japan running news

Like you'd expect, marathons and ekidens were the main stories of 2022 on JRN. But 2 of the 3 most-read this year were about track 10000 m, one that speaks to another area of the incredible depth here, and another that organizers would probably like to forget about. This was 2022 as JRN readers saw it. Thanks for reading, and please consider subscribing in 2023 . 1. Aoyama Gakuin Breaks Own Course Record for Sixth Hakone Ekiden Win in Eight Years - Jan. 2-3 After opening a lead of almost a kilometer on the first day of Japan's biggest race , Aoyama Gakuin University turned that into a margin of over 3 km to win the 98th Hakone Ekiden in course record time. 3 of the 10 stages saw new course records , with incredible depth on almost every one of them. Preview . 2. JAAF and NHK Apologize for Camera Crew Interfering With Men's 10000 m National Championships - May 9 After an oblivious camera crew walked onto the track as the race was still happening, clotheslining Shinji Mita...

2019 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Taku Fujimoto , 32, retired from the Toyota corporate team after running the Mar. 6 Tokyo Marathon. As a participant in the 2019 Marathon Grand Championship Olympic trials Fujimoto was one of the country's best, but there's another side to him that most people don't know. In just his second marathon, Fujimoto ran an excellent 2:07:57 breakthrough for 8th at the 2018 Chicago Marathon. At the MGC he was only 9th, but he quickly rebounded to finish as the top Japanese placer at Fukuoka the same season. Fujimoto was 2nd across the finish line in that race, but the Moroccan who got there first was later disqualified for doping violations, elevating Fujimoto to the winner's position. After that Fujimoto had problems with injuries, but while he struggled to perform in marathons he was as good as ever in the ekiden. Even so, a year and a half ago he made the decision to retire at the end of the 2021-22 season. "I feel like I'...

Hidekazu Hijikata  (Honda), 2nd at February's Lake Biwa Marathon in 2:06:26, went out in the 2nd pack that included eventual runner-up Bethwel Yegon  (Yegon). Hitting halfway on national record pace just 15 seconds off his half marathon PB in 1:02:17, by 25 km Hijikata was in free-fall. his 5 km splits going from the 14-min range to 15, to 16, and finally to 17:11. He ultimately finished 9th in 2:11:47. Kazuki Muramoto  (Sumitomo Denko) and Taku Fujimoto  (Toyota) were initially in the same group with Yegon and Hijikata but only lasted 10 km before backing off together. Muramoto, 11th in Lake Biwa in 2:07:36, dropped further back, but after getting caught by top German Philipp Pflieger  he tacked on and regained ground. With 3 km to go he passed Fujimoto, the 2019 Fukuoka International Marathon winner, finishing 14th in 2:14:11. Fujimoto was 15th in 2:14:18, 43 seconds up on Pflieger. © 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

The second meet in the 2021 Hokuren Distance Challenge series happened Wednesday in Fukagawa, Hokkaido. The race of the day was the men's 10000 m A-heat , where 2021 Hakone Ekiden MVP Vincento Yegon  (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) lead a pack of seven through 9000 m just sub-28 pace. Newcomer Samson Ndirangu  (Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) threw it down with 1000 m, breaking up the pack as he pulled away for the win in 27:43.58. Yegon faded to 4th in 27:50.66, with Naoki Koyama  (Honda) next across the line in 27:55.16, the only Japanese man of the day to break 28 minutes. 2019 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Taku Fujimoto  (Toyota) came up just short, 7th in a 6-second PB of 28:02.54. After barely missing out on a place on the unexpectedly competitive Japanese men's 3000 mSC squad for the Tokyo Olympics, steepler Hironori Tsuetaki (Fujitsu) was quick to turn around the disappointment with a 5-second PB of 28:11.09 to win the 10000 m B-heat . Riki Nakanishi  (Toenec) won...

Like the title says, regional corporate league track and field championships lead this weekend's main action, with every region except Kyushu set to go ahead with its meet despite the proliferation of a new round of states of emergency across the country. Two of the most competitive regions, East Japan and Chubu, will be streaming their meets live, with Kansai likely to join the list. East Japan, whose Day One stream above, runs 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday Japan time and again 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. The meet schedule and entry lists can be had here . Featuring a lot of the best Japan-based Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes, the men's 5000 and 10000 m look like the best races of the meet, with the 5000 m A-heat also having like Olympic 5000 m team member Yuta Bando  (Fujitsu), newly-minted Olympic 10000 m team member Tatsuhiko Ito  (Honda), and Olympic marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) back in action, hopefully, after scratching from the Lake Biwa Maratho...

The JAAF has announced that Moroccan  El Mahjoub Dazza  has been stripped of his victory at the 73rd Fukuoka International Marathon on Dec. 1, 2019. A short time later Dazza was found to have violated anti-doping regulations , and the Athletics Integrity Unit suspended him for four years. Following a rejection of his appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week, all of Dazza's results after May 4, 2019, including his Fukuoka win, were disqualified. For that reason, all athletes who finished 2nd and lower in the race will be elevated one position, making runner-up Taku Fujimoto  (Toyota) the winner and giving the Toyota corporate team and head coach Toshinobu Sato two-straight Fukuoka victories, following teammate  Yuma Hattori 's 2018 win. The Fukuoka International Marathon is known worldwide as one of the most prestigious traditional races and last year was selected as the recipient of World Athletics' Heritage Plaque. Nevertheless, in March this ...

As the only game in town for its final running before being swallowed up by the Osaka Marathon 's platinum ambitions, the Feb. 28 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon has put together the best field in its history. Times in the last three years don't mean what they used to, but even so Lake Biwa has 2 men sub-2:07, 7 sub-2:08, 13 sub-2:09, 25 sub-2:10, 40 sub-2:11 and 53 sub-2:12, all Japanese but one, Japan-based Kenyan Simon Kariuki  (Togami Denki).  Among them are 2:06 men Ryu Takaku  (Yakult) and Hiroto Inoue  (Mitsubishi Juko), half marathon national record holder Yusuke Ogura  (Yakult), 2019 Fukuoka winner Taku Fujimoto  (Toyota), Tokyo Olympics marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura  (Fujitsu), 100 km world record holder Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo) and many, many more. And there are at least another 7 men with half marathon bests under 62 minutes making debuts or trying to finish a marathon for the first time, notably university ekiden star Shunya Kik...

How Yuya Yoshida 's 2020 started: He was a benchwarming senior at powerhouse Aoyama Gakuin University that had never made its starting lineup for the Hakone Ekiden. How his year ended: He was the Fukuoka International Marathon champion and one of the ten fastest Japanese marathoners ever. In between: The 22-year-old Yoshida came out of nowhere at Hakone in January, planning to give up running when he graduated in March and putting it all into one single run when he got the green light to handle Hakone's Fourth Stage for AGU. And he killed it, crushing the year-old stage record set by then-future 10000 m national record holder Akira Aizawa  and setting YGU up for the overall win. He said afterward that he'd done what he'd set out to do and could walk away from the sport with his conscience clear, but he decided to give it one more go and run February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon as the last race of his career. He crushed that too, running with almost eerie poise ...

  With strict limitations on immigration still a reality in Japan, the Dec. 6 Fukuoka International Marathon has announced an almost entirely domestic field of less than 100 that includes only five Japan-based foreign-born athletes plus an all-Japan-based Kenyan pacing crew led by Bedan Karoki (Toyota). Not that the field is hurting for quality. Ryu Takaku (Yakult), 2:06:45 in Tokyo this year, 2018 Fukuoka winner and Tokyo Olympics marathon team member Yuma Hattori (Toyota), and  Taku Fujimoto (Toyota), a bump up to the 2019 Fukuoka winner's position pending after the subsequent suspension of the Moroccan who crossed the line first for biological passport violations, make up the front end of a field that includes eleven current sub-2:10 men and seven of last year's top ten. Hattori has said publicly that he'll be going for Suguru Osako 's 2:05:29 national record, and with pacing support from teammates Karoki and Fujimoto, his former Toyo University teammate Taka...

This was probably the busiest track weekend of the year so far, with almost too much action across the country to keep track of. The biggest news came last, with 5000 m high school national record holder Kosuke Ishida (Tokyo Nogyo Daini H.S.) going step for step with national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike) and all-time #2 Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) in the final race of the day at Sunday's Tokai University Time Trials. Yoroizaka got the win in 13:33.53 with Osako next in 13:33.83. Ishida was right there behind them in 13:34.74 for 3rd, taking 2 seconds off the record set this past summer, and doing it in legal shoes. With the Japanese academic year running April through March Ishida still has other chances to take the record even further. Ishida wasn't the only high schooler under 14 minutes. In the heat before him , Haruta Koshi (Saku Chosei H.S.) won in a PB 13:53.77. Up north at t he Ichinoseki Time Trials , Sendai Ikuei H.S. teammates Boniface Mutechi and Y...

On July 31 the Athletics Integrity Unit announced a four-year suspension for 2019 Fukuoka International Marathon winner El Mahjoub Dazza of Morocco. Dazza was busted on biological passport findings that indicated unrealistic hemoglobin values, the AIU rejecting his explanation of changes in intensity of altitude training as "highly improbable." Dazza will lose all results from May 4, 2019 to Jan. 10, 2020, with a four-year suspension to follow. Pending any appeals,  this means he will lose his 2019 Prague Marathon and 2019 Fukuoka International Marathon titles, in the latter case elevating runner-up Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) to winner. The correction of results will mean two straight Fukuoka titles for Toyota head coach Toshinobu Sato , whose star runner Yuma Hattori won Fukuoka in 2018, but Fujimoto will never get the same public recognition Hattori earned for his win. © 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

The JAAF has announced the Japanese team for next month's World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland. Six of the ten men and women are fresh off PBs at the Marugame Half and National Corporate Half earlier this month, with three of the other four having set new bests since December. Set to be elevated from runner-up to winner of December's Fukuoka International Marathon after the bust of Moroccan El Mahjoub Dazza , Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) leads the men's team with an all-time Japanese #2 1:00:06 in Marugame. Three other men on the team including amateur Takahiro Nakamura (Kyocera Kagoshima) broke 1:01 at the National Corporate Half two weeks ago. The only man on the the team not to have cleared 1:01 yet is 2020 Olympic marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu), who ran a PB 1:01:40 at January's Takanezawa Half. National Corporate Half winner Kaena Takeyama (Daihatsu) is the top-ranked woman with a 1:09:12,  followed by Sara Miyake (Tenmaya), 3r...

At least six runners broke five national records at today's fast and deep Marugame Half Marathon . The ambitious Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) kicked off the women's race by taking a swing at the 1:06:38 Japanese women's national record set two weeks ago in Houston by Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku), with Namibian national record holder Helalia Johannes close behind. Ichiyama dropped off after the turnaround near 10 km, leaving Johannes to run on alone to a new record of 1:08:10, 2:20 under the record she set just last April. Ichiyama faded to 5th in 1:08:56, run down by 2019 Sanyo Ladies Half winner Charlotte Purdue , South Korean Kyun Sun Choi , and Australian Sinead Diver on the return trip. Purdue took 2nd in 1:08:23, with Choi close behind in a national record 1:08:35 for 3rd over Diver, 2:39 off the 2009-era South Korean record. Succeeding where Ichyama fell short, Andrea Seccafien took 3 seconds off the Canadian national record set in Houston by Natasha Wodak , fini...

It came down to a race between #1-ranked El Mahjoub Dazza (Morocco) and top Japanese man Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) after 30 km, but the Moroccan proved the stronger as he pulled away to win the Fukuoka International Marathon in 2:07:10. Japanese men had to run under the national record of 2:05:50 to score the last spot on the 2020 Olympic marathon team. Fujimoto, 2:08 man Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin) and ambitious 2:12 guy Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) were the only ones to really give it a go, staying up front in the lead pack with most of the internationals, with Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) laying down the law at the head of the pacer group. A secondary lead group quickly separated off the back of the lead group, with Japan-based Kenyan Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Track Tokyo), 2:09:52 man Jo Fukuda (Nishitetsu), Keita Shitara (Hitachi Butsuryu) and others cutting back to 2:07 pace. European marathon champ Koen Naert (Belgium) and Pan-Am Games gold medalist Christian Pacheco (Peru)...

The first men's race in the Final Challenge wildcard series to steal the third spot on the Sapporo 2020 Olympic marathon team from national record holder Suguru Osako (ex-Nike Oregon Project), the Dec. 1  Fukuoka International Marathon has brought in just the right people to support any Japanese men ambitious enough to take a shot at breaking Osako's record. You've got 2:05:26 Moroccan El Mahjoub Dazza and pacing from longtime Japanese resident and newly minted 2:05:53 man Bedan Karoki among others. Add in Seville winner Tsedat Abeje Ayana of Ethiopia, Belgian European marathon champion Koen Naert , Pan-Am Games champ Christian Pacheco of Peru, debuting Kenyan Shadrack Kiplagat and a few others and it's a quality field up front to be sure. Just about the only two Japanese men in the field who might give the Final Challenge a serious swing is Taku Fujimoto , a Toyota teammate and training partner of last year's winner Yuma Hattori with a 2:07:57 best to h...

Taku Fujimoto age: 30 sponsor: Toyota graduated from: Takamizu H.S., Kokushikan University best time inside MGC window: 2:07:57, 8th, 2018 Chicago Marathon PB: 2:07:57, 8th, 2018 Chicago Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:38.68 (2010) 10000 m: 28:08.30 (2018) half marathon: 1:01:31 (2015) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) DNS 2019 Hamburg Marathon 8th, 2018 Chicago Marathon, 2:07:57 15th, 2018 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:15:30 other major results: 6th, 2019 Gold Coast Half Marathon, 1:03:44 15th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:06:15 2nd, 2018 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, 45:57 1st, 2018 Chubu-Hokuriku Corporate Ekiden First Stage (12.0 km), 34:58 4th, 2017 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:01:53 8th, 2016 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:51 8th, 2015 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:01:31 – PB 3rd, 2012 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:03:08 1st, 2011 Kanto Region University T&F Championshi...

Chihiro Miyawaki age: 28 sponsor: Toyota graduated from: Chukyo H.S. best time inside MGC window: 2:08:45, 8th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon PB: 2:08:45, 8th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon other PBs: 5000 m: 13:35.74 (2011) 10000 m: 27:41.57 (2012) half marathon: 1:00:53 (2012) marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019) 8th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:08:45 – PB 11th, 2017 Chicago Marathon, 2:13:32 other major results: 12th, 2019 Hakodate Half Marathon, 1:03:31 25th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:16:51 11th, 2015 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:02:18 15th, 2014 Tokyo Marathon, 2:11:50 3rd, 2013 Kumanichi 30 km, 1:29:51 – PB 4th, 2012 National Corporate Championships 10000 m, 27:41.57 – PB tie 1st, National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:00:53 – PB 3rd, 2011 Hachioji Long Distance Meet 10000 m A-Heat, 27:41.57 – PB Miyawaki is one of the three men in the field who didn’t go to university. He had the skills to have been one of the top Hako...

The second half of the worldwide marathon season kicks off Sunday at Australia's Gold Coast Marathon , and with what looks like may be the deepest-ever men's half marathon on Australian soil lined up to start an hour before the marathon it's going to be an exciting day. Last year's winner Jack Rayner leads the way off a 1:01:01 PB in Cardiff last year, but just behind him are a slew of Japanese men, some on the Gold Coast thanks to good performances at February's National Corporate Half Marathon Championships and others as a tuneup for September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials. On paper Rayner's strongest competition is MGC qualifier Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) with a 1:01:31 best, but Fujimoto told JRN that he is still recovering from a stress fracture he sustained early in the year and is only using the race as a training run ahead of the MGC Race. Likewise for 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Yuma Hattori (Toyota), who underwent inter...

Just over 2 months out from Japan's 2020 Tokyo Olympic marathon trials, the Sept. 15 MGC Race , 13 of the 34 men and 9 of the 15 women to have qualified for the trials will be tuning up the first weekend of July. In Australia, 7 male qualifiers will run the Gold Coast Marathon and Asics Half Marathon . Half marathon national record holder and former marathon national record holder Yuta Shitar a (Honda) leads the way in the marathon, a surprising step in what has so far been a solid recovery season from the injuries that held him back for most of last year following his 2:06:11 marathon national record. Yuma Hattori (Toyota), 2:07:27 for the win in Fukuoka last December, and Taku Fujimoto (Toyota), 2:07:57 two months earlier in Chicago, head the list in the half, where 3 of their Toyota teammates with sub-62 bests including Minato Oishi , the fastest Japanese man so far this year in the half marathon, are likewise entered. 3rd in the marathon last year on the Gold Coast, Jo ...