japan running news

For the second Universiade in a row Japan pulled off a near-sweep of the half marathon medals, taking all three men's individual medals, women's gold and bronze and both team golds. Komazawa University's Kei Katanishi and Naoki Kudo went 1-2, leaving national university half marathon champion Kengo Suzuki over 30 seconds behind to hold off Uganda's John Kateregga for bronze. Wataru Tochigi took 6th to make it 4 Japanese men in the top 6, the only misstep coming from Takato Suzuki of national champion Aoyama Gakuin University who finished only 12th after scratching in the 10000 m. Not so for women's gold medalist Yuki Munehisa . Munehisa had led most of the women's 10000 m only to get dropped in the last kilometer and wind up outside the medals in 4th. In the half marathon she was bound and determined not to end up the same way again, doing all the heavy lifting to drop Turkey's Esma Aydemir with teammate Saki Fukui in a supporting role. Munehisa ...

The IUAU has announced a 38-member team for the Aug. 23-28 Summer Universiade in Taiwan, with 24 men and 14 women representing 26 universities. Rio Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) leads the team in men's long distance, with newly sub-10.10 Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) an expected favorite in men's sprints. Javelin throw and heptathlon collegiate record holders Haruka Kitaguchi (Nihon University) and Meg Hemphill (Chuo University) lead the women's team. The complete team roster: Men Sprints Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin University) Yusuke Tanaka (Nihon Wellness University) Jun Yamashita (Tsukuba University) Sho Kitagawa (Juntendo University) Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo University) Shusei Nomoto (Waseda University) Taio Kanai (Hosei University) Ryo Kajiki (Josai University) Long Distance Wataru Tochigi (Juntendo University) Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo University) Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin University) Kengo Suzuki (Kanagawa University) Nao...

by Brett Larner Murayama photo courtesy NYRR The last main racing weekend of the Japanese calendar, this weekend saw high-level half marathon performances at home and abroad. At the  United Airlines NYC Half Marathon ,  Kenta Murayama  (Team Asahi Kasei), twin brother of 10000 m national record holder  Kota Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei), ran 1:00:57 for 5th, the best time ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil and the second-best ever run outside Japan. Collegiate runners Rintaro Takeda (Waseda Univ.) and Kenta Ueda (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) were 22nd and 25th. London World Championships marathon alternate Misato Horie (Team Noritz) ran 1:12:45 for 13th in the women's race. Japan-based Kenyans  Grace Kimanzi  (Team Starts) and  Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi) took both titles at the  Matsue Ladies Road Race , Kimanzi winning the half marathon in 1:10:09 and Obare the 10 km division in 33:14. With Matsue serving as the National University W...

by Brett Larner photo by Tsukasa Kawarai video by Ekiden News 1500 m junior world record holder Ronald Kwemoi (Team Komori Corp.) made his claim to longer distances Saturday at western Tokyo's Hosei University , dominating his competition over the last lap to win his 10000 m debut in 27:33.94 at the Hachioji Long Distance meet. Lacking some of the electricity of last year's Japanese national record shot , 24 athletes from four countries lined up in Hachioji's A-heat, some tuning up for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships, others chasing the 27:45.00 standard for the 2017 London World Championships. Normally reliable as a pacer, despite a perfect 2:46.00 opening kilometer Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC) struggled to keep it steady after just 3000 m. Some of the field went ahead of him for several laps before he rallied to take the field through 5000 m in 13:56.50, four seconds off target. The pack stuck with him for another 2000 m b...