japan running news

4th at the MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials after having run the fastest Japanese women's time during the qualifying window, 2018 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) had to break her own PB of 2:22:23 to have a shot to replace MGC 3rd-placer Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) on the provisional Olympic roster. And she did it. A local girl by birth, Matsuda was right alongside new half marathon national record holder Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) as Niiya paced the first 12 km ahead of target pace, on track for 2:19:40 at 10 km before handing over to the other pacers. The pace killed off the pretenders one by one, then Ohara, then former half marathon record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal), who dropped out just past 25 km, leaving a core group of eight at halfway with Matsuda the only Japanese woman left at 1:09:54 ahead of the two remaining pacers. From there til the last pacer's departure at 30 km Matsuda kept burning off the competition, ...

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the field for the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon , the organizers of the Nagoya Women's Marathon have put out the entry list for this year's race, the last domestic chance for Japanese women to qualify for the MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials. With the impending imperial succession the Tokyo Marathon moves this year from the last weekend of February to Lake Biwa's traditional date of the first weekend of March, forcing Lake Biwa to move a week later. That puts it the same day as Nagoya, with Nagoya starting three hours earlier. Logistical challenges aside, Nagoya is set to be a big race. While 24 men have qualified for September's MGC Race to date, only nine women have done it. A few will be trying to make it in Tokyo, but dozens are lining up in Nagoya to try to pick up one of the six spots available for sure. The top three Japanese women will qualify if under 2:28:00, with up to three more qualifying if under 2:27:00. The...

The organizers of the 38th Osaka International Women's Marathon have announced cancellations from Sunday's race. Mari Ozaki (Noritz) has withdrawn due to sciatic nerve pain, Shiho Takechi (Yamada Denki) with a stress fracture, and Maki Ashi (Kyudenko) and Rie Fujita (Kyocera) with Achilles tendon pain. From overseas, Merima Mohamed (Bahrain) has also withdrawn for reasons unspecified, to be replaced by Abebech Afework (Ethiopia), runner-up at the 2016 Amsterdam Marathon in 2:24:27. source article: https://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20190122/ath19012211020004-n1.html translated and edited by Brett Larner

The elite field is out for the Jan. 27 Osaka International Women's Marathon , one of the last chances for Japanese women to qualify for the MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials. Absent are last year's debut winner Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) and anyone else likely to have the same kind of breakthrough, the domestic field instead heavy on people who were running well in 2016 and 2017. Cf. 2016 winner Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal), who will be running her first marathon since the Rio Olympics, and the duo of Tomomi Tanaka (Daichi Seimei) and Rei Ohara (Tenmaya), who went head-to-end until the final meters of the 2016 Nagoya Women's Marathon. Ohara is already in for the MGC Race, but the rest of the home crowd will have to be under 2:28:00 if among the top three Japanese women and under 2:27:00 if in the next three. Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) has a slightly easier route, only needing to clear 2:28:20 to get in via the two-race sub-2:28:00 average the same way Ohara did in Berlin this ye...

A statement by Koichiro Nishikawa , chairperson of the Japan Industrial Track and Field Association At the 37th National Corporate Women's Ekiden organized by the Japan Industrial Track and Field Association (JITA), a prohibited substance was detected in a sample taken from Moeno Nakamura , at the time a member of the Universal Entertainment team, in an in-competition drug test. After receiving notification of this result, in accordance with the recommendations of the Japan Anti-Doping Agency disciplinary panel, Nakamura was suspended for one year and three months beginning Nov. 26, 2017. As the JITA not only do we hold anti-doping education sessions for athletes and coaches in partnership with the Japan Association of Athletics Federations and clearly specify that our events must be carried out in strict accordance with anti-doping regulations, but as the JITA chairperson I have personally given strong emphasis to the importance of "Clean Sport." In spite of these...

by Brett Larner The Nagoya Women's Marathon is the largest women-only marathon in the world, with 19,112 finishers last year.  It was also the deepest elite women's marathon in the world next to the Rio Olympics, with more women sub-2:27 than in Rio and only three fewer under 2:30.  Many of the main people who made it what it was last year are set to return, led by course record holder and two-time defending champion Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) who comes back to Nagoya as an Olympic silver medalist.  Japan's Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya), Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), Reia Iwade (Team Noritz), Sayaka Kuwahara (Team Sekisui Kagaku) and Shiho Takechi (Team Yamada Denki) all ran sub-2:26 PBs in Nagoya last year, Ohara's 2:23:30 just missing her a place on the Rio Olympic team.  Ohara is Kirwa's closest competition, but with a nearly two-minute difference in their recent half marathon wins Ohara will have a very tough battle facing her to stay in contact.  At sta...

by Brett Larner Two different women's ekidens led the weekend's action, both in their 31st runnings but each with a highly different format. On the west coast in Fukui, corporate, university and club teams went head to head at the six-stage, 30.0 km Fukui Super Ladies Ekiden .  Just 7th last year, the Yamada Denki corporate women led start to finish bookended by stage wins from star members Shiho Takechi and Kasumi Nishihara to take the win in 1:36:48. 2nd place saw heavy turnover, with the Kyudenko team briefly moving up mid-race thanks to Kenyan Mariam Waithera before returning to overtake Canon AC Kyushu for 2nd in 1:38:03 thanks to a strong run from anchor Yuka Miyazaki .  Canon held on to 3rd by 5 seconds in 1:38:31despite anchor Chisaki Takegami struggling late in the 7.45 km stage.  Last year's winner Osaka Gakuin University was only 9th but still claimed the top university team position. On the east coast in Fukushima the Tokyo team very nearly dupl...

by Brett Larner click here for Day Two results and report The last major track meet of the year on the Japanese calendar, the National Corporate Track and Field Championships kicked off in near-secrecy on Sept. 25 at Gifu's Nagaragawa Field with the men's and women's 10000 m races.  Organizers hit back at the increasing number of fans turning up at their meets and sharing pictures and videos on social media with a ban on use of all cameras including phones unless owners registered with them in advance and paid a fee.  Most fans gave the meet a miss as a result, with relatively empty stands and lack of online chatter seeming to indicate success in organizers' attempts to prevent their work from becoming popular among the general public. Beijing World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) outran a solid field of Japan-resident Africans to win the men's A-heat in 27:37.13 six seconds ahead of runner-up James Mwangi (Team NTN).  Bernar...

by Brett Larner Eight years after it was set at on the same track, Suguru Osako (Oregon Project) and Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei) made history at the KBC Nacht in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, both breaking Takayuki Matsumiya 's 13:13.20 Japanese men's 5000 m national record.  For Osako it was do or die, his last chance to clear the Beijing World Championships qualifying standard of 13:23.00 after his official debut season with the Oregon Project was repeatedly hit by setbacks, not least of all the series of doping allegations against his coach Alberto Salazar .  Osako came through in a big way, running 13:08.40 for 6th, easily breaking both the NR and the Beijing standard.  10000 m national champion Yoroizaka, already on the Beijing team in the 10000 m, unexpectedly hung on to the pace and likewise cleared the record and standard in 13:12.63. After countless all-time top performances over 5000 m, 10000 m, half marathon and marathon have sent things bubbling in t...

by Brett Larner Two of Japan's elite women-only ekidens founded after the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics celebrated their 30th anniversaries Sunday.  At the Fukui Super Ladies Ekiden , last year's top collegiate team Osaka Gakuin University staged a classic come-from-behind race to take its first Fukui title, covering the six-stage, 30.0 km course in 1:38:23.  Down by more than a minute behind leader Panasonic and in 15th place after the 6.55 km First Stage, each of Osaka Gakuin's next five runners moved up in both stage ranking and overall standing until Sakie Arai took the lead by four seconds over 2014 National University Women's Ekiden champion Ritsumeikan University and by six over Panasonic with a 16:10 stage best on the Fifth Stage.  Anchor Saori Noda then put both Ritsumeikan and Panasonic away with a 24:25 stage best for the 7.45 km Sixth Stage to win by nearly a minute.  Panasonic's anchor, 2014 Gold Coast Airport Marathon winner Asami Kato , overtook Ri...

by Brett Larner videos by aoshin0507 With heavy rain and wind hitting most of the country, collegiate road 10 km national record holder Kasumi Nishihara  (Team Yamada Denki) moved up the ranks with her first national title, winning the women's 10000 m in 32:37.23 to cap the first day of competition at the 2014 Japanese National Track and Field Championships in Fukushima.  In a close and tactical race that included most of the favorites from last year's record-setting edition, Nishihara and Yamada Denki teammate Shiho Takechi didn't move clear until the final lap, racing each other to the line with Nishihara claiming the national title by 0.46 seconds.  Favorite Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo), showing vulnerability in recent races after a very strong winter season, was unable to match the YD pair's closing speed as she took 3rd in 32:41.56 with 4th through 11th places within ten seconds of her. In the day's only other distance event, 2007 men's 3000 mSC...

by Brett Larner Following the 10000 m victories of Paul Tanui  (Team Kyudenko) and Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi) a day earlier, two-time world junior steeplechase champion Jonathan Ndiku  (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) and Grace Kimanzi  (Team Starts) added to the Kenyan haul with 5000 m wins on the second day of the 2013 National Corporate Track and Field Championships.  In the men's race, 2010 World Cross-Country silver medalist Clement Langat  (Team Subaru) took things out at a desultory pace, splitting 2:48 and 2:51 for the first two km, trailed by Ndiku, fellow Kenyans Charles Ndirangu  (Team JFE Steel), Daniel Gitau  (Team Fujitsu) and Patrick Muwaka  (Team Aisan Kogyo) and just one Japanese man, Meiji University graduate Tetsuya Yoroizaka  (Team Asahi Kasei). Former Sera H.S. standout Ndirangu quickly lost patience with the state of things and took over with a 2:39 split for the third km, dropping all but Ndiku.  Ndirangu kept up the...

by Brett Larner Alongside its post-National Championships announcement of the 41-member Japanese team for August's Moscow World Championships, the Japanese Federation announced the teams it has selected for July's Asian Athletics Championships in Pune, India and October's East Asian Games in Tianjin, China. 26 men and 26 women will make up the Asian Athletics Championships team, with sprinters Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC),  Yuzo Kanemaru  (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), Yuichi Kobayashi  (Team NTN) and Kei Takase  (Team Fujitsu), hurdlers Yasuhiro Fueki  (Team Aima), Satomi Kubokura  (Niigata Albirex RC) and Hitomi Shimura  (Saga T&F Assoc.) and high jumper Miyuki Fukumoto  (Konan Gakuen AC) doubling there and in Moscow. The East Asian Games team includes 30 men and 28 women, led by 2013 national champions Yuki Ebhiara  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC),  Sota Hoshi  (Team Fujitsu),  Shota Iizuka  (Chuo Univ.), Sho Kawam...

http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20121029k0000m050036000c.html translated by Brett Larner With 28 teams on the starting line for the six-stage, 38.6 km National University Women's Ekiden Championships on Oct. 28 in Sendai, defending national champion  Ritsumeikan University  celebrated the championships' 30th anniversary by running 2:06:05 to take a record-setting seventh national title.  Rival Bukkyo University  was relegated to the runner-up position for the second-straight year, 1:05 behind Ritsumeikan, while Tsubuka University  was 3rd in its first Nationals appearance in nine years, making the seeded top six for the first time in ten years. Ritsumeikan sat in 4th at the end of the First Stage, 13 seconds behind the lead before junior Akane Yabushita  took over with a stage-best run to put Ritsumeikan into the lead.  The team sustained the lead through the Third Stage and was unchallenged all the way to the finish.  After starting the Sec...

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20120930-OHT1T00285.htm http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/0005414888.shtml translated and edited by Brett Larner The university women's ekiden season kicked off Sept. 29 with the Kansai Region (Kobe/Kyoto/Osaka area)  qualifier for the Oct. 28 National University Women's Ekiden Championships in Sendai.  22 schools ran in the six-stage, 30 km Kansai qualifier in Kobe's Shiawase no Mura, with defending champion Bukkyo University  taking its second-straight and fourth-overall win in 1:37:54.  Last year's national champion Ritsumeikan University  finished 4th in Kansai.  Along with Bukkyo and Ritsumeikan, five other schools from the Kansai Region made the cut for Nationals. Having run on the Shiawase no Mura course since her days at Tomogaoka H.S., Bukkyo's Shiho Takechi  had the fastest time on the anchor stage for the second year in a row.  Takechi ran 47 seconds faster than the next-fastest ...

by Brett Larner Two days after winning the National University Track & Field Championships 10000 m title, Kenyan first-year Enock Omwamba  (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) returned to outrun Nihon University's Kenyan pair Benjamin Gandu  and Daniel Kitonyi  and all Japanese comers for the 5000 m title.  Running off a slow first 2000 m in 5:40, Omwamba accelerated throughout the second half of the race to take the win in 13:53.53, Gandu 2nd in 13:55.81.   Shuho Dairokuno  (Meiji Univ.) was the top Japanese finisher, 4th overall in 14:02.01 a step ahead of Aoyama Gakuin University's star first-year recruit Kazuma Kubota  with Aoyama Gakuin captain Takehiro Deki  just behind in his first quality performance since his 2:10:02 marathon debut at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  Defending collegiate 5000 m champion Kenta Murayama  (Komazawa Univ.) was only 14th in 14:22.38 just ahead of his twin brother Kota Murayama  (Josai Univ.) Th...

http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/sports/article/20120713000152 translated and edited by Brett Larner Seven events saw finals on the first day of the Kyoto Track and Field Championships at Nishi Kyogoku Sports Park Field.  Among them, Kyoto native and Ayabe H.S. graduate Haruka Kyuma (1st yr., Tsukuba Univ.) ran 15:54.33 to win the women's 5000 m for the first time. Kazuki Noda (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) won the men's 5000 m in 14:23.60, while 38-year-old Yoshihisa Fukumoto (Kyoto T&F Assoc.) took his eleventh high jump title, five years since his last win. Translator's note: Kyuma's identical twin sister Moe Kyuma  ran for the Japanese team at this year's World Junior Championships. Kyoto Track & Field Championships Women's 5000 m Nishi Kyogoku Sports Park Field, Kyoto, 7/13/12 1. Haruka Kyuma (Tsukuba Univ.) - 15:54.33 2. Chika Ogawa (Bukkyo Univ.) - 16:12.69 3. Nanami Aoki (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 16:14.08 4. Chinami Mori (Bukkyo Univ.) - 16:22....

by Brett Larner The women's ekiden season kicked off with a matchup between the two top university teams in the country, Kyoto's dynamic pair  Bukkyo University  and Ritsumeikan University.   Ritsumeikan, missing aces Michi Numata  and  Hanae Tanaka , dominated the first half by winning the first three stages, including new records on the First and Third Stages by members Mutsumi Ikeda  and Risa Takenaka .  Down 50 seconds at the start of the Fourth Stage, 2010 national champion Bukkyo's fortunes turned around thanks to a stage record run by ace Hikari Yoshimoto , and thanks to stage win by anchor Shiho Takechi and the absence of Ritsumeikan's Numata and Tanaka Bukkyo pulled away to a comfortable win nearly a minute and a half up on their rivals. Bukkyo and Ritsumeikan are both so far ahead of any other school that their B-teams beat the next-strongest school, Kyoto Sangyo University .  Ritsumeikan's B-squad Fifth Stage runner Ikumi Natsuhara...

by Brett Larner Click photo for video highlights of men's 5000 m. The final day of track and field competition at the 2011 World University Games brought the biggest round of distance racing, with the women's and men's half marathon and the men's 5000 m final all taking place Aug. 21.  Both half marathons were slow and tactical as the athletes dealt with the morning heat and humidity.  The women's half went out in 18:59 for the first 5 km, a pace which kept the entire field together.  A split of 18:39 for the next 5 km dropped a few of the weaker runners, but a 17:42 split from 10 to 15 km cut the field down to seven, including all four Japanese runners.  China's Xiaoli Jiang  and Japan's Shiho Takechi  were unable to keep this pace and fell away from the lead pack.  Of the remaining five, only North Korean Un Ok Ro  could maintain pace as she ran 17:43 from 15 to 20 km to open a narrow lead she carried all the way to gold in 1:16:38.  Ch...

by Brett Larner The men's 5000 m Heat E. Pre-typhoon rain couldn't hold back the times at the 2011 Golden Games in Nobeoka meet, May 28 in Noboeka. With a focus on the 5000 m, the meet's top men's heat saw two Japanese men, former middle-distance specialist Kazuya Watanabe (Team Shikoku Denryoku) and Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) break the World Championships B-standard. Watanabe ran a PB of 13:23.15 to win outright over a largely African field and become the all-time 8th-best Japanese man over the distance, while Sato was just off his PB with a 13:25.53 clocking, his best in five years. The Japanese man with the best 10,000 and half-marathon times of 2011, Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) also ran a PB of 13:30.30. Just behind him Waseda University sophomore Suguru Osako , the Asian half-marathon jr. area record holder, likewise ran a large PB of 13:31.52 for 8th after a gutsy push to the front at 4000 m. Although none of the Africans in the top ten ran...