japan running news

The first edition of the Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China wrapped with a trio of gold medals in distance events from Japanese athletes. Sotaro Osaka started it off in the men's half marathon race walk, winning an exciting race against China's Kaiyuan Yang by just 1 second, 1:26:11 to 1:26:12. Taisei Yoshizako was just over a minute back in bronze in 1:27:15, clear of 4th place by 7 minutes. Kana Mizumoto kept the momentum going in the women's 10000 m, outrunning China's Yiting Yang by 18 seconds for gold in 33:24.87. In an extremely tactical men's 1500 m Takumi Shiobara and Ryo Higuchi replicated Osaka and Yoshizako's RW performance, Shiobara taking gold in 3:53.57 over Qatari Zakaria Elahlaami and Higuchi in bronze position in 3:54.55. Airi Tajima added another bronze to the day's total in the women's 1500 m, 3rd in 4:21.09 behind Chinese duo Yuan Li and Shuqi Ye . The men's high jump is one of Japan's strongest event...

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...

Following up her collegiate record 51.71 last weekend in Shizuoka, Arie Flores (Nittai Univ.) lit up a windy 2nd day of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships with a solo 52.82 MR, over half a second under the old record and beating 2nd place by a second and a half. With her Japanese citizenship transfer from Peru still in processing it's only a matter of time before Flores officially erases the 2008-era 51.75 m NR. She wasn't the only athlete to set a new MR despite the windy conditions. The D1 women's and men's 1500 m finals were nothing special time-wise, but in the D2 men's race Ryuto Aoki (Rikkyo Univ.) set a D2 MR 3:44.92 for the win, with the next 3 all running new PBs. Women's hammer throw 3rd-placer Misaki Takako (Tsukuba Univ. Grad School) also set a D2 MR with a throw of 54.37 m. But except for Flores, the races of the day were the D1 and D2 men's 100 m finals. With a massive +4.5 m/s tailwind, #1-ranked Hiroki Yanagita (T...

Japan's National Cross Country Championships happened Saturday in Fukuoka, maybe the earliest selection race in the world for next January's World XC Championships in Florida. The senior men's 10 km lived up to the hype with a 4-way race between 3000 m SC NR holder Ryuji Miura , 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri , sub-28 man Ryuto Igawa and Hakone Ekiden downhill specialist Aoi Ito . It came down to a sprint finish between Miura and Igawa, with Miura getting the win 28:24 to 28:25 and Shiojiri a few steps back in 28:29. Considering that the National Corporate Road 10 km Championships two weeks ago were won with a time over 29 minutes, times were fast overall with the top 6 under 29 minutes. The senior women's 8 km was a pack race most of the way, with one of the favorites Momoka Kawaguchi pulling away for the win in 26:25. 6th-place Wakana Itsuki was only 10 seconds behind 2nd-placer Sora Shinozakura , who clocked 26:31, showing what a close race it was. Anna Suzuki...

The 5th annual National Mixed-Gender University Ekiden took place Sunday in Osaka's Nagai Park. Its 6-leg course totaling 20 km, the race broke down into individual legs of 3 km, 2 km, 5 km, 3 km, 2 km and 5 km, with men and women from competing universities alternating on each leg. Nittai University returned to the top position, breaking the overall CR with its winning time of 58:27. Nittai's Hiroto Takamura led off in only 6th, but second runner Kazuyo Iida had a good run to move up into 2nd, putting third runner Ryota Tominaga into position to take the lead. Once out front Nittai's remaining 3 runners Risa Yamazaki , Takanori Wakesu and Yuiri Ogata held onto 1st the rest of the way to the win. Daito Bunka University was 2nd in 59:17 in its debut at the event, with last year's winner Juntendo University taking 3rd this time in 59:53. 5th National Mixed-Gender University Ekiden Nagai Park, Osaka, 16 Sept. 2025 21 teams, 6 legs, 20.0 km complete results Top Ind...

Day two of the 103rd Kanto Regionals meet took place Friday at Tokyo's National Stadium and other facilities. The 1500 m was the only mid or long-distance final on the program, and in the D1 women's final 4th-yr Yuiri Ogata (Nittai Univ.) scored a dominant win with a 4:19.08 PB that put her 2 1/2 seconds up on 2nd-placer Yui Yoshii (Daito Bunka Univ.). 4th-yr Hiroto Takamura (Nittai Univ.) won the D1 men's title in 3:45.65, with 2nd-yr Ryoto Aoki (Rikkyo Univ.) taking the top spot in a strategic D2 men's final in 3:52.93. D2 men also had a round of 5000 m qualifiers on the program. Kenyans took the top four spots in Heat 1 led by newcomer Brian Kiptoo (Reitaku Univ.) in 13:50.47, with Hakone Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University 4th-yr Kota Nakaya outrunning Hakone champ Aoyama Gakuin University 1st-yr Sota Orita for 1st in the slower Heat 2, 14:04.47 to 14:04.95. The final happens Sunday alongside the D1 men's and women's races. In other noteworthy per...