japan running news

One of the highlights of the new year, the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden took place Jan. 27, with the Mazda corporate team winning the open division for the fourth year in a row. Including the open, municipal and high school divisions a total of 46 teams took part in the Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden's 82nd running, covering 84.4 km in seven stages starting in front of Ube City Hall, passing the Yamaguchi Prefectural Government offices and finishing in front of Shunan City Hall. Mazda's Shiferaw Bekele set a new stage record of 43:35 on the 15.1 km First Stage, outrunning the Chudenko team's lead runner Amos Kipruto by 3 seconds and establishing a lead that was never broken all the way to the finish. In the high school division, 2018 National High School Ekiden champion Kurashiki H.S. of Okayama won for the second-straight year, with the Sera T&F Association team winning the municipal division for the first time thanks in part to stage record runs by its second man Jo...

Japan's small contingent of fourteen athletes brought home four medals from the 3rd Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Haruto Deguchi led the way with a gold medal in the men's 400 m hurdles. Kazuki Furusawa took silver in the men's pole vault, with Seiryo Ikeda and Koki Wada claiming silver in the men's 100 m and men's long jump. Rintaro Kaiyama had the best non-medaling performance on the boys' half of the team, finishing 5th in the 3000 m. None of the girls on the team placed among the medals, but Yuki Kanemitsu had a near-miss in the women's 1500 m where she took 4th. Miyaka Sugata also had a strong showing in the women's 3000 m, taking 5th. The inclusion of 4 km cross-country races on the program was an interesting move, and Kanemitsu again performed well there, placing 8th in the women's race. Now in his first hear of high school, junior high 1500 m, 3000 m and 5000 m national record holder Kosuke Ishida was 10th in the m...