen Park this Saturday to line up on the runway of the air defense base next door to try to qualify for the 101st Hakone Ekiden . The 43 Tokyo-area universities at the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Half Marathon , the Yosenkai, each run 10-12 athletes and are scored on the total times of their first 10 finishers. The 10 fastest teams go to Hakone, and the rest go home except for the 10 fastest individuals from non-qualifying universities, who get the privilege of running as part of a select team. NTV will broadcast the Yosenkai and its dramatic announcement ceremony live starting at 9:25 a.m. local time Saturday. If you've got a VPN you should be all set. If not, try mov3.co/ntv . JRN will be on-site at the Yosenkai to cover it live. Chuo University , Tokai University and Tokyo Kokusai University look sure ...

Nihon University's Tsunehiro Nagano, left, on anchor stage of 1943 Hakone Ekiden On January 2nd and 3rd, 2024, the Hakone Ekiden celebrates its official 100th running. But much like the Boston Marathon's official 100th running in 1996 which included a military relay in 1918 as an edition of the race, there are questions about what's being counted in that total. Launched in 1920 by Japan's first Olympic marathoner Shizo Kanakuri as a way to cultivate the next generation of marathoners, throughout its history the Hakone Ekiden has followed more or less the same general route, starting in the area of Tokyo Station, heading south to the Shonan seaside, turning west toward the mountains, then making a tough climb on the final leg of its first day to the mountain town of Hakone on the shores of Lake Ashi. On its second day it makes a return trip along the same route, starting with a brutal downhill, then following the shoreline before turning to head into central Tokyo and ...

  Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon was the official qualifying race for January's 100th edition of t he world's biggest and best road race , and with it the 23-team field is set. Led by defending champion Komazawa University , the top 10 at the 2023 Hakone Ekiden auto-qualified for the 100th on Jan. 2-3, 2024. The other 13 teams came from the Yosenkai, led by Daito Bunka University , 3 more than usual in honor of the 100th running but absent the usual select team made up of top-placing individuals at the Yosenkai from schools that didn't make the cut as a team. The complete field: Komazawa University 58th appearance, 58th-straight appearance, 8 wins most recent win: 2023 Chuo University 97th appearance, 7th-straight appearance, 14 wins most recent win: 1996 Aoyama Gakuin University 29th appearance, 16th-straight appearance, 6 wins most recent win: 2022 Koku Gakuin University 17th appearance, 8th-straight appearance, best placing: 3rd (2020) Juntendo Univ...

In January the Hakone Ekiden celebrates its 100th running, and it’s going to be the biggest road race in history. The university men’s ekiden season kicked off Monday with the season-opening Izumo Ekiden, where course record holder Komazawa University followed up last year’s triple crown of wins at all three major university ekidens with a CR-breaking title defense . Saturday is the next important race, the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying half marathon at Tokyo’s Showa Kinen Park, and being the top 13 there is everything. The top 10 teams at the 2023 Hakone Ekiden, Komazawa, Chuo University , Aoyama Gakuin University , Koku Gakuin University , Juntendo University , Waseda University , Hosei University , Soka University , Josai University and Toyo University , secured their places at the 100th. On Saturday 57 other universities will compete for the remaining 13 places at Hakone. It’s an extremely big deal to be in the field at the 100th, with schools like Rikkyo University , Keio...

On Sept. 1 the Asahi Kasei  men's corporate team announced on its social media that Yuki Iwai , 40, has been named assistant coach. A native of Chiba, Iwai was the top Japanese finisher and 2nd overall in the 2000 National High School Championships 5000 m while at Narita H.S.  The same year he also took 2nd in the Junior 5000 m at the National Sports Festival. At Nihon University  Iwai became a regular on its starting ekiden team right from the season-opening Izumo Ekiden his first year, helping lead Nihon to win Izumo a year later. His fourth year he ran the Hakone Ekiden's highly competitive Second Stage, placing a strong 6th. At Asahi Kasei Iwai won the 10000 m at the 2009 National Championships. His time of 28:19.25 cleared the qualifying standard for that summer's Berlin World Championships, where he represented Japan. After that he suffered a series of injuries that led to his retirement after the 2014 National Corporate Half Marathon. He became a regular office wor...

Japan had never had an athlete make the finals of the Diamond League before, but this year two of its biggest talents under 25 were at the Weltklasse Zurich meet, women's javelin throw national record holder Haruka Kitaguchi , 24, and men's 3000 m SC NR holder Ryuji Miura , 20. Kitaguchi, a graduate of Nihon University now sponsored by JAL , was riding the momentum of a season that saw her become Japan's first-ever winner at a Diamond League when she won in Paris, then take bronze at the Oregon World Championships, then take another Diamond League victory in Chorzow with her biggest throw of the year, 65.10 m. In Zurich she moved into 3rd with a second throw of 60.51 m, bettering that with a 63.35 m on her next throw, and closing with a 63.56 m that came just 0.16 m of 2nd-place Kelsey-Lee Barber of Australia. American Kara Winger won with a fifth throw of 64.98 m. Miura, still a student at Juntendo University , was the only runner in the steeplechase final not from Eth...

The 101st  Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships continue today at Tokyo's National Stadium, the whole thing streamed live by organizers KGRR. It's a busy day, with finals in the women's and both D1 and D2 men's 1500 m, 100 mH and 110 mH, 100 m, 400 m and 4x100 m relay, plus the women's 10000 m RW, men's triple jump, women's high jump, men's shot put, women's hammer throw, the second half of the decathlon, and the qualifying heats in the men's 5000 m. The complete schedule for the day is here , with live results to be had here . With Nihon University having run the 3rd-fastest collegiate time ever in the D1 men's 4x100 m heats , 38.72, the final at 17:40 local time could be the main event of the day. Nihon was just 0.18 from the collegiate record set back in 2010 in the old Olympic stadium by a Chuo University squad anchored by Shota Iizuka , and there's a lot of hope they can build on their first-round run to get it i...

On and off heavy rain held back the kind of world-leading performances seen on day one and day two of the 89th National Track and Field Championships , but there was no shortage of records and near-misses on the last day of the meet. Riku Ito (Kinki Univ.) had maybe the most surprising performance of the day, jumping 16.35 m (-0.1 m/s) for a new U20 national record, the second-best junior mark worldwide this year. Double meet records came in the men's 800 m and men's 4x400 m relay. In the 800 m, Junya Matsumoto (Hosei Univ.) held off Daichi Setoguchi (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) for the win in a meet record 1:47.02, Setoguchi also getting under the old record in 1:47.28. The men's 4x400 m was one of the best races of the day. In heavy rain Nihon University anchor Tatsuhiro Yamamoto started with a comfortable lead over Waseda University anchor Rikuya Ito , but Ito was all in over the first 150 m to take over the top spot. Yamamoto lost ground, but over the last 100 ...