japan running news

  After a day of heavy rain conditions were pretty close to ideal for the 2nd edition of The Fst in Fukuoka road mile and 5 km, an appetizer event ahead of Sunday's mass participation Fukuoka Marathon. In her Japanese debut Australia's Sarah Billings had an easy win in the women's mile, outclassing Mami Yamaguchi (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ) 4:48 to 4:59. Stewart McSweyn made it an Aussie double with a win in the men's mile in a much closer race, running 4:02 with domestic favorites Masato Saiki (Fujisan no Meisui) and Yusuke Takahashi (Hokkaido Univ.) going 2-3 in 4:04 and 4:08. The women's 5 km was the most competitive of the day, with a tight pack of 5 Japan-based Kenyans that whittled down to just last year's winner Teresiah Muthoni (Daiso), corporate half marathon champ Dolphine Omare (U.S.E.) and 2023 World XC relay gold medalist Mirriam Cherop (Shin Nihon Jusetsu) with a km to go. Muthoni kicked away over the last 200 m to take the win in 15:35, with O...

by Brett Larner It's almost time for the two greatest days of the year, Japan's biggest and best road race, the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden .   Starting lists for each of the twenty-one teams' sixteen-man rosters at Hakone's 93rd edition are out, and below JRN gives you an early look at how the race is shaping up.  Follow  @JRNLive  for live English-language coverage of one of the sport's truly great events. Hakone is a road relay run over two days, ten stages of around a half marathon in length each, five from downtown Tokyo up to the mountain town of Hakone on Jan. 2 and five more running back down on Jan. 3.  There is simply nothing else like it anywhere in the world, in quality, in presentation, in popularity.  It's a cultural phenomenon that shows the best of what long distance running can be, even if the cost can be high. Twenty university men's teams from around the greater Tokyo area and one select team make up the field, each with an entry ros...

by Brett Larner Japan's Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) was the undisputed star of the first day of the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia, turning in three championships record performances in three runs to win gold in the boys' 100 m.  With a 0.1 m/s headwind in his opening heat Sani Brown turned in a record 10.30 to tie his PB.  In the semifinals he again ran 10.30, but this time into a 1.2 m/s headwind.  No less a commentator than Ato Bolden was impressed, comparing Sani Brown to Usain Bolt in a Twitter exchange with Sani Brown's mother. @hakimom he should be. His first 2 rounds looked like Bolt’s Beijing Olympic 100m final. I’m predicting his winning time will be 10.15 WR — Ato Boldon (@AtoBoldon) July 16, 2015 The headwind was down to 0.4 m/s for the final, but while a clumsier than usual start cost him his chance at Yoshihide Kiryu 's 10.19 youth WR Sani Brown still had no trouble at all peeling away for the win in a new champion...

by Brett Larner Japan has entered a team of 41, 22 boys and 19 girls, for this week's World Youth Championships .  Its best medal chances come in the four events where it has the #1-ranked athlete, but 14 Japanese athletes factor into the top ten rankings in nine events to offer hope of a little more action. Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (Josai Prep H.S.) comes into the World Youth Championships ranked #1 in both the boys' 100 m and 200 m hot off finishing 2nd in both distances at last month's Japanese National Championships , the first Japanese high schooler post-war to make the podium in both.  Daisuke Miyamoto (Rakunan H.S.), from the same high school as 2014 World Junior Championships 100 m bronze medalist Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) joins Sani Brown in the top ten rankings in the 100 m, but for Sani Brown the main focus will be the 200 m where his best of 20.56 from Nationals last month is just off the Beijing World Championships qualification standard 20.50.  Should...

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...