japan running news

The 2025 FISU World University Games wrapped Sunday in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. In the men's 20 km race walk Atsuki Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) brought home one more medal for Japan, unable to match Italian Andrea Cosa 's 1:19:48 WUG record for gold but just holding off Ukrainian Mykola Rushchak for silver 1:20:08 to 1:20:10. Keisuke Hara (Kyoto Univ.) wasn't far back in 4th, finishing in 1:20:26, with Taisei Yoshizako (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.) 12th in 1:23:11. As a team the three athletes's combined scores were good enough to take gold. The women's 20 km race walk squad couldn't match the men's performance. With Australian Elizabeth McMillen setting a WUG record 1:28:18 for the win and silver and bronze medalists Jinlin Ning and Haiying Ji of China both under 1:30 Ayane Yanai (Ritsumeikan Univ.) was 14th in 1:35:04 and Sumika Tani (Kanazawa Gakuin Univ.) 19th of 25 finishers in 1:40:37. In the women's 3000 mSC final Ayana Yamashita (Osaka Gakuin Uni...

Japan didn't quite pull off a sweep of the men's and women's half marathon at the 2025 FISU World University Games , but it was pretty close. In the men's race Waseda University 's Shinsaku Kudo , the fastest man in the race with a best of 1:00:06 from Marugame this past February, led start to finish, keeping it around 62-flat pace before finishing in a WUG record 1:02:29. Turkey's Ramazan Bastug spent most of the race in a small chase pack with Ryuto Uehara (Koku Gakuin Univ.) and Kento Baba (Rikkyo Univ.) before dropping them both for silver in 1:02:35. Uehara was just behind in 1:02:39 for bronze, with Baba missing out on the medals in 1:02:44 for 4th. In the women's race China's Xiuzhen Ma had to deal with the Japanese trio of Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.), Mariya Noda (Daito Bunka Univ.) and Ayaka Maeda (Kansai Univ.). And she did, running a PB 1:12:48 for gold over Tsuchiya by 10 seconds. Noda scored the bronze medal in 1:13:16, with M...

One of Japan's best remaining gold medal contenders at the 2025 FISU World University Games after throwing a PB of 81.23 m in Australia in March, Rin Suzuki (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) struck out in the men's javelin throw final of the 5th day of competition, throwing 71.65 m on his first attempt and finishing 10th after being unable to better it. Mao Shimano (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ.) did better in the women's 100 mH final at 7th in 13.17 (+0.1), an improvement on her 8th-place standing after the semifinals, but was still 0.22 out of the medals. Gold went to Finland's Saara Keskitalo in 12.88, with Switzerland's Simon Wieland taking gold in the men's javelin with a season best 79.33 m on his first attempt. In qualifying rounds, Aoi Murakami (Nittai Univ.) had no problems qualifying for the women's javelin throw final, throwing 53.91 for 7th among the qualifiers. Atsushi Haraguchi (Higashi Osaka Univ.) was 11th of 12 qualifiers in the men's pole vault...

Japan scored its first gold medal in athletics at the 2025 FISU World University Games on the fourth day of competition. Strong in the qualifying rounds, Tatsuki Abe (Juntendo Univ.) ran away from the men's 110 mH field with a 13.47 (-0.3) for the win over silver and bronze medalists Angel Diaz Rodriguez of Spain and Mondray Barnard of South Africa, both timed at 13.59. Hayato Higuchi (Hosei Univ.) was off his best at 13.90 for 7th. Koki Fujihara (Toyo Univ.) brought home another medal in the men's long jump. Opening with a solid 8.00 (-0.8) jump, Fujihara sat in 1st through the first 3 rounds until China's Heng Shu dropped a 8.07 m (-0.6) jump in the 4th round. Fujihara couldn't match that, and when Shu ended with a 8.09 m (+0.9) jump on his final attempt Fujihara was left with silver. German Luka Herden took bronze with a 7.96 m (-0.1) on his 2nd attempt. No medals came in the men's high jump, where gold medal contender Sota Haraguchi (Juntendo Univ.) str...

With Japanese men oddly absent from the 10000 m, the only Japanese athletes in action in finals on the third day of the 2025 FISU World University Games were in the men's 400 m and 400 mH. The chances for a medal looked good in the 400 mH, but Ryosuke Takahashi (Hosei Univ.) came up 0.15 short of bronze with a 49.60 for 4th after coming into the home straight in the lead. Teammate Shota Fuchigami (Waseda Univ.) was 6th in 50.45, with Turkey's Berke Akcam winning gold in 49.29. Kira Hirakawa (Toyo Univ.) had a rough one in the 400 m, finishing last in 46.68 over a second out of the medals after fading in the home straight. South African Lythe Tyresse Pillay turned in a season best 44.84 for gold. In qualifying rounds, Miku Takino (Ritsumeikan Univ.) missed a spot in the women's 400 mH final, running 57.58 for 5th in SF1. Tatsuki Abe (Juntendo Univ.) led the men's 110 mH with a 13.61 (+0.2) to win Heat 1. Hayato Higuchi (Hosei Univ.) made it through on time in 13...

The 2025 FISU World University Games started Monday in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. In the Games' first final, the women's 10000 m, Daito Bunka University 's Sarah Wanjiru of Kenya shaved just over 6 seconds off her PB with a 31:41.80, but it wasn't enough for gold as Slovenian 5000 m and road 5 km and 10 km NR holder Klara Lukan dropped a 31:25.84 Games record and PB for the win. In the race for bronze Spain's Alicia Berzosa Martin outran Meijo University 1st-year Mei Hosomi by a second, 32:00.72 to 32:01.91. Ayaka Maeda (Kansai Univ.) and Wakana Hashimoto (Meijo Univ.) were far back in the field, Maeda running 33:13.83 for 15th and Hashimoto 33:49.84 for 19th. The 18-year-old Hosomi's time was good enough to crack the all-time Japanese U20 top 10 and put her 2nd in the world this year on the U20 lists. In qualifying rounds on the opening day, Shota Fuchigami (Waseda Univ.) and Ryosuke Takahashi (Hosei Univ.) took the top 2 spots in the men's 400 mH heats...

The 37th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon took place July 21 in hot and sunny conditions. Patrick Kamau (Jobu University) won the men's race in 1:03:42, his third-straight Shibetsu win.. In 2nd place and the top Japanese position was Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) in 1:04:47. Koki Yoshioka (Kyudenko) was 3rd in 1:05:09. In the women's race Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) won in 1:14:01 by 48 seconds over Yuki Toyoda (Higo Ginko). The top member of Chuo Gakuin's ekiden team, Yoshida ran the competitive Second Stage at this year's Hakone Ekiden. Last year he ran the World University Games half marathon and was the fastest among the Japanese team at 1:02:08 for 4th, helping Japan score the team bronze medal. He has a half marathon PB of 1:00:31 and took 5th in the fast heat at last month's National University Ekiden qualifier. 37th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon Shibetsu, Hokkaido, 21 July 2024 complete results Men 1. Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) - 1:03:...

  Osaka Geijutsu University performing arts major Hikaru Kitagawa kicked off the final day of the Chengdu World University Games with the first Japanese women's gold medal of the games in athletics, winning the half marathon in 1:13:17 by 14 seconds over Turkey's Yayla Kilic Gonen . And winning it in style. 3 seconds behind Kilic Gonen at 20 km, Kitagawa closed from there to the finish in 3:08, or 2:51/km pace, the kind of split you'd more often see in a men's race. You have to wonder if the 20 km split was accurate, but anyway Kitagawa made up 17 seconds in 1.0975 km, which is pretty good. Fatma Karasu made it a Turkish 2-3 with a 1:14:28 for bronze. Rio Einaga of Osaka Gakuin University was 8th in 1:15:34 and national champion Meijo University's Saki Harada 14th in 1:16:36, enough to land Japan the team silver behind Turkey. China took the team bronze. Japanese men usually dominate the World University Games half marathon given their focus on that distance for...

Japan more than doubled its medal count on the fifth day of athletics competition at the Chengdu World University Games . Juntendo University's Haruki Manju got things started in the morning session with a bronze medal in the men's 20 kmRW in 1:25:32. That was almost 2 minutes behind winner Salih Korkmaz of Turkey, but together with teammates Kazuhiro Tateiwa , 5th in 1:26:40, and Kento Yoshikawa , 8th in 1:29:06, it was enough to score the Japanese men the team silver behind China. The next medal came 13 hours later in the women's 5000 m. In a close race that came down to a three-way battle over the last lap Portugal's Mariana Machado Carvalho won gold in 16:02.58 over China's Yuyu Xia. Doubling from the 10000 m, Nittai University's Risa Yamazaki  lost ground to the top 2 but leaned in for bronze in a photo finish with fast-closing Norwegian Amalie Saeten , 16:08.86 to 16:08.90. Ritsumeikan University's Tomo Muramatsu struggled, running only 16:51.22 f...

  Waseda University's Yudai Nishi  gave Japan its first silver medal of the Chengdu World University Games on the fourth day of athletics competition, taking 2nd in the men's 200 m final. After winning SF1 in a PB of 20.43 +0.9 m/s, Nishi started conservatively in the final. In the middle of the field coming into the straight, Nishi closed the fastest in the field to move up into 2nd but came up short of catching gold medalist Isadore Matsoso of South Africa. Matsoso clocked 20.36 to Nishi's 20.46, with Amlan Borgohain of India taking bronze with a season best 20.55. Waseda's Aoi Inage was last in 21.10 after having run a PB 20.64 +1.1 m/s for 3rd in SF3. Both Japanese men in the 5000 m heats qualified easily for the final, Komazawa University's Taiyo Yasuhara jogging a 14:42.91 for 5th in Heat 1 and Tokai University's Shotaro Ishihara cruising to 2nd in Heat 2 in 14:31.91. Tsukuba University's Saki Katagihara made it through to the final in the women...

Waseda University's Atsushi Shobu added another medal to Japan's so far petite haul on day 3 of athletics competition at the Chengdu World University Games . Running the men's 3000 mSC, Shobu sat at the back of the lead pack throughout the race. In 5th at the bell, Shobu moved up into 3rd on the back straight, then was overtaken by Germany's Nick Jager heading into the curve. Both passed Czech Damian Vich and kept up their duel for 2nd until the final obstacle, where Shobu hesitated and lost ground. Jens Mergenthaler took gold in 8:38.42, Jager making it a German 1-2 with a silver in 8:40.53 to Shobu's 8:40.84 for bronze. The men's 400 m final was maybe the race of the day, with the top 6 all running new PBs and Portugal's Joao Coelho and Australian Reece Holder both going under the WUG record in a photo finish. Coelho was timed at 44.782 for gold, with Holder officially running 44.785 for silver. Romanian Mihai-Sorin Dringo took bronze in a PB of 45.2...

Josai University's Yuito Yamamoto brought Japan its first medal of the Chengdu World University Games , taking bronze in the only final with a Japanese athlete on the second day of athletics competition, the men's 10000 m. In a field of 17 starters Ugandan Dismas Yeko delivered the performance of the day, breaking 29 minutes to take gold in 28:59.25. Sezgin Atac of Turkey was relatively close behind in 29:06.62, leading Yeko and Ugandan Seth Akampa until Akampa was abruptly stopped by an official with 5 laps to go and disqualified, then losing touch over the final 1000 m. Yamamoto spent most of the race in 4th, then was suddenly bumped up to 3rd when Akampa was disqualified. He finished 16 seconds back from Atac in 29:22.95 for bronze over Kenyan Kelvin Kimtai Chepsigor . Yamamoto is scheduled to double in Sunday's half marathon. In semifinals, Hosei University's Naohiro Jinushi won the men's 400 m SF1 in 45.90, along with SF3 winner Reece Holder the only athl...

After years of pandemic-era delays, the Chengdu World University Games finally got underway July 27, with the first day of athletics competition happening Aug. 1. In the only one of the two finals featuring Japanese athletes on the 1st, athletes from China and Turkey swept the top four spots in the women's 10000 m. China's Yuyu Xia  closed with a 64-second last lap to take gold in 33:48.35, Turkey going 2-3 with Yayla Kilic Gonen scoring silver in 34:05.03 and Fatma Karasu bronze in 34:10.97. China's Xiuzhen Ma held off Risa Yamazaki of Nittai University for 4th 34:30.14 to 34:35.96, with Tomo Muramatsu of Ritsumeikan University 9th in 35:17.54. In women's qualifying rounds, Ritsumeikan's Ami Yamamoto took 3rd in Heat 2 of the 400 mH in 57.82 to advance. Aoyama Gakuin University's Yu Ishikawa was 3rd in Heat 3 of the 100 m in 12.02 -1.0 m/s and also advanced. Tsukuba University's Yuna Miura was 2nd in Heat 5 in 11.59 +0.4 m/s to join Ishikawa in the s...

Fresh off becoming the fastest-ever Japanese-born collegiate half marathoner with a 1:00:11 in Marugame last month, 2023 Hakone Ekiden champ Komazawa University 2nd-year Kotaro Shinohara won the National University Half Marathon Sunday in Tokyo's western suburb of Tachikawa. In warm conditions the dense lead group ran relatively conservatively, on track to go just under 63 minutes. But entering Tachikawa's Showa Kinen Park for a final 5 km of undulations and sharp turns Shinohara turned it on to pull away, winning easily in 1:02:16. Another of the pre-race favorites, sub-28 10000 m runner Reishi Yoshida of Hakone non-qualifier Chuo Gakuin University was 2nd in 1:02:29. Another Hakone non-qualifier, Tokyo Nogyo University 's Neo Namiki looked set to take 3rd. But in the last km Rei Matsunaga of Hosei University , famed for trying to run away with last year's Kanto Regionals 5000 m versus 3000 m SC NR holder Ryuji Miura , came up to pass Namiki, stealing 3rd in 1:0...

Two big races cap Sunday's road racing action in Japan. First up is the Nagoya Women's Marathon , where last year's winner Ruth Chepngetich is back saying at the pre-race press conference that she's ready to break the course record. Although she's still listed in the field on the English section of the Nagoya site, oddly she has been dropped from the Japanese section's field listing . She wasn't included in yesterday's announcement of the withdrawal of Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Molly Seidel and Germany's Katharina Steinruck , either language version, so it's possible her absence from the field listing on the Japanese site is a mistake. But it's very odd. Either way, the world's largest women-only marathon has a relatively thin elite field , even thinner with Seidel and Steinruck out. 2021 Valencia winner Nancy Jelagat is the only sub-2:20 runner in the field apart from Chepngetich, with the next tier solidly at the 2:22-2:23 and...

The 25th National University Half Marathon took place Sunday in western Tokyo alongside the Tachikawa City Half Marathon . The race that decides the #1 collegiate half marathoner in the country was won by 19-year-old Koku Gakuin University 1st-year Kiyoto Hirabayashi , who pulled away from the field after 14 km to win in 1:01:50. Consistently strong throughout his rookie season, Hirabayashi made KGU's starting team for all the Big Three University Ekidens and took 2nd on the Hakone Ekiden's competitive Ninth Stage. Taiga Nakanishi , KGU's captain for the upcoming 2022-23 year, was 2nd in 1:02:02, just beating Toyo University 2nd-year Kazuki Matsuyama at the line to make it a KGU 1-2. All three qualified for the Japanese team for June's Chengdu World University Games. On one of the first days of true spring warmth, Hirabayashi shouted in joy as he crossed the finish line. When Nakanishi came in seconds later Hirabayashi hugged him, laughing. "This was my first ...

Scheduled for Mar. 20, the 43rd Matsue Ladies Half Marathon in Matsue, Shimane, has been canceled. This marks the third year in a row that the race has been canceled. A statement from the organizing committee read, "In light of the rapid spread of the highly infectious omicron variant throughout Japan, including within Shimane, it would be difficult to eliminate the risk to the runners, volunteers, and everyone else involved in the race." Alongside Matsue's announcement, the Inter-University Athletic Union of Japan announced that the 25th National University Women's Half Marathon, held as part of the Matsue race, is also being canceled. The university women's half was to be a selection race for the 2022 Chengdu World University Games half marathon team, but after its cancelation selection will instead be made based on performances in the National University Track and Field Championships 10000 m to be held between Apr. 15 and 17.  The National University Men's...