japan running news

Friday was day two of Japan's 104th National Track and Field Championships , and whatever else might have been happening in other parts of the world it was a good day at least for defending women's champions. Three scored repeat wins, Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei AC) winning the 400 m final in 53.55, Mariko Morimoto (Uchida Kensetsu AC) taking the triple jump in 13.14 m (-0.2) and Akane Watanabe (Maruwa) the hammer throw at 64.84 m. As with day one a lot of the 2019 men's champs were missing, leaving Takatoshi Abe (Yamada) the only one to put a back-to-back title next to his name with a 49.73 win in the 400 m hurdles that saw him almost run down by Tatsuhiro Yamamoto (Nihon Univ.) after starting hard. 2017 and 2018 men's 1500 m national champ Ryoji Tatezawa (DeNA) made it back to the top after a bad year last year, winning in 3:41.32 with the top four all under 3:42. Times in the men's 100 m final were nothing special, but in maybe the most emotional perfor...

In the midst of rapidly rising new coronavirus infection numbers, Osaka held the 88th edition of its prefectural track and field championships at the massive Nagai Stadium over Thursday and Friday's national holidays. Not usually a big draw for high-level talent, the lack of racing opportunities these days meant more big names than usual, including 2017 and 2019 World Championships men's 4x100 m bronze medalist Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko), who won the 100 m final in 10.46 (-0.5), and women's discus throw national record holder Nanaka Kori (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.), who dropped one of ten new meet records at the meet, six by women and four by men. A breakdown of the new records: Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei AC) ran the second-fastest 400 m time ever by a Japanese woman, 52.38, to win her qualifying heat in meet record time, going on to win the final in 54.11. Yuzu Nishide (Kansai Gaikokugo Univ.) took almost 15 seconds off the women's 3000 m steeplechase meet r...

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 ...

by Brett Larner In its third appearance at France's DecaNation Japan turned in its best team performance to date, placing 4th out of 6 teams.   Tomoka Kimura (Team Univ. Ent.) led the way in the women's 2000 m, taking over 6 seconds off the rarely-challenged national record with a 5:47.17 for 2nd, the best placing among any of the ten women on the team.  Her counterpart on the men's squad Masaki Toda (Team Nissin Shokuhin) went one better to win the men's 2000 m in 5:14.39.  Rio Olympian and 2016 national champion Julian Walsh (Toyo Univ.) likewise won the men's 400 m, running 46.09.  Five other men including Walsh's Toyo and Rio teammate Yoshihide Kiryu took 2nd in their events, coming ten points short overall of overtaking Ukraine to make the team podium. DecaNation 2016 Paris, France, 9/13/16 click here for detailed results Women 100 m - Ami Saito (Kurashiki Chuo H.S.) - 11.89 (-0.4 m/s) - 3rd 400 m - Seika Aoyama (Osaka Seikei Univ.) - 54.2...

by Brett Larner Following its pair of wins from Hazuma Hattori and Yoshihide Kiryu yesterday , Toyo University again delivered the performance of the day on the third day of the National University Track and Field Championships at Osaka’s Nagai Stadium. Toyo’s men’s 10000 mRW junior national record holder Daisuke Matsunaga , the Kanto Region champion, dueled with Kansai region champ Toshikazu Yamanishi (Kyoto Univ.) in the first race of the day, pushing each other throughout the race and both breaking the meet record in PB time. Matsunaga was first across the line in 39:18.04, the only new record at this year’s Nationals, with Yamanishi falling back but still clearing the old meet record in 39:28.63, more than a minute better than his previous best. Along with the Matsunaga – Yamanishi duel, the women’s 4x400 m relay was another of the day’s highlights. Osaka Seikei University and Shigakkan University overtook each other multiple times on almost every leg and on the anchor...

by Brett Larner Kiryu/Toyo tops 100m SF times in 10.30. pic.twitter.com/Vg7agxMP1m — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) September 11, 2015 Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ) topped the first day of the 2015 National University Track and Field Championships Sept. 11 at Osaka's Nagai Stadium, returning from a summer lost to injury with a 10.40 win in his 100 m opening heat and a 10.30 win in his semifinal to head into tomorrow's final in the top position despite self-reporting at only 80% fitness.  Rivals Kazuma Oseto (Hosei Univ.) and Takuya Nagata (Hosei Univ.) were both less than 0.5 behind in their semifinals, in Oseto's case despite a strong headwind, promising a competitive final.  Kiryu also helped Toyo 4x100 m make the final, a good first step in his pre-Olympics comeback. Nabeshima/Kanoya Taiiku out kicks Izumida for the win in 33:18.69 after very slow 1st half. pic.twitter.com/MplJYO3HqT — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) September 11, 2015 In the women...

by Brett Larner With temperatures clipping 35 degrees the 2014 National Track and Field Championships kicked off July 30 in Kofu, Yamanashi, home ground of 2013 National High School Boys' Ekiden champion Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.   The biggest news on the first of the meet's five days of competition came in the boys' 400 m.  48 hours after helping the Japanese team win silver in the 4x400 m relay at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene, U.S.A., Takamasa Kitagawa (Uruga H.S.) swept through the competition, winning his opening round heat in 48.22 and his semi-final in 47.23 before taking the final in 46.57, the 10th-fastest time ever by a Japanese high schooler.  Satoshi Yamamoto (Amakusa Kogyo H.S.) gave Kitagawa a solid challenge in the final but had to settle for 2nd in 46.61.  Seika Aoyama (Matsue Shogyo H.S.) had a clearer margin of victory in the girls' 400 m final, winning the national title in 53.73 by 0.21 seconds over runner-up Nanako Matsumot...