japan running news

December kicks off with another big weekend on the track and roads across Japan. First up it's Friday's rescheduled long distance segment of this year's National Track and Field Championships in Osaka, strategically positioned just inside the reworked qualifying window for next year's Tokyo Olympics. Across men's and women's 3000 m steeplechase, 5000 m and 10000 m, anyone who wins their event with the Olympic standard will be guaranteed a place on the Tokyo team. It doesn't look like there's any official streaming, but the meet will be broadcast on NHK-BS1 starting at 16:00 local time. The 9:30.00 standard in the women's 3000 mSC is faster than the Japanese national record, and with defending national champ Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) the closest at 9:49.30 there's not much chance that spot will get taken barring a big step up from her. Her main competition is Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko), close behind on PB at 9:50.05, with two other...

The powers that be may have decided that there isn't going to be a road season, but September's going to be a busy month on the track in Japan. Just getting in Saturday night ahead of the leading edge of Typhoon #10, the Yamaguchi Nighter Time Trials meet saw Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) take the  men's 3000 m  in 8:01.87 almost six seconds ahead of teammate Yusuke Tamura . Tosu Kogyo H.S. teammates Sei Sonoda and Junpei Maseda went 3-4 in 8:07.38 and 8:08.21, Sonoda taking the all-time #8 Japanese U20 and #7 Japanese high school marks and Maseda #8 on the high school list. The 50th Hokuriku Corporate Championships took place Saturday and Sunday in Toyama, rescheduled to this weekend from their original date in the spring. Still going strong all these years later, 2009 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist and 5000 m silver medalist Kasumi Nishihara (Yamada Denki) won the women's 5000 m in a meet record 15:44.55 over teammates Maho Shimizu and Yuri T...

Just two weeks after her 19th birthday, Ririka Hironaka , star rookie for 2019 National Corporate Women's Ekiden champions Japan Post , ended the year in style with a nearly 18-second PB of 15:05.40 to break the great Kayoko Fukushi 's U20 national record by 5 seconds and become just the second Japanese woman so far to break the 2020 Olympic standard in the 5000 m. Running at Yamaguchi's National Corporate Women's Time Trial s, after Kenyans Martha Mokaya (Canon AC Kyushu) and Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) led the pack through opening splits of 3:01, 3:04 and 3:03, Hironaka took off in pursuit of the 15:10.00 Olympic standard, covering the next two 1000 m splits in 2:59 and 2:58. Along with breaking Fukushi's 2001-era junior record and clearing the Olympic standard, Hironaka moved up to all-time Japanese #5, following Nozomi Tanaka 's all-time #2 15:00.01 at October's Doha World Championships to make this a pretty good year for the 5000 m by Japan...