japan running news

Having bettered the Japanese women's 400 m national record by 0.04 in winning May's Shizuoka International Meet in a 51.71 collegiate record, on June 18 it was learned that Nittai University 3rd-year Arie Flores , 21, has completed the naturalization process and been granted Japanese citizenship. Born in Shizuoka, Flores is the daughter of a Japanese-Peruvian father and Italian-Peruvian mother. Because her citizenship application had not been finalized yet in May, her win in Shizuoka was done under Peruvian citizenship and was not counted as a new Japanese NR. The approval of Flores' application means she is able to run in July's National Championships. She hopes to compete in September's Tokyo World Championships. source article: https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2025061800441&g=spo translated by Brett Larner

Earlier this month at the Shizuoka International Meet, Shiga Gakuen H.S. 3rd-year Ko Ochiai and Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. 2nd-year Rin Kubo won the men's and women's 800 m races. Both outran older and more experienced athletes to score 1st, but Ochiai's win was especially notable. His time of 1:46.54 bettered both the U20 and high school Japanese records set by Allon Clay when he was a student at Soyo H.S. "I was going for the records," said Ochiai. "I wanted to race some good college and corporate league people to get the best experience I could before the National Championships." At last October's Yogibo Athletics Challenge meet in Niigata Ochiai had gone out with a similar pace. "I ran according to plan and didn't have to rush it," he said. Over the winter he focused on improving both speed and stamina. "I had a lot left in the tank. With 300 m to go I couldn't move last time, but this time I had enough left to kick over ...

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20130503-1121751.html http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20130503-1121759.html translated and edited by Brett Larner click here for complete results videos by naoki620 At the May 3 Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet men's 200 m, 2010 World Junior Championships gold medalist and London Olympian Shota Iizuka  (21, Chuo Univ.) won Heat Four in a world-leading  meet record time of 20.21 (+1.4 m/s).  A PB by 0.24 seconds, Iizuka's time was enough to put him at all-time #3 on the Japanese lists and would have been good for 7th in the London final.  He easily cleared the Japanese Federation's specified time for Moscow World Championships qualification, 20.29.  "The first time I saw it in print I thought it was really fast," said Iizuka, "but if you can't run that kind of time then you can't be internationally competitive." Iizuka spent the winter train...

Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka, 5/3/12 click here for complete results Men's 5000 m 1. Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 13:19.18 2. Patrick Mutunga (Kenya/Team Toyota Boshoku) - 13:21.22 3. John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota) - 13:23.41 4. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 13:27.06 5. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:41.56 6. Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) - 13:46.35 7. Kazuharu Takai (Team Kyudenko) - 14:00.31 8. Hayato Saito (Team Honda) - 14:05.13 9. Yusei Nakao (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 14:08.95 10. Wataru Ueno (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:18.77 Women's 5000 m 1. Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:30.95 2. Ai Igarashi - 15:31.72 (Team Sysmex) - 15:31.72 3. Susan Wairimu (Kenya) - 15:31.74 4. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 15:32.23 5. Yurie Doi (Team Starts) - 15:37.32 6. Megumi Kinukawa (Mizuno) - 15:40.73 7. Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi) - 15:43.95 8. Mai Ishibashi (Team Denso) - 15:45.25 9. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Univ. Ent.) - 1...

Jeilan outkicks Tanui and Ndambiri for the Shizuoka 5000 m win. Click here for more photos. by Brett Larner 2006 World Jr. 10000 m and 2008 World XC Jr. champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) outkicked 2011 World XC runner-up Paul Tanui and 10000 m Japanese all-comers record holder Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) for the win in the 2011 Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet 5000 m on May 3 at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. Jeilan sat back in the all-Kenyan lead pack until late the race, responding to a charge from Tanui over the last lap and kicking hard in the last 100 m to take the win a week after a disappointing 10000 m performance at the Hyogo Relay Carnival. Jeilan's time was less than 1 second off his 5-year-old PB and is the second-fastest in the world so far this year, putting him in contention for the Ethiopian team for August's World Championships. Despite losing out in the last sprint, Tanui set a new PB. 4th placer Edward Waweru (Ke...

by Brett Larner Alongside sprinter Chisato Fukushima 's new women's 200 m national record at the May 3 Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet , Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) was in a familiar position in the men's 5000 m, one step ahead of countryman Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) with a meet record and world-leading 13:09.19 win. Mathathi, just six days from his half-marathon debut at Sunday's Sendai International Half Marathon, was also under the old meet record as he finished 2nd in 13:10.94. 3rd placer Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) set the 3rd-fastest time so far this year, 13:19.84, while 4th place John Thuo set a slim PB of 13:21.02. 5000 m Japanese national champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) had a surprise win over Saku Chosei high school teammate Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) with the fastest time this year by a Japanese man, 13:24.75. The next five Japanese after Sato all set PBs, among them Tokai Universi...

http://www.47news.jp/CN/201005/CN2010050301000339.html translated by Brett Larner At the May 3 Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet, a selection race for the Japanese national team for November's Asian Games, 200 m national record holder (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) won in a time of 22.89, breaking her own national record. It was the first time a Japanese woman has run 22. Fukushima's previous national record was 23.00, dating back to last June's National Track and Field Championships. Five days ago the 21 year old Fukushima broke her own national record in the 100 m, clocking 11.21 at the Apr. 29 Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet with one of the best starts of her career.

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo&k=2009060700083 translated by Brett Larner At the June 7 Fuse Relay Carnival at Tottori's Coca-Cola West Sports Park , Beijing Olympian Chisato Fukushima (20, Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) set a Japanese national record of 11.24 in the women's 100 m. The event was conducted in two rounds. In her first run, Fukushima clocked 11.28 with a legal tailwind of 0.8 m/s to break the national record of 11.36 set in 2001 by Hideko Nihei and which she had tied in April last year. In her second run she set the new 11.24 national record with a 1.9 m/s tailwind just under the legal limit. In the first run Fukushima appeared solid and focused, but in her second she had a slow start and did not fully get into her stride until halfway. When Fukushima ran in the Beijing Olympics 100 m it was the first time an individual female Japanese sprinter had made the Olympics in 56 years. In May this year at the Shizuoka International meet she set a women's 200 m national reco...

by Brett Larner Alongside the duo of 100 m national record holder Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) and Momoko Takahashi (Heisei Kokusai Univ.) breaking the women's 200 m national record , another pair made headlines at the May 3 Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet. Just a week after finishing 2nd in 27:40.32 behind Ethiopian Yacob Jarso (Team Honda) in tough conditions at the Hyogo Relay Carnival 10000 m, Kenyan Josephat Ndambiri (Team Komori Corp.) outran 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Kenyan Martin Mathathi (Team Suzuki) to break his own 10000 m Japanese all-comers record, clocking 26:57.36 to record the first-ever sub-27 minute 10000 m on Japanese soil. Mathathi just squeezed under 27 minutes to join Ndambiri in the honor with a 26:59.88. The pair were well over a minute over the rest of the field as Kenyan Nicholas Makau (Team JAL Ground Service) led the also-rans with 28:07.39 for 3rd. Mathathi's teammate Daisuke Shimizu was the top Japanes...

http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/main/20090503STXKA014403052009.html http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090504/spg0905040015002-n1.htm translated and edited by Brett Larner At the May 3rd Shizuoka International Track and Field Meet, a selection race for this summer's World Championships in Berlin, Chisato Fukushima (Hokkaido Hi-Tec AC) set a new Japanese national record of 23.14 in the women's 200 m with a legal tailwind of 1.5 m/sec. 2nd place finisher Momoko Takahashi (Heisei Kokusai Univ.) ran 23.15, also under the previous national record of 23.33 set at the 2004 National Track and Field Championships by Sakie Nobuoka (Team Mizuno). "If we'd been running 202 m....." commented Takahashi afterwards. The 20 year old Fukushima tied the women's 100 m national record of 11.36 in April, 2008 at the Oda Memorial Track and Field Meet and went on to represent Japan at the Beijing Olympics, becoming Japan's first female Olympic 100 m sprinter in 56 years. At this yea...

http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/sports/Sp200904110067.html http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090410/spg0904102235000-n1.htm http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?k=200904/2009041000849 http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/sports/Sp200904140241.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Rikuren has announced the formation of a new Spring Japan Grand Prix Series aligning four of the season's biggest track and field meets in the leadup to August's World Track and Field Championships in Berlin, Germany. The series will consist of the Apr. 18-19 Japan Invitational in Wakayama, the Apr. 26 Hyogo Relay Carnival in Kobe, the Apr. 29 Oda Mikio Memorial in Hiroshima, and the May 3 Shizuoka International in Fukuroi. The series will play host to a range of Olympians, national record holders and other international-level Japanese athletes. Results in the meets will count toward national team selection for the World Championships. Top entrants inlcude: Japan Invitational - Apr. 18-19 Hiromasa Tanaka (Team Monter...

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