japan running news

Ai Hosoda became the first Japanese medalist of the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade, winning bronze in the women's 10000 m to wrap the first day of athletics competition. 【 #台北ユニバーシアード 】 女子10000m 細田あいが銅メダル🥉 （写真：奥井隆史） #陸上 #ユニバーシアード pic.twitter.com/tq9XLAU99r — スポーツナビ・陸上編集部 (@sn_gorin) August 24, 2017 Leading the field with a sub-32 best, 19-year-old Yuki Munehisa led the first 9000 m on the race before being overtaken by Daria Maslova (Kyrgyszstan),   Sanjivani Jadhav (India) and Hosoda. On the last lap Maslova kicked away to gold in 33:19.27 less than 3 seconds ahead of Jadhav, with Hosoda 6 seconds behind for bronze. Munehisa fell to 4th, with third team member Natsuki Sekiya , a favorite to medal in the 5000 m, off her game at 12th in 35:21.19. 【 #ユニバーシアード 】 多田修平(関西学院大) 3組1着 0.0 10.29 スタートから1位をキープし、安定したレース展開でした！ 準決勝進出です！！ #青春に駆けろ pic.twitter.com/I5UBAidmIE — 日本学生陸上競技連合 (@iuauj) August 23, 2017 With the rest of the day devoted to qualifying rounds Ho...

Following protests outside the main stadium that interrupted its opening ceremonies Saturday night , the athletics component of the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade is set to start Wedenesday. As always Japan is sending a solid crew of its A-list collegiate talent to the World University Games, with a team of 24 men and 14 women set to compete over the six day run of athletics. Getting things off to a quick start, London World Championships men's 4x100 m bronze medallist Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin University) is set to run the first men's 100 m on the first day on competition. Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo University), Ryo Kajiki (Josai University), Ryoma Yamamoto (Juntendo Univ.) and Marina Saito (Kokushikan University) will also double back from representing Japan in London to compete in Taipei, Kitagawa in the men's 400 m, Kajiki in the men's 400 m hurdles, Yamamoto in the men's triple jump and Saito in the women's javelin throw. London men's 20 km...

Japan's quartet of male sprinters were all knocked out of competition on the second day of the London World Championships. In the morning session, Takamasa Kitagawa failed to advance to the semifinals when he ran only 47.35. In the evening session, none of the three men in the semis made it to the final, Aska Cambridge and Abdul Hakim Sani Brown underperforming and taking only 6th and 7th in their semis, and Shuhei Tada fading to 5th despite a characteristically strong start. The women's 1000 m saw National Championships runner-up Ayuko Suzuki move up into the third pack with a group of American and Dutch runners after hanging back in the extremely slow first 3000 m. After making contact with the third group Suzuki advanced through it at a rate of one place per lap until reaching its front, where she abruptly sped up in pursuit of 2nd group straggler Irene Chepet Cheptai (Kenya). The group behind her responded and tailed her, and over the last lap Suzuki fell back to 9...

Over 20,000 fans packed Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai Saturday to try to catch a piece of history on the second day of the 101st Japanese National Track and Field Championships . After a red-hot round of men's 100 m heats and sufficiently fiery semi finals led by 18-year old Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) and backed by Rio Olympics 4x100 m relay silver medal trio Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.), Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) and Aska Cambridge (Nike) plus 20-year-old newcomer Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) there was an expectation in the air for Japan's first sub-10 clocking almost as heavy as the approaching storm front. With conditions improving throughout the late afternoon and into the early evening ahead of the 8:38 p.m. start time for the 100 m final all signals looked go.  Then, in the last km of the women's 3000 m SC two events before the 100 m, a few drops of rain. A light drizzle during the men's 400 m final. Then, in the ten minutes be...

2015 World Youth Championships 100 m and 200 m gold medalist Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) brought the heat to the first day of the 101st Japanese National Track and Field Championships  in Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai, running a PB 10.06 (+0.4) in the opening round of heats and 10.06 (+0.5) in the semifinals to lead the field into the final. There's a major air of excitement around the men's 100 m in Japan, its 4x100 m silver medal in the Rio Olympics fueling hopes of seeing the country's first-ever sub-10 clocking. At the time they won that silver medal only two members of the team, Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) and Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) had ever broken 10.10 with a legal wind, along with alternate Kei Takase (Fujitsu). Earlier this month another of the four, 200 m specialist Shota Iizuka (Mizuno), ran 10.08 (+1.9). Shortly after that a newcomer, 20-year-old  Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) jumped into the picture with a 10.08 (+1.9). The ...

by Brett Larner Led by men'x 4x100 m relay silver medalist Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.), eight members of Japan's Rio de Janeiro Olympic team top the entry lists at this weekend's 85th National University Track and Field Championships in Kumagaya, Saitama.  Kiryu is entered in both the 100 m and 200 m. The men's 400 m features his Toyo University teammate Julian Walsh and Walsh's Rio 4x400 m partners Nobuya Kato (Waseda Univ.) and Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo Univ.).  Another Toyo Olympian, Daisuke Matsunaga , leads the men's 10000 m race walk, while Juntendo University's Kazuya Shiojiri , a last-minute add to the Rio team in the men's 3000 m steeplechase, is entered in the 5000 m and 10000 m along with the steeple.  Going for a triple of his own is Kohei Yamashita (Tsukuba Univ.) in the men's triple jump.  The only female collegiate Rio Olympian in athletics, Anju Takamizawa (Matsuyama Univ.) is set to add the 2016 national collegiate title ...

by Brett Larner Empty-handed so far despite strong showings by the rest of the Japanese Olympic team, the eighth day of athletics at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics finally brought Japan two medals, one controversial, one beautiful. In the men's 50 km race walk, Koichiro Morioka was out of the front-end action early, while Takayuki Tanii and Hirooki Arai were part of a nine-man chase group behind breakaway leader Yohann Diniz of France.  Tanii fell off the pace, but Arai stayed up front as the pack dwindled, then overtook Diniz.  In 3rd behind Beijing World Championships gold medalist Matej Toth (Slovakia) and London Olympics gold medalist Jared Tallent (Australia) in the final stages of the race, Arai was caught by Canada's Evan Dunfee .  With 1 km to go, Arai made a move to retake Dunfee.  As he passed he bumped Dunfee hard; Dunfee seemed to lose his balance, then a few seconds later appeared to cramp up.  Arai pulled away for bronze by 14 seconds, Dunfr...

by Brett Larner Japanese athletes came up empty-handed on day three of the 2015 Gwangju World University Games , none of the three athletes to make finals on the day scoring medals.  Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo Univ.) was short in the men's 400 m final, running 46.03 for 7th.  After running well in the men's 200 m heats and semifinals, Takuya Nagata (Hosei Univ.) and Kotaro Taniguchi (Chuo Univ.) likewise had trouble translating that into success in the final, finishing 6th and 7th. A day after winning bronze in the men's 10000 m, Keisuke Nakatani (Komazawa Univ.) returned to win the relatively slow second heat of the 5000 m in 14:01.40.  3000 mSC national champion Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) likewise doubled from the 10000 m, placing 2nd in the faster heat one in 14:01.40.  Promising in the men's 110 mH heats, Genta Masuno (Kokusai Budo Univ.) ran 13.76 for 2nd in his heat, advancing on.  With a full 100 m - 200 m double schedule, Anna Doi ...

by Brett Larner Daisuke Matsunaga (Toyo Univ.) became the first Japanese athletics medalist of the 2015 Gwangju World University Games on day two of competition, winning bronze in the men's 20 km in 1:22:06 after falling just over 30 seconds off a close race between eventual gold medalist Dane Bird-Smith (Australia) and Benjamin Thorne (Canada). 12 hours later, Keisuke Nakatani (Komazawa Univ.) repeated the feat in the final track final of the day, winning bronze in the men's 10000 m in 29:19.30 four seconds back from gold medalist Igor Maximov (Russia) and just losing out to Nicolae-Alexandru Soare (Romania) for silver.  After winning the 5000 m and 10000 m at May's Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships and running a 28:31.84 best for 10000 m and winning the 3000 mSC national title in June, Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) had a rare off day, finishing 9th in just 29:52.91. Sprinter Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.) made it to the women...

by Brett Larner Despite a conservative early leading pace from Rina Koeda (Daito Bunka Univ.), Japanese women came up empty-handed in the first final of the 2015 Gwangju World University Games , the women's 10000 m.  Russian Alla Kuliatina took over from Koeda after 2000 m and led virtually unchallenged the rest of the race including a stunning 2:51.30 split from 7000 m to 8000 m that blew the race apart.  Kuliatina took the Games' first gold in 32:52.27, compatriot Gulshat Fazlitdinova just beating out China's Yingying Zhang for silver in 32:56.60.  Koeda stayed true to her opening pace, running 33:47.21 for 5th, with Sakie Arai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) taking 9th in 34:24.92. In other events, both Takamasa Kitagawa (Juntendo Univ.) and Kentaro Sato (Josai Univ.) advance through the men's 400 m heats, Kitagawa winning his in 47.34.  Anna Doi (Daito Bunka Univ.), Tatsuro Suwa (Chuo Univ.) and Yuki Koike (Keio Univ.) likewise made it through the opening heat...

by Brett Larner With temperatures clipping 35 degrees the 2014 National Track and Field Championships kicked off July 30 in Kofu, Yamanashi, home ground of 2013 National High School Boys' Ekiden champion Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.   The biggest news on the first of the meet's five days of competition came in the boys' 400 m.  48 hours after helping the Japanese team win silver in the 4x400 m relay at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene, U.S.A., Takamasa Kitagawa (Uruga H.S.) swept through the competition, winning his opening round heat in 48.22 and his semi-final in 47.23 before taking the final in 46.57, the 10th-fastest time ever by a Japanese high schooler.  Satoshi Yamamoto (Amakusa Kogyo H.S.) gave Kitagawa a solid challenge in the final but had to settle for 2nd in 46.61.  Seika Aoyama (Matsue Shogyo H.S.) had a clearer margin of victory in the girls' 400 m final, winning the national title in 53.73 by 0.21 seconds over runner-up Nanako Matsumot...