japan running news

Indoor track is pretty much non-existant in Japan, but in the last few years more Japanese athletes have been heading to the States after ekiden season to give it a go and coming back with national records. Two more records fell at Friday's David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston. First up, in his indoor debut 20-year-old Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) ran 13:27.81 to break the indoor 5000 m national record set five years ago in New York by Suguru Osako by 0.19. Endo was one of Japan's all-time best high schoolers. Now in his second year in the corporate leagues after opting to skip university he is coached by Yasuyuki Watanabe , Osako's former coach at Waseda University. Also in the same race, Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) was 6th in 13:47.64. Three hours later, Riko Matsuzaki (Sekisui Kagaku) ran 9:00.86 in the women's 3000 m, taking 0.53 off the national record set way back in 1999 by Akiko Kawashima at the Maebashi World Indoor Championships. Matsuzaki is...

Having made her Diamond League debut earlier this season, the Japan Post corporate team's #3 woman Rina Nabeshima moved up to all-time Japanese #2 over 3000 m with an 8:48.21 for 8th at Saturday's London Diamond League meet. A PB by 3 seconds, Nabeshima is now less than 4 seconds behind national record holder Kayoko Fukushi . Fukushi's 5000 m is 14:53.22. Based on that Nabeshima looks just about ready to become only the second Japanese woman to ever break 15 minutes for 5000 m, something the JAAF is desperate to achieve before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It's good to see somebody focusing on something other than the marathon. 【DLロンドン 女子3000m 鍋島莉奈】 Muller Anniversary Games 2018 日本記録更新ならず。。。。 歴代２位 8:48.21 PB!! 順調に進化！ pic.twitter.com/CohwUHWujO — Rolows (@Rolows_13) July 22, 2018 Across the Channel at Belgium's Nacht van de Atletiek meet Japanese results were pretty mediocre. The only halfway notable mark came via teen sensation Hyuga Endo in the me...

After becoming only the second Japanese in woman in history to make an Olympic 5000 m final last year in Rio Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) was a slow burner in 2017, absent any flashes of particular brilliance but putting together a string of strong performances capped by a year-leading half marathon in late December that put her atop the women’s rankings. Uehara took 3rd in the 10000 m at June’s National Championships in 31:48.81, qualifying for the London World Championships where she was 24th in 32:31.58. In between she dropped her best 5000 m of the year, a 15:32.25 in Abashiri . During ekiden season she was only OK, finishing 5th on her stage at the National Corporate Women’s Ekiden Championships . In her last race of the year, the Dec. 23 Sanyo Ladies Road Race half marathon, Uehara sat back behind frontrunning Japanese women Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) and Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal), craftily running them down in the final stages to finish in 1:09:13, the fastest time of the ...

There's no real end to track season in Japan, and at Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai this weekend the corporate leagues plowed ahead with their 65th National Corporate Track and Field Championships . Having broken the men's discus throw national record this summer, Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) did it again with a new record of 60.74 m on his second attempt. Kaede Miyasaka (Nippatsu) jumped 13.40 m (+0.9 m/s) to break the women's triple jump meet record. London World Championships men's 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Kyudenko) prevailed in a tough 10000 m, running 27:35.38 to lead ten men under 28 minutes, his eighth-straight national corporate 10000 m title and extending his career sub-28 world record to 35 times. Tanui was effusive in his thanks post-race . 昨日のポールタヌイ選手のラストスパート🏃 全日本実業団選手権10000m優勝 27分35秒38 9850m付近(ラスト150m) #10000m #全日本実業団陸上 pic.twitter.com/FGriXaxzui — Kota Shinjo (@7vodka26) September 24, 2017 But the biggest newsmaker was the men'...

Already the U18 national record holder for 3000 m, 18-year-old  Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) stepped up with an U20 record in the men's 3000 m at the third meet in the Hokuren Distance Challenge series Sunday in Kitami, Hokkaido. 北見男子prj-A3000m陸連強化レース(ペースメーカーあり) https://t.co/8s96euEND3 — ホクレン・ディスタンスチャレンジ2017 (@hokurendc2017) July 9, 2017 The men's and women's 3000 m races on the program as a step toward Wednesday's fourth and final HDC meet in Abashiri where people will be shooting for last-minute London World Championships qualifying standards. With pacer Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) targeting 7:55 the men's race came down to a sprint finish between Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei), Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) and Chiharu Nakagawa (Toenec) over the last lap. Yoroizaka dropped Ichida in the home straight to win in 7:52.70, the fastest-ever 3000 m time by a Japanese man on Japanese soil and one that made him all-time #10 in the Japanese record books. ...

by Brett Larner Stanford University’s Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational has long been a mainstay for Japanese distance runners, the site of 10000 m national record runs by both Yoko Shibui and Toshinari Takaoka . But with the steady rise of the Golden Games in Nobeoka meet in Japan’s version of Eugene, Oregon, more and more have been passing Stanford by to run on home ground. With the two meets happening almost simultaneously this year only one Japanese man, Minato Oishi (Team Toyota) made the trip over to the States. With a 27:48.56 best from last November Oishi was only 25th of 27 finishers in 29:17.60. Most of the other main contenders for the London World Championships team in the 10000 m ran in Nobeoka, where Rio Olympics silver medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) paced a field including proven sub-28 men Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei), Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), Yuta Shitara (Team Honda), Ken Yokote (Team Fujitsu), Takashi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei), Ken...

by Brett Larner 神野くん粘り強い。すごいわ。 #丸亀ハーフ pic.twitter.com/XZu299LBWY — roomie (@3runn9) February 5, 2017 Having lost his 1:00:24 Scottish national record after the Great Scottish Run was announced earlier this week to have been almost 150 m short, Callum Hawkins was out to prove he had done it for real when he lined up at today's Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon .  Against a field including sub-60 man Kenneth Kipkemoi of Kenya and a group of Japanese athletes aiming for the 1:00:25 Japanese national record led by 5000 m national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) and 10000 m national record holder Kota Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei), Hawkins went to the front from the gun and never relented. After a relatively slow 14:20 opening 5 km, the next 5 km went by in 14:07 and shook the lead group down to ten including Hawkins, Kipkemoi, Kenyan Joel Mwaura of 2016 National High School Ekiden champion Kurashiki H.S. , Osako and three other Japanese men. ...

by Brett Larner click here for men's field listing The Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon has lined up a great women's field for its 71st running on Feb. 5.  Rio Olympics marathon silver medalist and defending champion Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) will go up against Rio 6th and 9th-placers Shalane Flanagan and Amy Cragg of the U.S.A., 2015 Marugame winner Eloise Wellings of Australia and 2016 Japanese National Corporate Half Marathon champion Miho Shimizu (Team Hokuren). Flanagan's 1:07:51 on the aided San Diego course last year is the only time that tops Kirwa's then-Bahraini national record 1:08:06 in Marugame 2016, promising a close race if Flanagan doesn't repeat her 2015 DNS .  Shimizu, the only Japanese woman to break 1:10 in 2016 , should likewise have a good race for 3rd against Wellings if the Australian shows a return to form following her DNF last month at the Sanyo Ladies Half .  One promising debut comes in the form of sub-31:45 track runn...

by Brett Larner Hot and windy across the country, it was a busy weekend on the corporate circuit with four regions holding their spring track championships, a high-level time trial meet and one decent result overseas. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Universal Entertainment) turned in the fastest women’s 10000 m of the weekend, running 32:04.11 to win the East Japan corporate region. Hisami Ishii (Team Yamada Denki) was next across the line, just missing the Rio standard in 32:16.60 but scoring the fastest Japanese time in the four corporate meets. Already on the Rio team in the marathon, Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) won the Kansai region women’s 10000 m in 33:02.94. The fastest women’s 5000 m also came in East Japan as Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya/Team Starts) took the A-heat in 15:23.10. 4th-placer Sayaka Kuwahara (Team Sekisui Kagaku), returning from a solid 2:25:09 marathon debut in Nagoya in March, ran 15:44.99, topping the 15:46.40 time of Kansai region winner Mizuki Matsuda ...

by Brett Larner 鈴木亜由子 Ayuko Suzuki 約11分14秒点 10km #日本郵政公社 Japan Post @jaaf_official #IAAF #陸上競技 #PaytonJordan 2016年5月1日 pic.twitter.com/mzB6wzeIpn — T&F Snaps here (@TaFphoto) May 3, 2016 Virtually the only bright spot on the Japanese team at last year's Beijing World Championships, Ayuko Suzuki (Team Japan Post) delivered again with the best Japanese performance of this year's Payton Jordan Invitational.  With her 15:08.29 in the Beijing 5000 m final having put her at #5 on the all-time Japanese lists, Suzuki ran a 30-second PB of 31:18.16 for 3rd at Payton Jordan, landing at #8 all-time among Japanese women.  Four other Japanese women went under the 32:15.00 Olympic standard, three of them breaking 32.  Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) was the only Japanese man to clear the 28:00.00 men's Olympic standard, easily outdistancing Japanese year leader Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) for 2nd in 27:50.27. Last year's 5000 m national champion Misaki Onishi (...

by Brett Larner The National Corporate Half Marathon Championships are Japan's premier half, producing more quality times over its 43-year history than any other half marathon worldwide.  This year's 44th running on Feb. 14 counts as the final men's and women's selection race for the 2016 World Half Marathon Championships team and has fields as good as ever lined up.  The men's field includes last year's course record-breaking top two Charles Ndirangu (Team JFE Steel) and Macharia Ndirangu (Team Aichi Seiko), 2014 3rd-placer Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu), 2013 runner-up Johana Maina (Team Fujitsu) and 2012 winner Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), along with Rio Olympics marathon team contender Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) and fellow 2:08 marathoners Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Team NTN). The women's field is split between the half marathon and 10 km distances again this year, making for two smaller but equally comp...

by Brett Larner Japan's major midsummer track series, the Hokuren Distance Challenge in four locations across Hokkaido, wrapped up July 16 with the Abashiri Meet.  For the second time in a week , 20 km race walk world record holder Yusuke Suzuki (Team Fujitsu) broke a national record held by teammate Eiki Takahashi , both times outgunning Takahashi to do it.  This time it was Takahashi's 10000 mRW national record, from which Suzuki lopped 8 seconds with a new record of 38:10.23.  12 more seconds to another world record. Other new came in the women's 10000 m, where National Championships 3rd-placer Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) finally succeeded in breaking the Beijing World Championships qualification standard of 32:00.00, taking 3rd in a new PB of 31:48.31 for which she is all but certain to be rewarded with a place on the Beijing team.  Riko Matsuzaki (Sekisui Kagaku) won in a solid PB of 31:44.86, with the top 4 breaking 32 minutes and the top 7 all clearing t...

by Brett Larner The 99th edition of the Japanese National Track and Field Championships kick off Friday, June 26 at Niigata's Big Swam Stadium.  Of the disciplines to be contested at Nationals, 36 athletes in 16 events come in holding IAAF qualifying marks for August's Beijing World Championships, 5 of them having met the JAAF's tougher selection standards, and with the JAAF letting others chase marks up until Aug. 2 there are plenty of chances for others to get on board if they can navigate the JAAF's baffling selection process and finish in the upper places. The withdrawal of big names like wunderkind sprinter Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) and 20-time hammer champ Koji Murofushi (Mizuno) means that Kei Takase (Fujitsu) will be one of this year's biggest draws.  Coming in ranked #1 in both the men's 100 m and 200 m with fresh PBs of 10.09 and 20.14 this spring, Takase is the only athlete in a running event to have cleared the JAAF standard, essentially ...