japan running news

In what looked to have been his official 10000 m debut, Justus Soget (Honda) survived constant turnover to take the top spot in the fastest heat at this year's Hachioji Long Distance meet, winning it in 27:35.57. With everyone focused on getting ready for January's New Year Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden, 15 other men followed him under 28 minutes in the same heat. Among them, Shinobu Kubota (Toyota) following up his comeback run at last week's Chubu Region Corporate Ekiden with a 27:55.07 for 14th, his first time under 28 in six years..  Justus Soget being interviewed by JRN's Mika Tokairin post-race. Two other men went sub-28 in the previous heat, Silas Kingori (Hiramatsu Byoin) leading the way in 27:49.38. Kubota was the only Japanese man to go under 28, but nine others were under 28:15 including collegians Shunya Kikuchi (Josai Univ.), 5th behind Kingori in 28:08.25, and Shoya Kawase (Kogakkan Univ.), 21st in the fast heat in 28:10.41. Along with the 18 men to brea...

 A typhoon passing to the south brought rain and wind to most of the country throughout the weekend, but with what's left of ekiden season getting off the ground next weekend there were a million high-level meets across the country. None higher-level than Friday's  Chubu Corporate Track and Field Championships , where Bedan Karoki (Toyota) turned in his second sub-27:10 clocking in the last three weeks, winning the men's 10000 m A-heat in 27:08.91. 19-year-old Philemon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) was 2nd in 27:46.67, the first sub-28 by a junior this year. Five other men were under 28 in the same heat, including first-timers Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) and Daiji Kawai (Toenec). A total of 44 men were under 29 minutes between all three heats. Victor Korir Kipkirui (GMO) took the top spot in the men's 10000 m A-heat at Saturday's Track Games in Tokorozawa , a quad meet between Waseda University, Meiji University, Toyo University and Soka University with some GMO corpor...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 After taking 2nd in the 100 m and 6th in the 4x100 m, 2015 World Youth Championships double 100 m and 200 m gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) scored his first national title at the 2015 National High School Track and Field Championships in Wakayama, winning the boys' 200 m final.  Facing a strong 1.5 m/s headwind Sani Brown took 1st in 20.82, well ahead of runner-up Jun Yamashita (Fukushima H.S.), 2nd in 21.21.  100 m champion Kenta Oshima (Tokyo H.S.) was only 5th in 21.44.  With an even stronger 3.4 m/s in the girls' 200 m, Oshima's teammate and fellow 100 m champion Iyoba Edoba was likewise unable to pick up a double, Tomomi Kawamura (Morioka Daiichi H.S.) taking 1st in 24.57 with Edoba 3rd in 24.71. The showdown of the day came in the girls' 800 m, where 1500 m champion Chika Mukai (Shigakukan H.S.) faced 400 m and 400 m hurdles winner and record-setter Haruko Ishizuka (Higashi Osaka Prep Keiai ...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 After setting a National High School Track and Field Championships record to win the girls' 400 m on Wednesday and anchoring her school's 4x100 m relay team, Haruko Ishizuka (Keiai Higashi Osaka Prep H.S.) tore it up again on the Championships' third day of competition.  After dominating the 400 m hurdles semifinals and her 800 m heat Ishizuka was sensational in the 400 mH final, kicking hard in the last 100 m to win in 57.06, a new junior national record, high school national record and meet record.  Her Keiai teammate Mizuki Murakami and 3rd-placer Yuri Arashima (Kurashiki Chuo H.S.) both ran PBs under 59 seconds but were nearly 2 second behind.  Incredibly, less than an hour later Ishizuka was back to win her 800 m semifinal in 2:08.65, the slowest of the three semifinal winning times but still credible given the dangerously hot conditions and, of course, the fact that she had just broken a junior national record.  1500 m...

by Brett Larner videos by Ekiden News and 01moroya Over the last ten days high schools across Japan having been gearing up for next month's National High School Track and Field Championships at ten major regional meets.  Many saw meet records fall in middle and long distances, with the boys' 1500 m in particular seeing an uptick in quality.  Takumi Yokokawa (Nakanojo H.S.) set a 3:48.74 meet record at the North Kanto Region meet, one of two regional winners to break 3:50 along with the Kinki Region's Yuya Nakamura (Osaka Toin H.S.), who ran 3:49.01.  Records also fell in the Chugoku Region, where Kakeru Nakamura (Saikyo H.S.) ran 3:50.58, and the Shikoku Region, where Taku Tomihara (Jinsei Gakuen H.S.) ran 3:51.01.  Results compared well to the weekend's top national-level U.S.A high school meets, where the winning boys' mile times, 4:07.97 by Paul Ryan (Logos Christian School) at the Brooks PR meet and 4:09.23 by Matthew Novak (Deep Run H.S.) at the Ne...

by Brett Larner photo by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu video by Ekiden News After two meet records yesterday, the fourth day of this year's National High School Track and Field Championships saw the meet's first national record.  Rising star Meg Hemphill (Kyoto Bunkyo H.S.) built up a steady lead over the two days of the women's heptathlon, and with 4666 points and only the 800 m left she needed to run just 2:26.14 to break both the high school and junior national records.  Instead of settling for an easy record she went out full-effort, running 2:17.87 to total 5519 and breaking not just the meet record and the two national records but landing at all-time #8 in the Japanese record books.  A relative newcomer, she looks set to be one of the more interesting Japanese track and field athletes in the next few years. Hemphill brought the performance of the day, but there were other quality results.  Winning the 400 m national title on the first day of the meet and coming b...

by Brett Larner Days after jumping a PB 7.71 m for 5th in the boys' long jump at Oregon's World Junior Championships, Kodai Sakuma (Hosei Prep Daini H.S.) was the star of day three of the 2014 National High School Track and Field Championships in Kofu, Yamanashi.  In the long jump, Sakuma jumped a meet record and new PB of 7.80 m for 1st.  Doubling back in the 4x100 m he helped Hosei Daini take the win there as well, and on the strength of these two wins the Hosei Daini boys advanced to first in the overall school standings.  Another meet record fell in the boys' shot put, where Ayumu Ishiyama (Hanazono H.S.) threw a record 17.40 m to win by almost 60 cm. Mai Shimizu (Shiga Gakuen H.S.) had a big throw of 46.36 m to win the girls' discus by nearly one meter, while Soyo H.S. turned heads in the girls' 4x100 m with a winning time of 45.88.  Other winners included Ryosuke Kashi (Shikama Kogyo H.S.), who took the boys' 5000 m race walk in 21:05.94, boys...