japan running news

Following this past weekend's National Championships, the JAAF has announced the complete lineup of 41 women and 45 men for September's Nagoya Asian Games national team. Times listed are athletes' 2025-26 best. Women 100 m Midori Mikase (Sumitomo Denko) - 11.33 Abigail Fuka Ido (Toho Ginko) - 11.35 200 m Abigail Fuka Ido (Toho Ginko) - 22.79 Aiko Iki (Osaka Gas) - 23.41 400 m Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 52.14 800 m Rin Kubo (Sekisui Kagaku) - 1:59.52 Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:01.01 1500 m Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 4:04.16 Mizuki Michishita (Sekisui Kagaku) - 4:10.48 5000 m Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 14:34.10 Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 14;59.89 10000 m Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 30:54.40 Ririka Hironaka (Uniqlo) - 30:56.32 100 mH Hitomi Nakajima (Hasegawa) - 12.71 Mako Fukube (NKK) - 12.72 400 mH Honoka Aoki (Zenrin) - 55.92 Satsuki Umehara (Sumitomo Denko) - 56.22 3000 mSC Miu Saito (Panasonic) - 9:24.72 Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui...

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

Even with some big losses to graduation this year, defending champion Koku Gakuin University found a way to put together a winning lineup to take its 2nd-straight title at the season-opening Izumo Ekiden in Shimane. Favorite Chuo University was expected to be looking at a landslide, but instead of riding it to a blowout win it found itself caught beneath one under sunny skies and hot temperatures. Chuo's lead runner Kaisei Okada ran away from the field on the 1st leg, but after him only one other of Chuo's five remaining runners did better than 7th of 22 on his stage and the team ended up 10th. Head coach Masakazu Fujiwara excels at development on the track, but this kind of result is exactly how Chuo went from ranked #1 two years ago to not making Izumo last year. The fan pick to be a threat this year, Waseda University took over from Chuo on the 2nd leg with a win by Tomonori Yamaguchi , but after that it was a struggle to stay where they ultimately ended up in 2nd. Jos...

Ekiden season is well underway , but for university men it kicks off Monday at the season-opening Izumo Ekiden . At 6 legs averaging 7.5 km it's short and sweet compared to November's National University Ekiden and January's Hakone Ekiden, showing off some different skill sets than at the half marathon-centric Hakone. In that regard this year's race looks pretty interesting. Most of the top programs, like last year's 1st through 4th-placers Koku Gakuin University , Aoyama Gakuin University , Komazawa University and Soka University , 6th-place Waseda University and 7th-place Josai University , are down a bit on average performance level over 5000 m and 10000 m, while in most cases having better half marathon averages. At the same time some of the next-tier programs like 8th-place Teikyo University and 11th-place Toyo University are up on track speed this season, making them a threat for better placings this year. And at the top of the list, Chuo University and l...

Between international travel and illness we've been AWOL for a while, but it's time to catch up on what's been going on. The Hokuren Distance Challenge series rolled on with two more meets in Kitami on the 16th and Chitose on the 12th . After shaving 0.05 off the South Korean men's 1500 m NR last month at the HDC Shibetsu meet , Jae Ung Lee took the NR into new territory with a 3:36.01 win in Kitami. He was pushed all the way by Nanami Arai (Honda), who moved up to all-time Japanese #3 with a 3:36.58 for 2nd. The women's 3000 m in Kitami was fast too, with an 8:41.62 win from Caroline Kariba (Japan Post) and an all-time Japanese #5 8:48.90 PB from her injury-prone teammate Ririka Hironaka for 2nd. Margaret Ekalale (Toyota Jidoshokki) led the women's 1500 m in 4:09.64, with Na Yeon Park just missing the South Korean NR by 0.07 in 4:14.25 for 2nd. Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) inched back toward 2-flat to win the women's 800 m in 2:02.60, one of the f...

After a wind-aided 12.93 at the Fuse Sprint meet, Nihon Joshi Taiiku University 's Mao Shimano turned in the biggest performance of the 3rd day of this year's National University Track and Field Championships . Running the women's 100 mH final with a -1.8 m/s headwind, Shimano took 0.02 off her own collegiate record with a 13.02 for the win. That was also way under the old meet record of 13.23, and despite the wind 2nd-placer Rei Honda of Juntendo University made it under too with a 13.12 for 2nd. Another meet record fell in the women's 5000 m. After winning the 10000 m in a 31:48.44 MR on Thursday, Daito Bunka University 3rd-year Sarah Wanjiru took 5 seconds off her own 5000 m MR, dropping her only real competition Daisy Cherop of Josai Kokusai University on the last lap to win in 15:30.04 and complete the distance double. The 1st-year Cherop was 2nd in 15:39.52, with Juntendo's Airi Tajima 3rd in 15:57.14 in a 3-way sprint finish against Sayo Imanishi o...

Sarah Wanjiru of Daito Bunka University  opened the first day of the 2025 National University Track and Field Championships by lapping the field to break the women's 10000 m MR , and day 2 of the meet saw that repeated in the women's 10000 m race walk. Collegiate record holder and Ritsumeikan University 4th-year Ayane Yanai lapped the entire field to win the 10000 mRW by almost 2 minutes, chopping almost 35 seconds off the 2007-era meet record with a 44:18.02 for the win. 2nd-placer Satsuki Ishida of Mukogawa Joshi University had a close one over 3rd-placer Toko Nakajima of Waseda University , finishing just 5 seconds up in 46:14.57 to 46:19.75. The most unexpected result came in the men's 1500 m. Better known as a half marathoner and long distance track runner, Waseda's Tomonori Yamaguchi won his 1500 m heat in 3:44.21 on Thursday to make Friday's final. There he took over after a slow 61-second first lap, cruising the next 2 laps in 57 each before kicking...

Japan's best collegiate meet started Thursday at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium with the 104th edition of the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships . On the track only three finals happened, with the D1 women's 10000 m getting things rolling. In windy conditions meet record holder Sarah Wanjiru (3rd yr., Daito Bunka Univ.) pulled off a slow burner, leading start to finish but starting off on mid-33 pace and gradually ratcheting it up. Haruka Ogawa (3rd yr., Rikkyo Univ.) was the last one to stay with her, but by just past halfway Wanjiru was on her own and kept up the acceleration the whole way to win in 32:25.78. Ogawa was next in 33:10.37, with Mariya Noda (3rd yr., Daito Bunka Univ.) shaking off Yume Miyake (2nd yr., Takushoku Univ.) for 3rd in 33:34.46. Tomonori Yamaguchi (4th yr., Waseda Univ.) got the D1 men's 10000 m off to a fast start with a 2:43 opening 10000 m that killed off everyone except James Mutuku (4th yr., Yamanashi Gakuin Uni...

With the Kanto Region being the heavy draw for top high school talent thanks to the Hakone Ekiden, it's not a surprise that its schools dominate the national-level university ekidens. Out of 25 universities and two select teams from across the country at last November's National University Ekiden, Kanto Region teams took the top 14 spots, with only Kokushikan University beaten by the National University Select Team which included some Kanto Region runners. The top eight there, Komazawa University , Aoyama Gakuin University , Koku Gakuin University , Chuo University , Josai University , Soka University , Daito Bunka University and Tokyo Kokusai University , auto-qualified for the 2024 Nationals race, with the rest having to run today's qualifying race to make it back. The qualifying race was made up of four heats of 10000 m on the track at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium, each heat with two runners from each of the 20 schools competing, each team scored on the to...

On June the KGRR released the entry lists for the Kanto Region qualifying race for the Nov. 3 National University Men's Ekiden. Taking place June 23 at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium, the Kanto Region qualifier consists of four heats of 10000 m, with participating school fielding two runners per heat and scored on the total time of its eight entrants. The seven fastest teams will go on to November's Nationals. Going for its 11th-straight Nationals appearance, Tokai University is led by 3rd-duo Hisaya Hanaoka , who was a standout at last month's Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, and Judah Hyodo . Tokai's combined time of 3:48:37.21 for its eight entrants makes it the fastest in the field, an average of 28:34.65 per runner. 4th-year Yuto Kajitani and 3rd-year Makoto Takewari also feature in Tokai's lineup. Missing the podium at Nationals last year, Toyo University is back at the Kanto qualifier for the first time in two years. In the ...

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito...

There are a lot of Japanese athletes racing overseas this weekend, but at home the main action is the National University Women's Half Marathon Sunday in Matsue. Last year's runner-up Rio Einaga of Osaka Gakuin University and 3rd and 5th-placers Saki Harada and Nanase Tanimoto from six-time national champion Meijo University lead the entry list, with their top competition including Saki Arai of Daito Bunka University , the anchor stage winner at December's Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national championship, Yuiri Ogata , Sakurako Yanai and Momoko Shimada from Mt. Fuji runner-up team Nittai University , and Yui Yoshii , Momona Yotsumoto and Mariya Noda from 3rd-place team Daito Bunka University . Complete entry list here . Overseas, the biggest block of Japanese athletes will be at Sound Running's The TEN in California. With a best of 31:34.39 Mikuni Yada (Edion) is the only Japanese woman in the meet, running the 10000 m Paris section. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama...