japan running news

Aiming for Olympic trials qualification at Sunday's Rotterdam Marathon , Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Holdings) had the closest thing to a good race out of the four elite-level Japanese athletes competing abroad this weekend. Needing to run 2:27:15 for qualification after running a 2:28:45 PB just five weeks ago in Nagoya, Tsutsui was just off target at 5km in 17:29, 2:27:33 pace. She fell progressively further off as she went but rallied in the last 10 km to finish 8th overall in 2:29:09, a solid effort at just 24 seconds off her Nagoya best. Also in Rotterdam, Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) needed to run 2:10:45, just under 3:06/km pace, after a 2:09:15 PB at Beppu-Oita the first weekend of February. Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Denryoku) only needed 2:11:40, just over 3:07/km, off a 2:08:20 PB in Osaka at the end of February that put him as the 2nd-fastest Japanese man not to have qualified for October's Olympic trials yet. Mystifyingly, both went out at 3:00/km only to crash and bur...

Four noteworthy Japanese marathoners are racing overseas this weekend, all with goals centered on October's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials. Sunday at the Rotterdam Marathon, Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) and Shunya Kikuchi  (Chugoku Denryoku) will try to become the 63rd and 64th  Japanese men to qualify for the MGC Race. Kikuchi ran 2:08:20 at the Osaka Marathon at the end of February, making him the 2nd-fastest Japanese man not to have qualified yet. He has a relatively low bar of 2:11:40 to clear in Rotterdam in order to hit the two-race 2:10:00 qualifying criteria. With a 2:09:15 PB at February's Beppu-Oita Marathon Ichida needs to run 2:10:45 in Rotterdam, giving him a bit less of a margin of error. With his wife Misaki Nishida (Edion) having made the MGC cut at the Osaka Marathon later in February, Ichida getting there in Rotterdam would make them the second married couple to qualify following men's NR holder Kengo Suzuki (Fujitsu) and women-only NR holder Mao Ic...

This weekend was the first in the last month of qualifying for September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials. People who haven't made it yet have until Apr. 30 to squeeze in one more race under 2:24:00 or averaging under 2:28:00 with one other race inside the qualification window for women and 2:08:30 or 2:11:00 for men. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) and Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) were at the Rotterdam Marathon to go for the two-race average, Omori needing to run 2:26:45 and Tanaka 2:28:20. Despite on-target first halves both came up short, Omori running 2:29:58 and Tanaka 2:39:55. Omori's time was the fastest so far this year outside Japan by a Japanese woman. At the Vienna City Marathon , Hideyuki Ikegami (Aminosaurus) went through halfway on track for a sub-2:10, but the pace proved too much for him as he dropped over the second half to finish in 2:15:24. © 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Rio 10000 m Olympian Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) made a good debut Sunday at the Paris Marathon , finishing 8th in 2:26:13. Takashima started fast, on sub-2:21 pace until just before 30 km before fading. Her time was the 4th-fastest this year by a Japanese woman and best so far this season outside Japan, and it put her well within reach of the two-race sub-2:28:00 average route to qualifying for the MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials marathon. Kasumi Yoshida (Nitori) was 11th in 2:38:15 and Kanae Shimoyama (Noritz) 16th in 2:45:34. Yoshiki Koizumi (Raffine) was the top Japanese man at 24th in 2:20:29. Things went less smoothly at the Rotterdam Marathon . Running her third marathon in less than four months in a desperate attempt to get her MGC Race qualifying time this season, Hofu Yomiuri Marathon course record holder  Misaki Kato (Kyudenko) went through halfway on schedule in 1:13:22 before starting to slow, ultimately finishing in 2:47:25 for 15th. On the men's side Yuki Yagi (Y...

It's a busy weekend on and off the roads at home and abroad. Led by 2018 Hakone Ekiden First Stage winner Kazuya Nishiyama (Toyo Univ.) and 2017 World University Games women's half marathon gold medalist Yuki Munehisa (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.), Japan is fielding quality men's and women's teams for Saturday's World University Cross Country Championships in St. Gallen, Switzerland. At home, the first big track meet of the season takes place Saturday in Kumamoto at the Kanaguri Memorial Meet where the main focus will be on 5000 m. Livestream to be had here . 3000 m will be the main order of the day at the year's first Setagaya Time Trials meet in Tokyo, while top members of Waseda University and other Hakone teams will square off at the Tokyo Six-University Meet at Keio University . Sunday the emphasis shifts to the roads, with yet more Hakone talent racing the Yaizu Minato Half Marathon thanks to its unique "pair marathon" team scoring. Overseas...

http://www.iaaf.org/news/report/abera-kuma-rotterdam-marathon Evidently Asami Kato (Team Panasonic) was not worth a headline mention and less than a handful of sentences as the winner of the Rotterdam Marathon to the IAAF and writer Cors van den Brink despite having previously won races in both the U.S.A. and Australia.  Likewise, her nationality didn't seem to matter to race broadcasters to whom it was no doubt a given that a non-white winner must be African.  Even the usually-reputable German Road Races website condescended toward Kato's win with the headline " Abera Kuma gewinnt in Rotterdam - Schnellste Frau eine Japanerin ," in English "Abera Kuma wins in Rotterdam - The fastest woman a Japanese woman."  The 'invisible Japanese' phenomenon remains a constant source of puzzlement.

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090806/spg0908062034005-n1.htm http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20090807k0000m050038000c.html translated and edited by Brett Larner The Toyota Shattai company, sponsors of top distance women Hiromi and Takami Ominami, announced Aug. 6 that it intends to disband its women's running team effective Aug. 7. The company will, however, continue to sponsor the Ominami twins and their coach Masahiko Takahashi. The Ominami twins joined Toyota Shatai in April, 2005 together with Takahashi after their previous sponsor UFJ Bank disbanded its team. Both sisters are past winners of the Rotterdam Marathon, Hiromi having won in 2007 and Takami in 2002. Hiromi Ominami ran the 10000 m at the 2005 World Championships and won a bronze medal in the 10000 m at the 2006 Asian Games. Takami Ominami ran the marathon at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships and won the 2003 Nagoya International Women's Marathon.

http://www.letsrun.com/2009/young0226.php Justin Young describes some of his training for this year's Tokyo Marathon here .

http://www.iaaf.org/LRR08/news/newsid=44195.html Akemi Ozaki runs for Tokyo-based Second Wind AC. She ran her marathon debut at the 2006 Tokyo International Women's Marathon where she finished 2nd and beat defending champion Naoko Takahashi. She was 4th at the 2007 Tokyo International but recorded her PB of 2:28:39 in that race. Three weeks later she ran the Honolulu Marathon as a pacemaker for teammate Kaori Yoshida. Yoshida faltered, but Ozaki continued on to finish 2nd. Her complete profile is available here .