japan running news

  Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...

The Hokkaido Marathon happens Aug. 30 in Sapporo. Although it's not a top-tier race on the global schedule, the JAAF gives it special status in qualification for the MGC Race Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials, with 3 spots available to men who run under 2:12:00 and women under 2:32:00. Compare that to the criteria for making the trials by running the WA platinum label Sydney Marathon the same day, where men have to run under 2:06:30 and women 2:23:30 regardless of how they place. It's hard to see that as anything other than disincentivizing Japanese runners from racing abroad, with protecting the JAAF's financial interest in domestic races being the priority over getting the best athletes into the Olympic trials. But anyway, there are pretty good fields of people willing to not step out of line. All 6 women with marathon finishes to their name have run under 2:30 in the last 3 years led by veteran Hitomi Niiya with a 2:21:50 in Tokyo 2 years ago. Most are in the 2:26-2...

Over the weekend the Gold Coast Marathon announced its elite fields for the China Airlines Half Marathon the day before the main race. For the last couple of years there's been a friendly rivalry between Gold Coast and Tasmania's Launceston Half a month earlier to produce the fastest times ever on Australian soil. Gold Coast has had the women's record for a few years since American Keira D'Amato ran 1:06:39 in 2023, and last year it added the men's record with a 1:01:08 from Andy Buchanan . Launceston took the men's record this year with a 1:00:41 from Haftu Strintzos , and women's winner Izzi Batt-Doyle ran a course record 1:08:46, the fastest time ever by an Australia in Australia. NR holder Batt-Doyle is the favorite again in the women's race at Gold Coast. Women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima has run as fast as 1:08:03, but since moving up to the marathon she hasn't anything near that kind of time, and a 33:12 at the B.A.A. 10 km ...

With heavy snow hitting most of the country the National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km in Yamaguchi almost dodged a bullet. Almost. It was -2˚ and windy at the start, but with sunny skies it wasn't too bad. The men went out 15 minutes ahead of the women on sub-61 pace with a massive pack trailing early leader Daisuke Shimojo (ND Software). At times snow was in the air, but even right up to the end the sun was still breaking through. From a few km out a lead trio coalesced of last year's winner Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx), Kenyan Boniface Mulwa (ND Software) and Taiga Hirayama (Konica Minolta), CR-breaking winner at the Osaka Half Marathon 2 weeks ago. Ichiyama made a break for it with 500 m to go, but on the track at the end Muluwa reeled him back it. Entering the home straight Hirayama threw down and passed them both, bettering his Osaka time by 6 seconds to win in 1:00:44. Muluwa was next in 1:00:45, with Ichiyama, in training for the Tokyo Marathon in 3 weeks, 3rd in...

Championship ekiden season kicks off Sunday with the Queens Ekiden , the corporate women's national championship race in Sendai, 42.195 km in 6 legs with 24 teams competing to make the 8-deep podium. TBS has the live broadcast starting at 11:50 a.m. local time, with streaming starting on Youtube at 12:10 p.m. Japan Post won its 4th national title last year, running down 2023 winner Sekisui Kagaku and CR holder Shiseido over the 2nd half of the race to take the win. Its entire lineup from last year returns, with a new addition to its 10-runner entry roster in former Meijo University captain Nanase Tanimoto . Sekisui Kagaku is missing one of its strongest people from last year, First Stage winner Erika Tanoura , but has picked up 2023 World University Games 5000 m bronze medalist Risa Yamazaki from Nittai University . A surprise 3rd last year, Shimamura also returns its entire lineup led by Anna Suzuki and Yuna Takahashi . Shiseido ended up 8th last year, the last place earnin...

The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's university ekiden racing, Ritsumeikan University put an end to Meijo University 's 6-year streak at the Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national championships with a course record-breaking win that put them back on top for the first time since 2017. Running for the National University Select Team , the talented Haruka Ogawa from Rikkyo University led early with a 12:42 CR on the 4.1 km 1st leg. Miu Saito from last year's runner-up Nittai University went to the front on the 2nd leg, but from there on out it was a close race between Nittai and 2023 3rd and 4th-placer Daito Bunka University and Ritsumeikan University . Each team took a turn leading, Ritsumeikan with back-to-back wins on the 3rd and 4th legs by 1st-year duo Momoka Moriyasu and Yumi Yamamoto , and DBU with a great stage win by collegiate 5000 m record holder Sarah Wanjiru . But Ritsumeikan was just too strong over the last two stages, 6th runner Fuka Fukunaga ...

The last big race of the year is Monday's Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden , the season-ending national championship race for university women. Between Mt. Fuji and October's Morinomiyako Ekiden , up to this season Meijo University was undefeated in 13-straight championship ekiden races, with 7-straight wins at Morinomiyako and 6 at Mt. Fuji. But nothing lasts forever, and at this year's Morinomiyako the last big dynasty school before Meijo, Ritsumeikan University , winner at Morinomiyako from 2011 to 2015 and at Mt. Fuji from 2013 to 2017, outran a flailing Meijo squad to take the win for the first time in 9 years. Its runners took stage wins on 3 of the 6 legs, Yumi Yamamoto breaking the Second Stage CR, Tomo Muramatsu the Third Stage CR, and anchor Makoto Tsuchiya outrunning Meijo captain Nanase Tanimoto for the win. Meijo's big names, especially Tanimoto and Nanaka Yonezawa , have been off their best most of this season, and it showed when they were only 4th at Mori...

The last big track time trial of the season, probably, Saturday's Edion Distance Challenge had its biggest result in its smallest event. With only 3 women on the starting line, the 3000 mSC saw Miu Saito from Nittai University move up from all-time Japanese #9 to #8 with a 9:45.62 PB that put her almost 35 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Panasonic 's Nanami Watanabe took the women's 5000 m fast heat in 15:29.67, but a lot of the main competition, Kae Gyu from National Corporate Women's Ekiden winner Japan Post , Yuma Yamamoto , Risa Sasaki and Tomoka Kimura from runner-up Sekisui Kagaku , top-tier collegians Nanaka Yamazaki , Nanase Tanimoto and Haruka Ogawa , and others just looked tired. Only 8 women broke 16 minutes, and with 7 others going sub-16 in the B-heat better seeding might have produced better races. Some Japan Post runners did do well in the women's 10000 m fast heat, with Miyaka Sugata winning in 31:42.28 and Caroline Kariba 3rd in 3...

Nittai University still has the special annual women-only edition of its time trial series coming up Dec. 21, but Saturday's Edion Distance Challenge in Osaka is the last full-on long distance track time trial meet of the year. Streaming starts at 11:50 a.m. local time and will show all 13 races, mostly heats of women's 3000 m, 3000 mSC, 5000 m and 10000 m with four heats of men's 5000 m near the beginning. The meet schedule and live results can be had her e, with entry lists here . The first race of the day, the women's 3000 mSC at 12:00, only has 3 entrants, but all-time Japanese #9 Miu Saito from Nittai is among them. The men's 5000 m fast heat at 15:35 is led by Toyota 's 13:07.99 man Felix Korir , with recent sub-13:30 men Cosmas Mwangi , Ryuto Igawa and Nganga Waweru at the top of the list. The women's 5000 m fast heat at 16:00 has a lot of good names, including sub-15 Kenyans Margaret Akidor and Tabitha Njeri Kamau , Kae Gyu from the national c...

A group of Japanese university runners competed in the Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km road race in the Netherlands on Nov. 17. Every year a group of students is selected to compete based on their results at the National University Half Marathon and National University Track and Field Championships 10000 m. Having won both the Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden this season, Koku Gakuin University was out in force in the men's race too. Rui Aoki was part of a 5-way sprint finish for 2nd behind Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo 's 40:42 world best, taking 4th in 43:23, the best-ever Japanese men's performance at the race. Aoki won this year's National University Half Marathon in 1:02:06. He was 3rd on the First Stage at October's Izumo Ekiden and 7th on the Second Stage at the National University Ekiden, playing a key role in KGU's wins at both. His teammate Hikaru Tsujihara was 10th in 43:55, having handled the Third Stage at both Izumo and Nationals. Hinata Shirakawa ...

Sunday's Morinomiyako Ekiden in Sendai is one of the two big national-level ekidens on the collegiate women's ekiden circuit. This is the era of Meijo University , who have won the last seven Morinomiyako titles and the last six at December's Mt. Fuji. Women's Ekiden , and just about the only real story here is whether anyone can stop them. Five out the six members of last year's winning team, Nanaka Yonezawa , Kaede Rikimaru , Asuka Ishimatsu , Saki Harada , and Nanase Tanimoto , are back, and the only one missing, 2nd-year Naru Yabutani , finished the lowest on the team on her stage at 4th last time. Tanimoto, the only 4th-year on the team, has had more downs than ups this season, but that was true last year too and Meijo came through. Perpetual 2nd-placer Daito Bunka University was only 52 seconds behind over the 38.0 km Morinomiyako course, and that was with one of its runners finishing only 12th on her stage. Its entire 2023 lineup is back, led by 2nd-year S...

Japan's best college meet kicked off Thursday at Tokyo's National Stadium at the 103rd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships . Looking like she was doing a controlled tempo run, 2nd-yr Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) lapped the entire field to win the women's 10000 m in a meet record 32:02.87, almost 15 seconds under the record she last year in her debut. 3rd-yr Aoi Takahashi (Josai Univ.) was 2nd in 33:29.22 and 2nd-yr Nana Nagashima (Josai Kokusai Univ.) 3rd in a PB 33:30.28, but the other main news alongside Wanjiru's new record was the return of collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) in her first 10000 m in 19 months. Fuwa hung at the back of the chase pack for the first half, made a move to lead it in the second half, and ultimately faded to 9th in 33:40.20. Every comeback has to start somewhere. The D1 men's 10000 m had a tight group up front with the top 6 all finishing within 6 seconds and under 28:10. 3rd-yr Jam...

It was the first really busy weekend of outdoor season in Japan, with the first quality results coming at the season's first Setagaya Time Trials in Tokyo. Collegiate 10000 m record holder Amos Bett (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) ran 27:48.00 for the win in the men's 10000 m fast heat, with Takuya Hanyu (Toyota Boshoku) going under 28 minutes for the second time in his career with in 27:49.78 for 2nd. The winner of last month's National University Half Marathon,  Rui Aoki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) ran a PB 28:02.00 for 3rd, barely beating Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) by 0.26. In the men's 5000 m A-heat, photo finish specialist Edwin Kisalsak (Fujisan no Meisui) did it again, both he and Duncan Maina (Senshu Univ.) clocking 13:38.82 in the men's 5000 m fast heat but Kisalsak getting the win by 0.005 in 13:38.815 to Maina's 13:38.820. Five Koku Gakuin University runners went under 14 minutes led by Kosei Atomura in 13:47.46, with Aoi Ito making a partial comebac...

Tokyo University 's Hiroaki Furukawa and Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University 's Shota Shiode scored sub-2:20 wins at the Kumamoto Castle Marathon and Kochi Ryoma Marathon, and Hakone runner-up Komazawa University 's Ibuki Kaneko and Kyosuke Hanao had good runs over 30 km , Kaneko 2nd at the Ome 30 km in 1:34:15 and Hanao only 5th at the Kumanichi 30 km but faster in 1:33:14. But there were other big results for Japanese collegiate runners this weekend overseas and at home. At the FISU World University Cross Country Championships in Muscat, Oman, Haruka Ogawa of Rikkyo University was at the front of the pack the entire way through the women's 10 km, unable to hang with eventual gold medalist Maria Karabo Mailula of South Africa over the last 2 km loop and losing touch with Great Britain's Alice Goodall just before the end but hanging on for bronze in 34:22. Ogawa was the only Japanese woman to make the top 10, with Rio Einaga (Osaka Gakuin Univ.)...

The thing about dynasties is that sooner or later they're going to end. From 2003 to 2016 Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University won the Morinomiyako National University Women's Ekiden ten times and took 2nd the four times they didn't. But in 2017 Nagoya's Meijo University arrived on the scene and has won every year since then, its current streak of six national titles longer than Ritsumeikan's longest uninterrupted streak. Meijo holds the overall record of 2:02:57 for the 6-stage, 38.1 km course, slightly edited to 38.0 km this year, and its runners hold four of the six individual stage records. It keeps graduating top talent, most recently joint Third Stage CR record holders Narumi Kobayashi and Yuma Yamamoto , but head coach Katsuro Yoneda just keeps finding the top talent and helping it develop. But this season Meijo has been looking a little shaky. Out of last year's lineup, Fourth Stage CR breaker Nanase Tanimoto was 7th in last month's National Univ...

The 9-stage, 42.195 km National Women's Ekiden takes place Jan. 15 in Kyoto starting and finishing at Takebishi Stadium. Absent from the stage entry list published Jan. 14 was the Gunma prefecture team's Seira Fuwa , 19, the collegiate 10000 m national record holder and a 2nd-year at Takushoku University . Her high school coach Hatsuo Kitada is serving as the Gunma team's coach this year. "We're looking toward her future," he said. "Now's not the time to overdo it." At last year's National Women's Ekiden Fuwa passed 13 people on the 4.0 km 4th leg, breaking its course record. Following that performance she sustained an Achilles tendon injury that kept her out of competition for most of 2022. In October she won her stage at the Morinomiyako Ekiden, but in order to ensure her continued recovery she did not run in December's Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national championships. Wakana Kabasawa of 2022 National Corporate Women's Eki...