japan running news

The Asian Athletics Championships wrapped up Saturday in Gumi, South Korea with a string of record-setting performances. At the top of the list was the men's 200 m final , where Towa Uzawa ran a championships record and PB 20.21 (+0.8) to win gold, putting him at all-time Japanese #4 and all-time Asian #6. Saudi Abdul Abdu I Atafi and India's Animesh Kujur took silver and bronze in 20.31 and 20.32, with veteran Shota Iizuka 4th in a season best 20.66 that put him one step closer to a 14-straight year under 20.50. NR holder Rin Kubo turned in one of the fastest performances of her career so far in the women's 800 m final , just losing out to China's Wu Hongjiao . Wu delivered a meet record 2:00.08 for gold, Kubo just behind her in 2:00.42 for silver and India's Pooja Pooja a few strides back in 2:01.89 for bronze. Ayano Shiomi was 5th in 2:03.59. Yuta Sakiyama came up with a PB 83.75 m throw on his final attempt in the men's javelin , good enough for all-...

The sprints, middle distance, hurdles, jumps and throws segment of Japan's 104th National Track and Field Championships kicked off Thursday in Niigata. The best competitions of the opening day were the women's and men's javelin throws. Defending women's champ Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) got off to a slow start, taking until her fourth throw to take over the top spot from Yuka Sato (Nikonikonori), throwing 59.30 m to Sato's opening 59.03. Only throwing 57.45 m on her fifth attempt, on her final throw Sato dropped her biggest throw of the day. When the measurement came up it was 59.32 m, Kitaguchi falling to her hands and knees when she saw it before getting up laughing to congratulation Sato on her national title. In the men's javelin throw, 2019 national champ Ryohei Arai (Suzuki) was relentless, throwing farther with each attempt except for a foul in the fourth round. Back in form this season after years of struggles and having cleared 80 m for the first t...

Tweaking its lineup to replace the ailing Yuki Koike with fast starter Shuhei Tada , the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay team pulled off a bronze medal on the second-to-last day of the Doha World Championships. In a fast race that saw the top four teams set national and area records, Japan ran an Asian record 37.43 for 3rd behind winner U.S.A. in 37.10 and 2nd-place Great Britain in 37.36, a shot of confidence ahead of next summer's Tokyo Olympics where the 4x100 will be one of the country's best chances of medaling. Along with its pair of men's race walk gold medals the team's bronze brought Japan's medal count to three for the Championships. After running an 11-second PB to move up to all-time Japanese #3 in the women's 5000 m heats, Nozomi Tanaka improved again with a 15:00.01 in the final to advance to all-time #2. With the race going out well below Japanese national record pace Tanaka was just hanging on the entire time, part of the first group to ...

Men's 400 m national champion Julian Walsh (Fujitsu) ran 45.78 to win the 15th Twilight Games  for the fourth year in meet record time Sunday at Kanagawa's Keio University. Meet records were also set in the women's 1500 m, with 2019 National Championships runner-up Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki TC) winning in 4:18.52, the men's high jump, where Ryo Sato (Tonichi Insatsu) cleared 2.25 m, and the men's javelin throw, where Takuto Kominami (Tsukuba Univ.) threw a PB 81.11 m for the win. National champion Ryohei Arai (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) was only 3rd with a throw of 76.84 m. Despite breaking his own meet record to win a fourth Twilight Games title, Walsh was unhappy with his performance. His time was just 0.48 short of the 2019 Doha World Championships qualifying standard. "I want to rework my training and go for the standard again," he said with obvious disappointment. Walsh had planned to hold back on the back straight and then push the end, but...

Day two of the 2019 Japanese National Track and Field Championships saw heavy rain hit the roofless Hakatanomori Field midway through the desultory late afternoon schedule, impacting the men's javelin throw, women's pole vault and women's long jump and leaving the track slick for the evening's main events. Just before the first wave of rain struck, Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon Univ.), the only woman in the javelin throw to have cleared the Doha World Championships standard, opened with a national championships record 62.68 m that pretty much wrapped up her win. On her fourth throw Kitaguchi extended the record to 63.68 m, her final winning mark and securing her a place in Doha. In the final round of throws Yuka Mori (Nikoniko Nori) unexpectedly bettered Kitaguchi's first-round record with a PB of 62.88 m as the first few drops began to fall. By the time the men's javelin got started it was a full on downpour, with race officials desperately trying to push a ...

Continuing on from yesterday's National Track and Field Championships jumps preview , today we look at throws. It's Japan's relatively weakest area, with the only real contenders to make the Doha World Championships coming in the women's and men's javelin throw. In the women's javelin, Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon Univ.) is the only athlete in the throws, female or male, to have cleared the Doha standard, her 64.36 m in May ranking her #9 worldwide as of this writing. A win at Nationals will be good enough to guarantee her a spot on the national team. Two other women, last year's 3rd-placer Risa Miyashita (MPE) and Orie Ushiro (Niigata Albirex RC), are just outside the worldwide top 32 and could break through if they can deliver PB performances. Last year's top two Marina Saito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Yuka Mori (Nikoniko Nori) are also in range, making the women's javelin one of the best events at this year's Nationals. Defending men'...

Despite sparse attendance, day two of the Doha Asian Athletics Championships saw three world-leading performances, five championships records, eight national records and Japan get onto the medal tally board in a real way after a relatively slow first day . Qatari Abderrahman Samba turned in the performance of the day with a world-leading 47.51 championships record in the men's 400 m hurdles that left Japan's Takatoshi Abe tumbling in the turbulence. World-leaders also came in the men's 800 m via Qatari's Abubaker Haydar Abdalla with a 1:44.33 and the men's javelin with a throw of 86.72 m by Chao-Tsun Cheng of Taiwan. After only winning a single bronze medal on the first day of the championships Japan got rolling with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. National record holder Yoshihide Kiryu took the gold in the men's 100 m, running 10.10 +1.5. Teammate Ryota Yamagata was a DNS after winning his semifinal in a season best 10.18. Ayaka K...

Bronze was the color of Japan's luck on the third day of athletics competition at the Jakarta Asian Games , with three Japanese athletes medaling in jumps and hurdles. Takatoshi Abe was a favorite to medal in the men's 400 m hurdles, no match for championships record-breaking Qatari Abderrahman Samba but running a strong 2nd throughout the race. Coming into the home straight Abe had a sizable lead over Taiwan's Chen Chieh and Indian Dharun Ayyasamy , but as he came off the bend he began to tie up. Ayyasamy saw his chance and kicked hard, catching Abe just before the line to take silver and knock Abe back to bronze. One of Japan's strongest medal contenders, Naoto Tobe had something of an off day in the men's high jump, struggling to clear 2.24 m and tying for bronze with Syrian Majd Eddin Ghzal while winner Yu Wang of China went on to clear 2.30 m. Takashi Eto cleared 2.24 m on his final attempt to move into 6th but passed on the subsequent heights with a...

18-year-old national champion Abdul Hakim Sani Brown became the first Japanese man since Shingo Suetsugu 's 2003 bronze medal and the youngest man ever to make a World Championships 200 m final. With a 20.32 best he faced seven men who had all broken 20 and run under 20.30 in the semifinals, and with a strong run off the curve he succeeded in taking one of them, the United States' Isiah Young , finishing 7th in 20.63 to Young's 20.64. In the women's 5000 m heats national champion Rina Nabeshima became the tenth-fastest Japanese woman ever when she ran 15:11.83 in Heat Two, but with the slowest qualifying time going to Bahrain's Kalkidan Gezahegne in 15:07.19 she failed to advance to the final. 9th in the final at the last World Championships, Nabeshima's teammate Ayuko Suzuki showed fatigue from the 10000 m as she ran only 15:24.86 in Heat One. In the men's javelin throw, national champion Ryohei Arai was far off his best, fouling on his first att...

by Brett Larner Men's javelin throw national champion Ryohei Arai (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) was the lone Japanese athlete in action on the last evening of Olympic athletics action.  Despite a throw of 84.16 m in the qualification round that put him at 4th going into the final, Arai choked under the pressure.  Opening with a throw of only 77.98 m, he followed with two more throws under 80 m before being cut and ultimately finished 11th of 12.  In a TV interview afterward he could do little more than sob and apologize to everyone who supported him.  His underperformance means that two Japanese men must make the top eight in the marathon for the Japanese athletics squad to meet the JAAF's total targeted number of medal and top eight placings, a tall order. Rio de Janeiro Olympics Aug. 20, 2016 click here for complete results Men's Javelin Throw Final 1. Thomas Rohler (Germany) - 90.30 2. Julius Yego (Kenya) - 88.24 3. Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago) - 85.3...

by Brett Larner Japanese athletes were thin on the ground on the sixth day of athletics at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.    Men's javelin national champion Ryohei Arai (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) threw 84.16 m on his first qualifying round throw to make the final, the Japanese performance of the day, short and sweet.  His Suzuki teammates Akihiko Nakamura and Keisuke Ushiro ended the first day of the decathlon ranked near the bottom of the field, Nakamura 24th with 3899 points and Ushiro 25th with 3886. On the track in the men's 5000 m heats, 10000 m national record holder Kota Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei) echoed his run in the 10000 m final.  Ranked 17th of 25 in Heat One, Murayama ran up front early with Richard Ringer (Germany) before fading to 22nd in 14:26.72.  5000 m national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) was ranked 8th of 26 on PB in Heat Two, giving him a chance of becoming only the second Japanese man post-war to make an Olympic 500...

by Brett Larner videos c/o JAAF click here for Day One results, video and report click here for Day Three results, video and report The prospect of seeing Japan's first sub-10 100 m packed the house on the second day of the Japanese National Championships , an almost sold-out crowd of over 26,000 braving rain to fill Nagoya's mostly uncovered Paloma Mizuho Stadium.  Athletes in the other events responded to the energy, and two university students went beyond themselves to find what it took to make it to Rio. The race of the day was the women's 3000 m steeplechase.  Right from the gun collegiate and junior national record holder Anju Takamizawa (Matsuyama Univ.) was out fast, going through 1000 m in 3:08 with a sizable lead over a chase group of four.  Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku), winner of last month's East Japan Corporate Championships 3000 mSC, dropped the pack to chase Takamizawa down over the next 1000 m, making contact right at 2000 m in 6:24.  T...

http://news.biglobe.ne.jp/entertainment/0827/mnn_150827_4806869453.html http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2015/08/26/220/ http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2015/08/24/379/ translated and edited by Brett Larner At 9:39 p.m. on Aug. 26 during the TBS network's exclusive live broadcast of the Beijing World Championships , the men's 200 m Semifinal 2 featuring Japan's 16-year-old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown recorded an instantaneous viewership rating of 25.5%, the highest so far during these World Championships.  The high ratings continued during Semifinal 3, Japan's Kei Takase and Kenji Fujimitsu pulling in ratings of 24.5% at 9:47 p.m.  For comparison, Sani Brown's opening heat on Aug. 25 where he placed 2nd generated 23.1% viewership ratings, with world record holder Usain Bolt 's 200 m heat attracting only 19.9% ratings.  Bolt's 100 m title defense over rival Justin Gatlin on Aug. 23 scored 24.2% viewership ratings. Average ratings for the men's 200 m semifina...

Beijing, China, 8/26/15 click here for complete results Men's 200 m Semifinal 2 -0.2 m/s 1. Justin Gatlin (U.S.A.) - 19.87 - Q 2. Alonso Edward (Panama) - 20.02 - Q 3. Femi Ogunode (Qatar) - 20.05 - NR - q ----- 5. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Japan) - 20.47 Men's 200 m Semifinal 3 +0.8 m/s 1. Usain Bolt (Jamaica) - 19.95 - Q 2. Anaso Jobodwana (South Africa) - 20.01 - Q 3. Ramil Guliyev (Turkey) - 20.10 - q ----- 7. Kenji Fujimitsu (Japan) - 20.34 8. Kei Takase (Japan) - 20.64 Women's 200 m Heat 5 +0.1 m/s 1. Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica) - 22.79 - Q 2. Semoy Hackett (Trinidad and Tobago) - 22.89 - Q 3. Margaret Adeoye (Great Britain) - 23.10 - Q ----- 5. Chisato Fukushima (Japan) - 23.30 Men's 5000 m Heat 1 1. Hagos Gebrhiwet (Ethiopia) - 13:45.00 - Q 2. Ben True (U.S.A.) - 13:45.09 - Q 3. Edwin Cheruiyot Soi (Kenya) - 13:45.28 - Q 4. Tom Farrell (Great Britain) - 13:45.29 - Q 5. Imane Merga (Ethiopia) - 13:45.41 - Q ----- 7. Suguru O...

Bejing, China, 8/24/15 click here for complete results Women's 100 m Semifinal 2 +0.9 m/s 1. Tori Bowie (U.S.A.) - 10.87 - Q 2. Kelly-Ann Baptiste (Trinidad and Tobago) - 10.90 - Q 3. Natasha Morrison (Jamaica) - 10.96 - PB - q ----- 7. Chisato Fukushima (Japan) - 11.32 Women's 10000 m 1. Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (Kenya) - 31:41.31 2. Gelete Burka (Ethiopia) - 31:41.77 3. Emily Infeld (U.S.A.) - 31:43.49 4. Molly Huddle (U.S.A.) - 31:43.58 5. Sally Jepkosgei Kipyego (Kenya) - 31:44.42 ----- 13. Kasumi Nishihara (Japan) - 32:12.95 20. Yuka Takashima (Japan) - 32:27.79 22. Rei Ohara (Japan) - 32:47.74 Men's Long Jump Qualification Group A 1. Jianan Wang (China) - 8.12 m +0.4 m/s - q 2. Kafetien Gomis (France) - 8.09 m +0.9 m/s - q 3. Aleksandr Menkov (Russia) - 8.08 m +0.4 m/s - q ----- 5. Yohei Sugai (Japan) - 7.92 m -0.6 m/s Men's Javelin Throw Qualification Group A 1. Ryohei Arai (Japan) - 84.66 m - Q 2. Braian Toledo (Argentina) - 83...

by Brett Larner videos by okukon With the Tuesday national holiday making it something of a perforated long weekend it was a busy one on the Japanese track circuit with a national record and a handful of world-leading performances. Decathlon national record holder Keisuke Ushiro  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) topped the list with a new national record at the decathlon National Championships on the 26th and 27th in Wakayama.  On track to break his old record by more than 100 points at the end of the first day, Ushiro continued strong the second day.  With a solid 1500 m announcers predicted 8300 could be in range, but with just a 4:45:53 Ushiro came in with a breakable new record of 8143 that put him 4th in the world so far this season and left him the potential for more. Shortly after Ushiro's record, relative unknown Bernard Kimani  (Kenya/Team Yakult) brought the first world-leading mark of the weekend with a 13:18.92 to win the Nittai University Time Trials 500...