japan running news

Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won the Sendai International Half Marathon Sunday in Sendai, Shikama in 1:01:31 and Njeri in 1:09:20. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) was the top Japanese woman at 2nd overall. The men's race went through 5 km in 14:34 and 10 km in 29:22. Shikama ran alongside top competition including Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.), who has been running well in half marathons this season, and Tokyo World Championships marathon team member Naoki Koyama (Honda). On a course with many small ups and downs, Shikama attacked on a downhill just after 15 km, quickly breaking free of the lead group of 7. 13 seconds up by 20 km, Shikama covered the last 1.0975 km in 3:06 to seal his first Sendai title. A graduate of Juntendo University , Shikama is in his 4th season with Logisteed. At the 2024 National Corporate Half Marathon he ran 1:00:41, and at last year's East Japan Corporate Ekiden he won the Third Stage. In his marathon d...

Japan's outdoor Grand Prix season kicks off Saturday in Kumamoto at the Kanakuri Memorial Meet . Streaming will be at the link above starting at 9:30 a.m. local time. Complete timetable and start lists . Main events and some noteworthy entries: GP Women's 800 m Heat 2  - 12:10 p.m. All-time JPN #4 Ayano Shiomi , 2:01.01 GP Men's 800 m Heat 2  - 12:30 p.m. GP Women's 3000 mSC  - 2:45 p.m. All-time JPN #4 Yuzu Nishide , 9:38.95 All-time JPN #5 Manami Nishiyama , 9:39.28 South Korean NR holder Ha-Rim Cho , 9:53.09 GP Men's 3000 mSC  - 3:05 p.m. All-time JPN #2 Ryoma Aoki , 8:18.75 All-time JPN #5 Yutaro Niinae , 8:19.54 All-time JPN #7 Hibiki Obara , 8:22.64 All-time U20 JPN #2 Tetsu Sasaki , 8:29.05 All-time U20 JPN #3 Soma Nagahara , 8:30.37 GP Women's 1500 m Heat 2  - 3:35 p.m. Teresiah Muthoni , 4:02.54 Margaret Ekalale , 4:09.64 all-time JPN #3 Ran Urabe , 4:07.90 All-time JPN #6 Tomoka Kimura , 4:09.79 All-time U20 #5 Mei Sakiyama , 4:13.67 GP Men's 1500...

After last weekend's massive total of 53 people sub-28 for 10000 m at the Hachioji Long Distance and MARCH Taikosen meets , another 17 did it Saturday in the A-heat at the last full Nittai University Time Trials meet of the year. After multiple heats saw winning times under 28:10, Amos Bett (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) led the 16th heat with a  27:44.02 PB, just beating Emmanuel Yegon (Subaru) who was 2nd in 27:44.23. The next 3 were all in 27:45, the top Japanese finisher being Tatsuya Iyoda (Fujitsu) in 27:45.72 for 5th. A total of 9 Japanese men broke 28 minutes, with former Tokai University runner Shotaro Ishihara (SGH) making a corporate league breakthrough in 27:53.19 for 11th. Nittai's Ryuto Hirashima ran a school record 27:56.84 for 13th to add to the school records at Aoyama Gakuin University , Chuo University , Koku Gakuin University and Rikkyo University last weekend. Out of the 20 university teams set to run January's Hakone Ekiden, 13 now have at least one cu...

Margaret Akidor made it three in a row at the Sanyo Ladies Road Race half marathon, breaking the course record with a PB 1:07:45 for the win. Akidor was part of a lead quartet with Shiori Yoshizono , Nanaka Izawa and the debuting Tabitha Njeri Kamau that went through 5 km together in 15:55. Yoshizono and Izawa dropped back over the next 5 km, falling 12 seconds behind as Akidor and Kamau hit 10 km in 31:55. From there Akidor started to inch away from Kamau, rolling on alone the rest of the way to the win. Yoshizono and Izawa caught the fading Kamau just before 20 km and went right by, Yoshizono taking 2nd in 1:08:21 and Izawa 3rd in 1:08:25. Kamau was another 10 seconds back in 4th, almost 2 minutes up on 5th-placer Yuri Mitsune . Yoshizono and Izawa both broke into the Japanese all-time lists, Yoshizono coming in a 9th and Izawa at 10th. 3rd in the 10 km race last year, Kaede Kawamura got the win this time in 32:16, holding off Deborah Chemutai by 2 seconds in Chemutai's deb...

Last year Margaret Akidor ran a 2-minute PB of 1:09:29 to win the Sanyo Ladies Road Race half marathon. She's back Sunday to try to make it 3 in a row, but she's got serious competition from Pauline Kamulu , 1:07:22 in Marugame last year, and last year's 10 km CR breaker Agnes Mwikali , making her debut here. 31:17.40 runner Tabitha Njeri is also debuting. The domestic field is relatively weak, with no current sub-1:10 Japanese women and Rinka Hida topping the list at 1:10:10. 2nd and 3rd in the 10 km last year, Janet Nyiva and Kaede Kawamura are sticking to the shorter race again this year, and in place of Mwikali they've got Naomi Muthoni , 31:15 in Sanyo 3 years ago, to deal with. Sub-15 runner Susan Kamotho is also debuting. Sanyo Ladies Road Race Okayama, 15 Dec. 2024 complete entry list times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted Half Marathon Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) - 1:07:22 (Marugame Half 2023) Margaret Akidor (Comodi...

After two days of flight cancelations and delays that ended up with him arriving in Niigata 4.5 hours before the race, Indian men's 5000 m NR holder Gulveer Singh came through with a record-breaking run to win the 5000 m on the first day of the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup Continental Tour Bronze meet. Set up as a shot at the 13:08.40 Japanese NR, the race went out with steady 63-second laps with pacing from 10-mile world best holder Benard Koech . After the pack settled out 2024 Komazawa University grad Mebuki Suzuki was at the front behind Koech with this year's Komazawa captain Kotaro Shinohara right with him. When a gap opened Singh moved up from 5th or 6th to go with them. Koech stepped off at 4000 m leaving Suzuki to lead, Shinohara struggling to hang on and coming back twice after falling off. At the bell Singh went to the front, and with a 55-second last lap he held off Suzuki in the last 100 m to win in 13:11.82, 7 seconds under his old NR. Suzuki ran a PB 13:18....

Newly crowned women's 800 m national champion Rin Kubo , 16, anchored one of two 4x800 m teams from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. at a time trial meet in Higashi Osaka Friday, setting a new Japanese NR of 8:33.77. The team, which included Rin Kitamura , Runa Asano , Misa Tamura and Kubo, took 8 seconds off the old record, clocking individual splits of 2:07.4 for Kitamura, 2:11.2 for Asano, 2:13.1 for Tamura and a solid 2:01.9 for the 16-year-old Kubo whose official PB for a standard 800 m is 2:03.13. Higashi Osaka Keiai's B-team also broke the old high school NR in 8:55.06. Overseas, three members of Japan's team for the Paris Olympics tuned up at the Monaco Diamond League meet. Women's javelin world champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) ntook the win in style with a 65.21 m season best on her final throw, surpassing the leader since the first round, Australian Mackenzie Little , by 47 cm. After a good comeback run at the Paris Diamond League meet, Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitom...

Thursday's Edion Distance Challenge meet at Osaka's Nagai Stadium will be streamed live starting at 11:50 a.m. local time. The program includes 3 heats of men's 5000 m, 2 heats of women's 3000 m, 5 heats of women's 5000 m and 2 heats of women's 10000 m. Given that the 10000 m national championships are happening Sunday, the women's 5000 m fast heat is the top race of the day. Its field has 8 Kenyan women, 1 Ethiopian, and 17 Japanese women, with the fastest being: Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 14:48.26 Judy Jepngetich Chepaskwony (Shiseido) - 14:50.20 Agnes Mwikali Mutuku (Kyocera) - 14:51.35 Esther Muthoni (Nitori) - 14:58.03 Top Japanese entrants include Yuma Yamamoto and Chikako Mori of last month's Queens Ekiden national champ Sekisui Kagaku . Complete start lists and the meet program . © 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Increasingly heavy rain throughout the day couldn't hold back four meet records at the 57th Mikio Oda Memorial Meet Saturday in Hiroshima, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze label meet. On the field, NR holder Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) set a new MR of 63.45 m on her 3rd attempt, then took that up to a winning 64.50 m on her 5th attempt. On the track, Rose Wangui of Sera H.S. won the U20 women's 3000 m by over 23 seconds in a MR 9:03.03, over 10 seconds under the old MR. Australian Georgia Winkcup took 5 seconds off the women's 3000 mSC MR, winning in 9:46.27 by almost 10 seconds over Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo). The top 7 in the men's 1500 m all broke the old MR, with Nanami Arai (Honda) getting the win in 3:40.24 with the top 5 all under 3:41. In other races, quadruple U20 NR holder Keita Sato of 2023 Hakone Ekiden champ Komazawa University scored the first major win of his career on the track, holding back in the 1st half of the men's 500...

This weekend's 300th edition of the Nittai University Time Trials series in Yokohama turned out some of the fastest times in its history as athletes across the country build toward peaking for championship ekiden season. On Saturday Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) ran two of the fastest women's 5000 m marks ever on Japanese soil, Akidor taking 11 seconds off her PB to win in 14:44.83 and Kamau 6 seconds off hers for 2nd in 14:48.26. 3rd-place Yui Komatsu (Matsuyama Univ.) was almost lapped, running 15:47.79. Steeplechase champ Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) dropped out mid-race. The men's 10000 m was fast too. Richard Etir (CJAC) outkicked Obirin University 1st-year Nelson Mandela Mbithi and Josphat Ledama Kisaisa (Kao) for the win in 27:27.51, Mbithi 2nd in 27:29.92, one of the fastest-ever Japanese collegiate times, and Kisaisa 3rd in 27:30.45. 4th-placer Boniface Murua (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) got under 28 min...

A crowd reported at over 6000 filled the lower stands at Tokyo's National Stadium Saturday to see the 10000 m component of this year's National Track and Field Championships . In the women's race, Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) and Rino Goshima (Shiseido) sealed up their places on the Oregon World Championships team by going 1st and 3rd, with NR holder Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) making a comeback for the win in the men's race but falling short of the Worlds standard. The dynamic in the women's race was changed dramatically a few hours before the race when top-ranked Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) announced she had withdrawn after not making enough progress in her comeback from an injury in January. In her absence Goshima took things out on pace to crack the standard, which only she, Hironaka and top collegian Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo Univ.) held going into the race. Following Goshima's lead were Hironaka, Kaede Hagitani (Edion), Mikuni Yada (Denso), Sayaka Sa...

Japan's outdoor track season got moving with Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto. Mostly geared toward setting up chances for people to hit qualifying marks for this season's National Championships, the day's biggest race was the men's 1500 m . NR holder Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec) was a late scratch, but on the starting line were all-time JPN #2 Nanami Arai (Honda), U20, U18 and HS NR holder Keita Sato in his debut wearing the Komazawa University uniform, 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.), indoor 5000 m NR holder Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) and more of Japan's best. Sato spent most of the race up front, going through the first three laps in 56-1:55-2:55, while Endo hung back until the bell. Going right past the lead group, Endo had a lead of almost 2 seconds over Arai with 200 m to go. But in the home straight Miura launched an incredible kick that just got Endo at the line. Miura clocked 3:36.59, good for all-time JPN #2 at 1.17 sec...

The first meet in this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge  in Hokkaido was the main meet of the weekend, but there was more action near Tokyo than in a normal year too as organizers sought to keep the number of people in one location down. At the HDC Shibetsu Meet the men's 3000 m was the highlight, with Yohei Ikeda  (Kanebo) winning in 7:56.10 to lead the top eight under eight minutes. Even just five years ago it was rare to see more than one Japanese man break eight in an entire year, a sign of how much things have changed in both shoes and priorities.  Titus Wambua  (SID Group) ran 13:22.49 for 1st in the men's 5000 m A-heat, Kenyans sweeping the top four spots. In 5th Kotaro Kondo  set a new school record for ekiden power Aoyama Gakuin University , running 13:34.88.  34-year-old Yuki Sato  (SGH Group) was 6th in 13:35.74, bettering the time he ran at Nationals less than two weeks ago by 3 seconds. Women's results in Shibetsu were low-key, Sakiko Na...

Just two weeks after her 19th birthday, Ririka Hironaka , star rookie for 2019 National Corporate Women's Ekiden champions Japan Post , ended the year in style with a nearly 18-second PB of 15:05.40 to break the great Kayoko Fukushi 's U20 national record by 5 seconds and become just the second Japanese woman so far to break the 2020 Olympic standard in the 5000 m. Running at Yamaguchi's National Corporate Women's Time Trial s, after Kenyans Martha Mokaya (Canon AC Kyushu) and Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) led the pack through opening splits of 3:01, 3:04 and 3:03, Hironaka took off in pursuit of the 15:10.00 Olympic standard, covering the next two 1000 m splits in 2:59 and 2:58. Along with breaking Fukushi's 2001-era junior record and clearing the Olympic standard, Hironaka moved up to all-time Japanese #5, following Nozomi Tanaka 's all-time #2 15:00.01 at October's Doha World Championships to make this a pretty good year for the 5000 m by Japan...

The 2019 Hokuren Distance Challenge series wrapped up Monday in Abashiri with two main races, the women's 5000 m and men's 10000 m A-heats. Conditions for most of the day were too windy to produce the kinds of times people had hoped for, but just as the women's 5000 m got underway after sunset the wind died down enough for the race to go out on track for the Doha World Championships standard of 15:22.00. Four of the top five women from last month's National Championships 5000 m were in the field, of whom only national champion Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) had already cleared the Doha standard inside the window. 2nd and 3rd-placers Rina Nabeshima (Japan Post) and Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) both needed to clear it to join Kimura on the team, but while Hironaka faded off pace in the second half it took a long push from 1000 m for Nabeshima to get there. Which she did, just, winning in 15:21.40. Also the 10000 m national champion , Nabeshima was the fifth Japanese ...

The IAAF World Relays in Yokohama were the weekend's main track action, but the first round of regional corporate championships and a few other meets brought distance action across the country. The women's 10000 m was the highlight at the Kansai Region Corporate Championships , with Wacoal teammates Yuka Ando and Mao Ichiyama recovering from decent runs at the London Marathon last month to go 1st and 5th, Ando the fastest in 32:43.18. Their fellow MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials qualifier Madoka Nakano (Noritz) was 2nd in 32:50.18, doubling the next day in the 5000 m where she was 5th in 16:07.24. Former Hakone Ekiden rivals and now teammates at NTT Nishi Nihon, Kenyans Patrick Wambui and Dominic Nyairo went 1-2 in the men's 10000 m in 28:41.84 and 28:43.86. Ryota Motegi (Sumitomo Denko) just missed the meet record in the men's 1500 m, winning in 3:44.12. At the Chubu Region Corporate Championships Kenyans Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo) and Mac...

video highlights by NHK The National High School Ekiden Championships took place Dec. 23 in Kyoto on a course starting and finishing at Nishi Kyogoku Field. Kagoshima's Kamimura Gakuen H.S. won its first national title in the 30th anniversary edition girls' race, covering the five-stage, 21.0975 km course in 1:07:25. Okayama's Kurashiki H.S. won the seven-stage, 42.195 km boys' race in 2:02:09, its second national title in the event's 69-year history. Starting the 5.0 km Fifth Stage in 5th place and 31 seconds back from leader Sendai Ikuei H.S. anchor Chinatsu Takeda , Kamimura Gakuen 's Tabitha Kamau blasted a 15:06 just two seconds off the ten-year-old stage record to put Kamimura Gakuen 26 seconds ahead by the finish and all-time #9 in the record books. In the home straight Nagano Higashi H.S. anchor Narumi Kobayashi overtook Takeda to take 2nd in 1:07:51, knocking the defending national champions back to 3rd. Kurashiki took the lead on the ...

Saturday night saw another round of mid-season track time trial meets across the country. Leading the way, Saku Chosei High School 's Yuhi Nakaya ran the 5th-fastest time ever by a Japanese high schooler, 13:47.22, to take 4th as the top Japanese man behind Ethiopian duo Abiyot Abinet and Yeneblo Biyazen of the Yachiyo Kogyo corporate team and unattached Kenyan James Bunuka Ndiwa in the Heisei Kokusai University Time Trials men's 5000 m A-heat. Former World Youth and World Junior Championships medalist William Malel (Honda) won the Heisei Kokusai 10000 m A-heat in 28:24.46, with Komazawa University grad Shun Inoura (Yachiyo Kogyo) 2nd in 28:28.49. Two Japanese men in the A-heat, Toshinori Watanabe (GMO) and Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denki) doubled after running in earlier heats of 10000 m. Far to the south, the national champion Asahi Kasei corporate team ran almost its entire team in the 10000 m at the Miyazaki Time Trials meet. 2016 national XC champ Takashi ...

The New Balance Nationals Outdoor  was the weekend's big high school meet in the U.S.A., but from Thursday through Monday regions across Japan also held their qualifying meets for the July 29 - Aug. 2 National High School Track and Field Championships in Yamagata. Performances were at a high level across the board, with at least eight meet records nationwide in distance events. Five girls broke 4:20 in the 1500 m, with Helen Ekarare (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) leading the way with a 4:09.67 meet record to win the Tohoku Region. Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) was the fastest Japanese girl, winning the Kinki Region title in 4:18.32. On the boys' side, four broke 3:50 in the 1500 m, three of them in the Kinki Region meet. Yusuke Takahashi (Hyogo H.S.) took the Kinki title in 3:46.86. In the girls' 3000 m, five girls including both Ekarare and Tanaka were under 9:05 nationwide. Ekarare and Tanaka both doubled with 3000 m wins, but the fastest time came from Tabitha Kam...